Blog

• NICSA 2011 Observations – Miami, FL Doral Resort
  Thomas Kaminsky commenting on several key points presented at this years NICSA Conference in Miami. Check out the video and please provide your comments. Thanks. NICSA is the leading provider of independent education and networking forums to professionals in the global investment management community. NICSA was established in 1962 as a fo ...February 23, 2011
• Tip of The Spear
  Thank you Yoh for the invitation to provide comments and insight as a guest blogger. What follows is an excerpt from the full blog post on The Seamless Workforce. Today I present you with a guest post from a long-time friend and former colleague, Thomas Kaminsky. Tom is the founder and Managing Director of Crescendo Consulting Solutions. ...December 15, 2010
• NICSA Conference Highlights IT & Operational Challenges with new SEC / Regulatory requirements
  I attended the East Coast NICSA meeting in Boston on Thursday. The agenda was hyper-focused on the current regulatory environment. New / in process SEC requirements (e.g., Rule 12b-1; 12b -2, etc.) have far reaching IT and operational impact on the investment management community. These pending changes will take an incredible investment o ...October 11, 2010
• Invest in an Outside Advisor to Navigate the Outsourcing Process
  We continue to strongly believe engaging an agnostic third party advisor is critical to help clients – and suppliers – to navigate the complexity and multi-functional requirements inherent in the outsourcing process.  Your people have day jobs and likely do not have the experience to initiate, manage, and implement a high risk transaction ...October 4, 2010
• Investment Management Outsourcing Shifts to Smaller Proof of Concept Strategies as an Alternative to Full-Scale Liftouts
  In the past, implementing a full operational lift-out – consisting of “lifting out” the client organization’s people, process and technology and dropping them into the outsourced supplier’s existing infrastructure and organization – was the most popular and preferred method for executing large investment operations outsourcing deals. This ...September 30, 2010
• Service Level Agreements are Critical to a Healthy and Successful Outsourcing Arrangement
  Crescendo continues to advise clients that Service Level Agreements (SLA) and supporting Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are critical in establishing and managing a successful outsourcing arrangement. As we have witnessed first-hand, after the signing fanfare ends and the dust settles, the SLA is what keeps the relationship together. Wit ...September 24, 2010
• Managing the VMS ERP Integration Challenge: Crescendo & ProcureStaff Co-Authored White Paper
  In our work advising clients on the merits of implementing a vendor management system (VMS) for contingent labor, we are continuously challenged to integrate the VMS with the client’s legacy enterprise relationship platform (ERP). The white paper Doug Lubin and I co-authored with members of the ProcureStaff team highlights this challenge ...September 23, 2010
• New White Paper: Integration of VMS and ERP
  The Importance of Strong Integration between VMS and ERP Systems for Human Capital Management All services procurement Vendor Management System (VMS) suppliers promise smooth and comprehensive integration with prospective clients’ Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platforms. Yet too often, an organization implements a VMS solution only t ...August 9, 2010