Financial Services Company Enhances Client Engagement Using Caspio

Hedge funds aren’t for everyone.

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, you can only join a hedge fund if you’re an “accredited investor” or someone who:

• has a net worth of around $1 million
• has earned $200,000 the past couple of years
• forecasts income to stay in that ballpark

But for those who can, 78% anticipate maintaining or increasing allocations this year, a J.P. Morgan survey found.

With an outlook this bullish, small hedge fund companies are a force to be reckoned with. But as with any small business, they need to wisely manage both data and operational processes to be successful.

Northern Coast Financial uses Caspio’s low-code platform to overcome these challenges.

Start a free trial to see how Caspio helps financial companies streamline operations.

Growing an Investment Portfolio Up North

Northern Coast Financial offers hedge fund management and other financial services in Canada.

Since 2006, the company has invested about $350 million, solidifying its record as a trusted financial services firm in the region. They currently manage around $50 million, with an average annual return of 11.8%. They also deal with 50 independent financial advisors and 350 investors. Operations is handled by 18 employees spread across three locations.

As Northern Coast Financial grew, they felt the need for a versatile tool to help them manage their processes, particularly the collaboration between their small internal team and their large pool of external independent advisors.

Company President and CEO Thomas Jones ultimately discovered Caspio and was able to address their unique needs with low-code development.

Enriching Internal-External Collaboration

A study by Dimensional Research found that 83% of today’s professionals now rely on technology for collaboration. That’s why it’s critical for companies to provide employees and partners the right tools to ensure they stay collaborative, and therefore productive.

The right technology has the potential to increase a company’s performance on the market, as well as boost employee productivity and communication. Finding that technology, however, can sometimes be difficult — especially for small businesses.

That was the challenge faced by Jones as he began his search for collaboration tools.

He needed a specific online database application to coordinate information between Northern Coast Financial staff and external third-party advisors who find and refer investors.

However, he soon realized that despite the gamut of software and database options on the market, ready-made solutions are not a perfect fit.

Dwarfed by Large, Expensive Financial Apps

Most of the business applications in the financial services sector are too “complex, large or expensive,” Jones said, stressing that these are three big problems for small entities like Northern Coast Financial.

“Even if we could afford those applications, it would be using a solution with 2,000 variables when we might only need 40 or 50,” he said. “We found ourselves in a situation whereby none of the existing applications really fit.”

It became pretty clear that if they wanted a more suitable system, they had to build it themselves. Curious and motivated to learn new things, Jones considered building custom database applications with the help of low-code technology.

He found Caspio and set up a free trial.

Caspio: ‘A Platform to Build Platforms’

Caspio’s powerful low-code platform enabled Northern Coast Financial to finally bridge the information gap between their internal team and their external advisors through an online database application.

Caspio offers business professionals the low-code platform, online database and cloud infrastructure — everything needed to create and deploy powerful applications.

“After signing up for a free account, I quickly realized that Caspio is essentially a platform to build platforms,” Jones said. 

Since Northern Coast Financial’s application is hosted on Caspio’s servers, it eliminated the need for the hedge fund company to invest in costly in-house IT infrastructure and constantly monitor uptime. “Having Caspio take care of the back end is one less thing to worry about.”

The decision to use Caspio, and to pursue a low-code development path, also eased worries on whether the coding was done right. The same could not be said of traditional development, where applications are written from scratch and the quality of the code is often directly connected to the developer… and how much sleep they had the night before.

Hedging Development Risks With Professional Services

For Jones, building tools for finance companies requires risk management in three tiers: platform, planning and building. Caspio addressed his platform concerns with scalable cloud infrastructure, 99.9% uptime and enterprise-grade security and compliance.

To manage the risks in planning and building, he could have hired external consultants or in-house developers. Instead, he worked closely with Caspio Professional Services. The decision proved to be the perfect solution for a business with scarce IT resources and an owner with limited time.

Through Caspio Professional Services, Jones gained access to his own project manager who made sure nothing fell through the cracks. This partnership allowed Northern Coast Financial — a small business with no IT department — to build a compliant CRM that addresses their unique needs.

“For me, the best thing about Caspio is I can focus on the most important aspect of our business — our investors — and making sure they’re happy.”

Thomas Jones
CEO, Northern Coast Financial

Create Custom Database Applications for Your Business

If, like Jones, you find that current software options in your industry are “complex, large or expensive,” consider custom-building your own business application. And, if like Northern Coast Financial, your company is a small business, then build your custom database applications using Caspio.

Caspio provides small businesses – including those in strictly regulated industries like financial services or healthcare – the tools they need to envision, build and deploy online database applications without needing to learn how to code.

Ranked a “Leader” in low-code platforms by Forrester for the second straight time, Caspio is considered “the richest platform for business developers.”

Don’t have the bandwidth to build low-code apps on your own?

Let Caspio Professional Services build your app for you. Our team of application architects, user experience experts and developers have built custom apps for companies around the world. 

Start a free trial today and discover how Caspio can help your small business build database applications without coding.