Global asset manager Pimco has aggressive plans for the firm’s digital transformation in the coming years, according to firm officials.
By 2023, Pimco expects to be operating on a common core platform regarding architecture, development process, build pipelines, and data models, according to Dirk Manelski, CTO at Pimco.
“We have to get the data models right if we want to get that value of the franchise,” he said at fireside chat during the recent Tabb Forum Fintech Festival in Midtown Manhattan.
As part of the transformation, Manelski also plans to retire its in-house data centers.
Maneliski hinted that he and his team would rely heavily on internal development rather than turning to third-party vendors.
However, shrink-wrapped software seldom presents the total cost of ownership that a firm initially expects.
A significant aspect of Pimco’s digital transformation will be the critical role that experimentation will play.
The days of spending a year of nailing a new trading system’s architecture and common framework before releasing to the business are for the history books, according to Manelski. “Now, we are in a very different world and the expectation that we are going to be putting out product quite quickly so that we can put something in front of our customers and learn from it,” he said.
Such an approach is common among the consumer giants, such as Facebook and Google, added Mazy Dar, CEO of OpenFin and who also took part in the fireside chat.
Eventually, Pimco would reach a state where it can release software to the desktop without sending someone to configure it, added Manelski.