Hedge Fund Technology Budget: A blueprint to get you started

Starting a hedge fund is a time consuming process, and one area that must be well defined is a hedge fund’s budget. Hedge fund investors want to know where management fees are being allocated, so you’ll need to clearly identify your operating costs around:

• Staffing: Payroll, taxes, health and benefit costs, etc.

• Building and facilities: Consider office expenses and lease obligation

• Technology: If you don’t have an in-house IT staff, ask your IT service provider to do this

• Legal and Administrator fees

• One time versus recurring

By understanding what your firm’s needs are going to be in the short and long term, you should be able to establish a working budget for running your firm efficiently. Envisioning how your practice will look in three or five years is essential to avoid short-sighted mistakes such as locking into a product that can’t grow with your firm.

To help with the technology budgeting process we’ve created a Hedge Fund Technology Budget Blueprint that outlines the items you should consider while building your hedge fund technology budget. Your firm may not need all these elements at launch, but planning ahead will enable you to efficiently manage operating costs.

One caution we regularly give to clients is to not underestimate how much you rely on technology. Think about the workflows and systems you use to complete your work – be it email, reports, phones, market vendor applications, and/or risk systems. Now, think about the work that will need to be done if those systems cannot scale or don’t exist in case of a disaster. More than likely, you will need most, if not all, of the same systems, including additional ones to grow your firm.

Use this hedge fund technology list as a shopping guide when growing out your technology platform as well as managing your hedge fund technology budget. Your technology partner should be able to closely quantify both your near time and long term spends.

So what’s our biggest advice to clients when it comes to technology? Be open to change – just because you’ve always used one system doesn’t mean it’s the best. You may be able to get additional functionality from another system. A seasoned technology vendor, such as Eze Castle Integration, should constantly be engaged with you on better products from a process, functionality and cost basis.

 Hedge Fund Technology Budget Snapshot

Enterprise Infrastructure - Data + Networking	Year 1	Year 2
Hardware (PCs, monitors, printers/fax)
Networking (routers, switches, firewall, servers)
Desktop applications (Windows, Microsoft Office, Adobe)
Systems (accounting, trading, portfolio management, risk management, order management)
Email, IM & Bloomberg Archival
Security (Encryption, anti-virus, anti-spam)
Project labor
Total Enterprise Infrastructure - Hardware
Enterprise Infrastructure - Telephony
Avaya voice hardware & labor
Trading turrets (if applicable)
Recording/monitoring software
Total Enterprise Infrastructure - Telephony
Enterprise Infrastructure - Communications
Public domains (i.e. websites)
Primary Internet line
Backup Internet line
Dedicated lines (i.e. Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, FIX)
Total Enterprise Infrastructure - Communications
Enterprise Infrastructure - 3rd Party Services
Central Copier - multifunctional copier
BlackBerry voice & data service
Bloomberg and/or Thomson Reuters
Verizon PRI usage including taxes
Total Enterprise Infrastructure - Services
Additional Services
Disaster Recovery
Monthly Support Service
Total Enterprise Infrastructure - Misc.
TOTAL EXPENDITURE

 

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