Every quarter, investment firms brace for the same cycle. Data arrives late. Spreadsheets multiply. Portfolio managers get dragged into last-minute edits. Compliance reviews stretch deadlines. For many firms, automating client reporting still feels out of reach, which means teams spend late nights cobbling together factsheets, reports, and presentations, only to repeat the process again next quarter.
Everyone in the industry knows the drill. What’s less discussed is what happens when that cycle finally breaks.
Across firms ranging from $2B boutiques to $80B global managers, the results of automation are consistent and dramatic: reporting cycles shrink from weeks to days, manual formatting disappears, and client-facing teams finally get time back to focus on their clients instead of spreadsheets.
Time Back, Deadlines Met
Across Assette’s client base, the outcomes show a consistent pattern.
At smaller firms and global managers alike, automation consistently takes cycles measured in weeks and shrinks them to days. One mid-sized manager cut their reporting turnaround by more than half, freeing up staff time that used to vanish into manual checks and formatting. Another firm went from spending over an hour per client packet to less than fifteen minutes. On the other end of the spectrum, a global manager with $80B in AUM now produces factsheets in a matter of hours instead of weeks, doubling output without adding headcount.
These aren’t outliers, they’re what happens when manual work is replaced with straight-through workflows. Reports get delivered on schedule, or ahead of it, and teams no longer live in “quarter-end crunch mode.”
Assette POV: Not all “automation” is created equal. Some tools simply repackage manual work or still rely on IT for every template update. Assette connects directly to live data sources and automates straight through to output, so firms don’t just move the bottleneck — they remove it.
Quality Without Compromise
Speed is only half the story. Accuracy and consistency matter just as much, and here too the impact is clear. Automation eliminates the human touch points where errors creep in. It enforces branding so that every deck and report reinforces the firm’s identity. It pulls data directly from live sources, ensuring both accuracy and auditability.
It’s no wonder that 72% of asset managers now cite enhancing quality and accuracy in client communications as a top strategic priority. The firms that have already automated aren’t spending hours checking numbers and hunting for mismatched fonts, they’re focused on the story their data tells.
Growth Without Headcount Creep
Historically, growth meant hiring more operations staff just to keep pace with reporting. Automation severs that link. Smaller managers have been able to take on more clients while keeping their teams flat. Larger firms have doubled reporting volume without expanding headcount.
Given that three-quarters of managers expect flat or lower budgets, this matters. Efficiency isn’t a nice-to-have – it’s the only way to scale sustainably.
Assette POV: Many platforms take 6–12 months just to automate a single content type. Assette clients have gone live with fully automated factsheets in 90 days, and built a foundation for scaling into reports, presentations, and even RFPs/DDQs without adding staff.
Why is Assette faster and cheaper to implement? Unlike other platforms, Assette doesn’t require firms to remap and load data into a vendor database. The system connects directly to existing investment data sources, cutting out months of data loading work. And because templates are built with marketer-friendly tools inside Microsoft Office, Marketing and Client Service teams can own reporting from day one, without waiting on IT.
Putting Control in the Right Hands
Perhaps the most underappreciated change is cultural. When reporting is automated, Marketing and Client Service can take ownership. They can update templates, tailor reports, and deliver client-ready materials without waiting on IT. Compliance gets built-in workflows and audit trails. Clients get faster, more customized outputs.
As one marketing leader put it: “Automation gave us time back, and gave reporting back to the people who use it most.”
The Pattern Is Clear
Across firms managing $2B to $300B, the story repeats: weeks become days, hours become minutes, and teams get to focus on clients instead of cut-and-paste work. External research and surveys show the pain points are widespread and growing. Real-world results prove the solution is within reach.
Automation doesn’t just make reporting faster. It makes firms more resilient, more accurate, and more client-focused. In an era of tighter budgets and higher expectations, that’s not just an operational win — it’s a competitive one.
Why Assette Clients See Results in Automating Client Reporting
Live data connectivity → no loading or rekeying, no shadow spreadsheets, no compliance gaps.
Fast implementation → firms automate factsheets in 90 days, not 6–12 months. There is no need to map and load data to a vendor model and then map from that model to your content.
Business-side ownership → Marketing and Client Service run reporting, with support for Compliance built in.
That’s why firms from $2B boutiques to $300B global managers trust Assette to turn reporting from a bottleneck into a competitive advantage.
