You’re looking to start a private equity firm and it’s a big task. There are dozens of things to wrap your mind around, from raising funds to purchasing companies – but it is likely that the procurement of outsourced IT services is nowhere near the top of your checklist. However, a properly managed IT infrastructure is one of the most important decisions you can make and is critical for building a scalable organization.  

 

IT Infrastructure Does Not Have a One-Size-Fits-All Solution

Private equity firms deal with highly-sensitive inside information, making them vulnerable to security breaches. Your employees travel constantly, making data security extremely important. Your firm’s access to non-public financial information means that any potential leak carries the risk of disastrous consequences for your firm. A leak can impact business valuations within the markets, potentially causing those companies under evaluation and your fund millions of dollars in legal liability, making it harder for all of you to attract future clients.

A managed IT service provider specializing in alternative investment firms knows the intricacies of this environment and can securely scale your IT capacity as you grow. The good news is that while you’re just embarking on this journey, Agio can ease the strenuous process of implementing dependable IT best practices, ensuring that you and all your portfolio companies are entirely secure.  

 

On-Premise vs. Cloud-Based

One of the largest and most impactful decisions your IT vendor can help you with is deciding whether to host IT solutions on-premise or in the public cloud. Over the last five years, the idea of putting sensitive information into the public cloud has been scary to private equity insiders like you, due to a mistaken belief that the private cloud would be more secure.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, the public cloud provides the lightest footprint and ensures secure connectivity to your network throughout your travels. A 100% on-premise infrastructure set up for private equity firms is quickly becoming archaic in the industry. Cloud technology, on the other hand, provides much-needed flexibility for you and your partners with all of your data being accessible quickly and easily on the road – and secure with the compliance features built in and maintained by technology giants like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. These companies have invested billions of dollars to create better security and performance than any private cloud partner ever could.

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But, setting up a secure cloud-based solution is highly complex and requires working with an expert partner who understands the needs of private equity firms. There are hundreds of different cybersecurity configurations, and improper implementation of a cloud-based solution is one of the biggest reasons behind cloud breaches.

In this vein, private equity firms need the help of both an IT and cybersecurity partner to set up your infrastructure with secure configurations, and then continue to expand your cybersecurity protection to your portfolio companies by evaluating and monitoring them from a cyber-hygiene perspective as well. With the help of a hybrid managed IT and cybersecurity provider like Agio, our clients can get both of those partners in one impactful relationship.

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