If you work in investment consulting, you know there’s no single “right” process. Every firm (and often, every team) has its own way of getting from research to recommendation. That process reflects institutional knowledge, asset class expertise, and how people prefer to work.
But even with strong processes, the real-world breakdowns often happen in the workflow when insights, context, and decisions fail to move smoothly from one step to the next.
In our last post, we looked at the shift from fragmented systems to asset class-aware intelligence, along with how connecting the dots leads to better outcomes. But the ability to connect context depends on more than having the right data.
It depends on whether your workflow enables your team to use that intelligence effectively across roles, tools, and time.
Why workflows break down, even with good processes
While each firm’s process may be different, the points of failure are surprisingly consistent. Across consulting teams, we see three patterns:
- Handoff gaps
From analyst to partner. From research to reporting. From diligence to client delivery. Insights are often trapped in personal notes, static documents, or disconnected tools. They don’t always make the jump across steps or stakeholders. Context gets lost, and the team wastes time retracing decisions. - Intelligence silos
Each team has its own preferred tools, such as Excel trackers, PDFs, deal memos, and email folders. Without a shared system of record, data can be duplicated, manually updated, or stuck in someone’s inbox. The result? No one has a complete, up-to-date view of the research pipeline or portfolio. - Loss of institutional memory
Smart recommendations are often grounded in deep reasoning, but that rationale lives in someone’s head. Months later, when clients or stakeholders ask why a decision was made, it’s hard to reconstruct the thinking.
The cost isn’t just inefficiency—it’s also confidence
When workflows break down, teams don’t just lose time. They lose trust in their process.
- Analysts recheck work that’s already been done.
- Partners revalidate conclusions late in the cycle.
- Clients get reports that don’t tell the full story.
- Fire drills and manual workarounds become standard practice.
And even the most capable teams begin to feel friction where there should be flow.
What better looks like: Smarter workflows that support your process
You don’t need to change your process. You need a smarter way to support it.
At Backstop, we’ve seen that the most effective consulting teams have workflows that:
- Preserve their unique approach
- Adapt to the needs of each asset class
- Capture both structured and unstructured intelligence
- Connect the dots across diligence, decision-making, and reporting
When your infrastructure enables the flow of intelligence—not just the collection of data—your team spends less time chasing context and more time making confident decisions.
Final thought: Your process matters. So should your workflow.
You’ve invested years into building a process that works for your team. But even the best process breaks down when workflows are disconnected.
A modern research environment should adapt to how your team works, not force it to fit a mold. Because when workflows flow, so does insight, trust, and impact.
Download the info kit to see how Backstop helps investment consultants eliminate workflow gaps and make better-informed decisions, together.
