When making the decision about whether or not to outsource, firms might consider three key factors: Cost, control and comfort. While cost and control are tangible and can be addressed, comfort is more nuanced: It’s a gut feeling and ultimately a leap of faith – which can vary from person to person.

Over the last two years, we’ve conducted in-depth research about the industry’s attitudes, experiences and plans around outsourced trading. Complemented by client conversations and engagement, we’ve developed a better understanding with regard to how organizations approach outsourced trading.

Our latest survey of 300 institutional investors from around the world has been particularly helpful in this regard. We designed the survey with two groups as our focus: Current users of outsourced trading and potential users. This approach helped us understand the multitude of benefits outsourced trading offers, as well as the factors that could be holding back potential adopters. The survey, built on our previous research, examined in detail how some asset managers were leveraging outsourced trading to meet their strategic goals.

In this paper, we outline the key factors that can help firms embrace the transition to outsourced trading and harness its full scope of benefits.