Insights from Hedge Fund CTOs: Cracking the Code of Hybrid Workforce Management

The Great Resignation created a seismic shift in the hedge fund CTO’s IT staffing model. High turnover rates, escalated labor costs, and a shortage of specialized expertise left hedge fund CTOs in a bind. Our 2023 Hedge Fund Managed IT Trends Report revealed the gravity of the situation: a staggering 87% of firms acknowledged increasing their reliance on outsourcing as a direct response to the Great Resignation. This paradigm shift, and the opportunities and challenges it’s created, was particularly pronounced among hedge fund CTOs, with an astonishing 98% indicating a shift in their support model to third-party providers to counter the impact of higher internal staff turnover.

The constant churn of talent, combined with the work-from-anywhere approach that is seemingly with us for good, has placed significant demand on hedge fund IT teams. No longer limited to maintaining a contained set of technology assets and locations, internal IT teams now need to orchestrate the seamless integration of internal and external applications and devices of a workforce distributed across hundreds or thousands of locations, all while having to stay ahead of the latest tech trends to meet the demands of a workforce that craves consistent support. This shift has also translated into more time spent on support tasks and fewer resources for strategic projects that drive bottom-line growth.  Now hedge fund CTOs are reevaluating their strategies to maintain operational efficiency and a competitive edge.

As hedge fund CTOs move more of their IT services to an outsourcing model, they have three key requirements driving their decision, according to our recent survey—and all of them relate to enhanced service desk solutions.

Almost half of hedge fund CTOs (46%) told us the primary reason for outsourcing was to ensure quick responses and resolutions to end-user issues. Supporting hybrid work environments was also a pressing concern (31%) as was a need for better service uptime quality (38%)By outsourcing help desk operations to specialized external partners, hedge fund CTOs have access to a wealth of expertise while they and their teams stay focused on core competencies.

Choosing the best partner, though, is serious business. For optimal efficiency and success, hedge fund CTOs were specific about the capabilities a third party would need to demonstrate in order to meet all of their challenges simultaneously. Of course, faster time to resolution (25%) and 24x7x365 availability (25%) were important, but so was experience with artificial intelligence. Hedge fund CTOs said they want a third party that can use AI to resolve technical issues faster (25%), shrink the number of cases/tickets (25%), and enhance overall service (25%).

As hedge fund CTOs address common IT management challenges in the wake of the Great Resignation (and even after), outsourcing IT services will continue to play a pivotal role in their success. If you’re a hedge fund CTO looking to navigate the challenges of keeping employees up and running and position your organization for success, consider exploring Agio’s Global Service Desk. Our service uses the efficiency of AI partnered with the human brilliance of our engineers to solve problems and requests, manage major incidents, and tailor responses to each employee’s role and capability. You have complete transparency via our innovative AgioNow platform.

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