Amid the ever-stiffening competition for institutional investor dollars, asset managers find that their request-for-proposal teams are under increasing pressure to respond to RFPs, requests for information (RFIs) and due diligence questionnaires (DDQs) that are becoming increasingly complex.

This complexity occurs as a result of the need for due diligence on the part of investment consultants and other institutions expands.

According to the report Institutional Marketing and Sales Organizations 2019: Deploying Resources and Analytics for the Acquisition and Retention of Client Assets, from Cerulli Associates, RFP teams—already under the gun for time—are seeing an increase in the volume of reports they need to provide as the requesting organizations step up their own due diligence.

Both RFP and database teams are finding themselves struggling to meet deadlines on reports as volumes have risen approximately 2 percent from 2017 to 2018 for all request types for RFIs. RFPs and DDQs, the report adds, have multiplied even more, up approximately 13 percent and 20 percent, respectively.

And that pace is tough to keep up with; 91 percent of respondents to a Cerulli survey say it's at least a moderate challenge. Part of the reason is the need to use more than the standard boilerplate as the questions being asked increasingly require a customized response.

RFP teams are responding to the challenge by adding new hires, even if they already feel they're at capacity.

It's apparently a wise move considering that 21 percent of firms polled estimate RFP volumes will rise more than 10 percent over the course of 2019, with another 29 percent expecting DDQs to experience a comparable increase.

Using software that can automate more routine parts of the procedure is another solution some turn to, as is seeking other operational efficiencies to speed up turnaround times while still providing the more customized data firms are asking for.

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