A Codeless Integration With Dynamo Software
Alternative asset management firms must deliver accurate, timely and professional statements to their investors in order to build trust and provide the transparency that investors require. Many of these firms have deployed investment management platforms with deal management, fundraising, and investor reporting capabilities to centralize and automate their operations. However, the investor reporting capabilities of these platforms are lacking when it comes to tracking prospective investor engagement with emailed marketing materials. They also lack the ability to appropriately secure statements emailed to current investors.
To close this gap, a global alternative asset management firm has deployed eShare to complement its existing use of Dynamo Software. Dynamo is used to create personalized investor communications via a Dynamo-supplied Mail Merge Wizard. Most all of these emailed communications contain documents.
Code-Less Integration
The integration of eShare and Dynamo was easily implemented, without any code being required. This integration leverages the Dynamo wizard’s existing integration with and use of Microsoft Outlook to send investor emails and a simple mail flow rule in Microsoft Exchange that routes investor emails to the eShare Secure Mail Gateway (SMG). A campaign-specific keyword in the subject line of the investor mail is used to determine which emails Exchange should route to SMG.
SMG processes each email, replacing the attachments with a link and storing the attachment into highly secure Microsoft Azure Blob Storage. The use of a link for accessing email attachments allows authentication and controls to be applied to the attachments. It also allows reporting and analytics of common set of investor emails as a single “campaign”.
Campaign-Specific Authentication and Controls
Dynamo allows a password to be applied to attached files, but this password would be common to all investors within a single campaign and would need to be communicated in some way and managed by both the firm and investor. Hardly user friendly.
With eShare, authentication of the investor is done via OpenID, using the identity provider associated with the investor’s email address. For example, if the investor has a Gmail address they can be authenticated to Google, using a password the investor already knows and does not need to share with the firm (or eShare). And with eShare, controls can be applied to the shared files, including view only, view/download with dynamic watermarking, and access only after acceptance of customozale Terms of Use. Because the files are accessed via a link, the links can be expired at any time.
Authentication and controls can be specific to a campaign, so that communications and attachments provided to prospective investors are secure differently from those provided to existing investors.
The firm has opted for now to not require authentication of their investors prior to accessing shared files and to instead rely on eShare’s investor-specific document links to assure access to an docuent is attributed to the right investor.
Campaign Reporting & Analytics
What first drew the firm’s attention to eShare was its need for robust reporting and analytics regarding investor access to and use of documents shared with the investor. Key to their requirement was the ability to analyze the engagement of investors at both an individual and campaign level.
eShare provides customizable Microsoft PowerBI-based reporting and analytics that allow the firm to see high-level and drill-down views of investor engagement, including:
- Email receipt status (e.g. received, bounced, etc.)
- Email open status
- Document open status
- Time spent viewing each page of the documents
- Any actions taken on a shared document (e.g. download)