"Transforming data into a relationship driver"

When an asset management company decides to digitize its processes, the challenge is in combining operational efficiency with business adaptation.

In this joint discussion, Virginie (Head of Distributor Relations - Entrepreneur Invest) and Anne (COO - InvestHub) reflect on three years of collaboration: from the first digital subscription to automated flow management.

A tangible account of what it means to transform an activity in constant contact with independent financial advisors daily.

What was your starting point in day-to-day operations when you joined the company?

Virginie: I joined Entrepreneur Invest in 2018 within the middle office team to take over the subscription monitoring, amongst others, and back then... we were fully entrenched in paper forms, Excel files, photocopies for the custodian bank. It took one hour to process a file.

Anne: An hour per subscription, that’s overwhelming. At the end of the year, there are up to 50 files a day…

Virginie: Yes, there was a period when four people were committed full-time between Christmas and New Year’s just to record, verify, input, and print. Any delays became critical. Moreover, manual processing generated errors: typos, incorrect titles, reversed first names… The data was neither reliable nor exploitable.

What need initiated the digitization of intermediary processes?

Virginie: The real trigger was the growing role of independent financial advisors. Entrepreneur Invest shifted from a banking model to one entirely focused on financial investment consultants. These consultants required immediacy, reliability, and reporting. But we didn’t have suitable tools to track this. We wanted the advisor to know the status of each file, at any time, without needing to call.

Anne: Meanwhile, regulations were evolving. An agreement had to be signed before any commercial activity. Electronic signatures were not yet widespread, and there was resistance. Eventually, COVID unlocked everything, didn’t it?

Virginie: Exactly. In 2019 at Patrimonia, we looked for tools. Many were focused on insurance or institutional processes. The tripartite model of advisor–management company–custodian bank was daunting. We ended up testing InvestHub in a demo space. We quickly realized we could build an entirely customizable portal designed for our distributor partners. That was the turning point. Very quickly, we expanded its use to the entire subscription process. Within weeks, the entire intermediated workflow was digitized.

What facilitated the adoption of InvestHub by your teams?

Virginie: Previously, we used a rigid tool where the subscription form was imposed. With InvestHub, we rebuilt everything according to our business logic within weeks. Onboarding truly became ours, tailored to all our funds, contracts, and partners. Most importantly, we’ve been able to maintain it and keep it lively for over 3 years.

Anne: I remember you handled a large part of the digitalization work internally, almost 90%. That clearly was a success driver: your needs were already structured, very well expressed, which allowed us to move quickly. We worked in weekly iterations: you brought concrete use cases, and we adapted the features promptly, sometimes even in real-time.

Virginie: What profoundly changed was having control of the tool. No need to formalize requests, open tickets, or wait weeks. We tested, configured, and adjusted autonomously. Proof: we launched a new fund within a week — complete configuration, setup process, and over 200 subscriptions processed in a few days, without a single technical hitch. It was a true collective success, both internally and for the advisors.

Concretely, what has changed for your teams?

Virginie: What we built with InvestHub is an end-to-end digitized workflow. The advisor enters data once on the portal, then it flows smoothly: validated, categorized, checked, transmitted to the custodian bank, sent to aggregators… And, importantly, it became reliable, secure, and exploitable, for both operational follow-up and our business analyses. This changed the daily operations for our teams, but also - and this is equally important - for the advisors.

I recall an advisor’s assistant nearing retirement who often struggled with paper files. One day, she called me to say: "Your tool, there, is really good!" She had completed everything autonomously without needing help. That was the moment I realized we had crossed a significant threshold.

What role does InvestHub play in Entrepreneur Invest today?

Virginie: Today, everything goes through InvestHub: contracts, subscriptions, fund calls, and soon retrocessions. It’s become our central tool for liability management. And it continues to evolve. The goal is to consolidate everything within one system.

Anne: You have even initiated some modules, like the secondary market which will soon be available. 

Virginie: Yes, and that’s precious: we work hand in hand. You listen, you are responsive, but most importantly you understand the business challenges. We don’t have 2-hour calls to "plan a study". We suggest an idea, you challenge it, and we move forward.

If you had to summarize the collaboration in three words?

Virginie: Proximity, reactivity, involvement. And I could add: partnership. Because that’s really it, we co-build. Our interests align: delivering a better experience to advisors and strengthening our competitive edge. 

Anne: This is why the entire InvestHub team knows Entrepreneur Invest. You aren’t just "a client", you are a reference.

And to conclude?

Virginie: Today, we no longer engage in transactions without added value. Operational exchanges have given way to genuine commercial relationships. And this likely contributed to our recognition by Private Equity Magazine in 2024 and 2025.

_____________________________________

In summary:

• Operational Gains
  The file processing time reduced from one hour to a few minutes, with fund launching achieved in a week, and over 200 subscriptions processed without a hitch.
  
  

• Improved Advisor Experience
  Advisors now have a simple, smooth, and autonomous portal which facilitates tracking and enhances their independence, regardless of their digital proficiency.
  
  

• Internal Autonomy and Agility
  The Entrepreneur Invest teams configured and evolved the platform autonomously, with rapid iterations without technical dependency.
  
  

• Enhanced Partner Relationship
  InvestHub adeptly adapted by co-creating new modules with Entrepreneur Invest, founding the relationship on business understanding and constant responsiveness.

• Reliable and Exploitable Data
  Data entered once is secure, checked, and automatically reusable across all processes, making it a key lever for analysis and management.
  
  

For more information on the digitization of intermediaries via our platform InvestHub, discover InvestHub Network.