And just like that, we’re nearing the end of July. A perfect time to look back at all the new features and functionality we’ve introduced to the platform during the year to date.
The first half of 2020 has been unlike any other. We’ve all adopted new workplace protocols, tested business continuity plans and shifted to remote working. Amidst all of that, we’ve continued to release Bipsync product updates every two to three weeks.
In H1 2020, the Bipsync development team released more than 10 product updates with over 75 new features, integration capabilities and improvements across the platform: web app, iOS app, desktop app, email importing and Microsoft Office plug-ins, etc.
Below, we’ve highlighted just a small selection of these.
Here’s 10 key features released in the last 6 months that our clients have found particularly valuable to further streamline investment research management across:
- Research Processes and Workflows
- Research Productivity
- iOS app and Remote Working.
So, here’s the rundown – if you’d like to receive our full H1 2020 product update summary, or discuss any of the following in more detail – just get in touch!
I. Accelerate Research Process & Workflows
Mail Classifier — Auto-Ingest and Tag Inbound Email Research at Scale
Release #164 introduced the Mail Classifier, which allows email to be directly routed into the research management system in real-time — tagged, assigned, shared automatically according to a set of configurable rules defined by you.
This is a significant workflow feature for any asset manager or asset owner looking to effectively scale their organization of inbound email research. Whether it’s capital account statements, quarterly letters, annual financials, sell side reports, you can ingest and process your most notable incoming mail against a set of rules that are defined by your fund.
An in-depth view of the feature can be found here, and if you’d like to configure the Mail Classifier to organize your inbound email research, let us know.
Calendar Event Sync — Sync Events and Automate Rules, Tagging and Metadata Capture
Now you can bring in events and metadata from your calendar to Bipsync, on a per-event basis. We extract any tags that match the tagging syntax as well as other attendees that exist within Bipsync and apply these automatically to the event.
In Release #167 we also made it even easier to auto-populate notes that relate to events with this rich set of metadata (attendee, location, meeting date fields etc.) to aid discoverability and help meet compliance needs.
Our Rules Engine can process changes to Events now too, which means that whenever one or more conditions occur, one or more actions can be automated. So when an event is tagged to a particular ticker or fund, for example, or shared with a certain group, you can automate sending email notifications, creating a new note, moving an object into a new pipeline stage and so on.
Microsoft Exchange Sync – Automatically Sync, Organize and Track Events and Contacts at Scale
For funds using Microsoft Exchange, you can now automatically sync, organize and track calendar events and contacts in Bipsync with our new integration.
As with Event Sync, you can associate and tag events and contacts to any (and many) objects and content – companies, pipelines, notes and documents, and tasks. This enables you to find information related to any calendar event – specific earnings calls, memos, expert network calls, manager meetings etc. – all at a glance and all linked with your wider research processes, and workflows.
If you’d like more information on how Events or Microsoft Exchange Sync can streamline common workflows at your fund, get in touch.
II. Boost Research Productivity
Exclusive Editing — For Remote Note Collaboration with Version Control
In Release #169 we added a new editing feature, dubbed “Exclusive Editing”, which allows a user to assume full editorial control of a note. Should any other users want to edit that note at the same time, they need to explicitly take control away from the current editor.
Exclusive Editing effectively ensures that only one user can change a given note at any one time. It’s particularly useful for teams that work collaboratively, especially those in a distributed working environment right now.
Hierarchical Tag Tokens – A New Visualization of Hierarchical Classifications
Many clients use hierarchical classifications to realize their contextual tags. Because of the tree-like nature of these classifications, sometimes several children will have the same name, for example across asset classes. When this happens it can be difficult to tell them apart when adding your tags via the UI.
Release #168 solved this through a new visualization of the lineage of these child tags in the UI.
Research Type Selector – Additional Display Menu Options for Documents and Notes
Bipsync supports two fundamental research content types – notes and files. In Q2 2020, we made it easier to differentiate between the two while browsing in the RMS, by allowing users to choose from the display menu whether they view Research content by type, or all types combined, in their list view. See full Release #166 notes for more detail.
Saved Search – For Instant Access To Your Go-To Database Searches
In Release #165 we introduced the ability to save searches, so they can be reused later. Particularly useful for those who often need to quickly find and come back to specific document types like investment reports from a certain fund across a certain time period, or all files that have been tagged to a company or specific contact or theme, on a regular basis.
Slack Integration – Securely Share Research Content via Slack Channels
Release #170 saw the launch of our Slack integration. This release, the first in a series of planned Slack and collaboration-related features, enables notes and files to be brought to the attention of colleagues in Slack who can then one-click consume that content in Bipsync, securely, enabling long-form content to be framed in the context of a wider slack conversation.
Once a user has installed our Slack app via the Settings > Integrations menu in Bipsync, they’ll then see a new button in the research editor menu bar. A sharing interface appears when the button is activated, allowing users to choose the Slack channels within which the research will be shared.
Please get in touch if you’d like to learn more about this feature.
III. Even More on Mobile
iOS Notes App – View Contact Metadata & Dashboard Fields Anywhere, Anytime.
In November last year, we added support for viewing contact metadata within the iOS app, the start of a product development effort which will allow the metadata of all our custom data types to be viewed on iOS, available on the go and even when offline. In this period, H1 2020, we added the ability to view related dashboard fields in iOS, so you’re now able to readily access information across all your contact information on iOS in just a few taps.
MobileIron – iOS MDM Wrapper Integration
The iOS Notes app now integrates with MobileIron’s AppConnect Mobile Device Management service to support the following features from within MobileIron and their MDM service:
- Enabling security and management features
- Distributing apps to authorized devices
- Delivering app configurations and policies to apps at runtime
- Reporting analytical usage data for apps
- Revoking app privileges as necessary.
If you’d like to learn more about this, or similar MDM or SSO integrations and capabilities, please get in touch to chat to one of the team.
As always, if you have any questions or would like more information on any of the new features or capabilities highlighted in this round-up, or are interested in finding out what Modern RMS can do for your fund – get in touch with us here, or request a demo to see the Bipsync platform in action.
