Alfa Capital, based in Moscow, is the asset management division of the Alfa Group, one of the largest financial conglomerates in Russia. The Group also includes Alfa Bank.

Alfa Capital was previously using spreadsheets for their investment accounting, but this was creating a number of constraints, as Charles Tennes, Chief Investment Officer at Alfa Capital explained. "We faced a number of challenges, in that our previous environment did not allow us to scale our business, which is key to our future growth plans. In addition, the systems did not provide a suitable audit trail as we moved into broader investment strategies. Our vision is to have STP through all departments - front through to back office - removing duplication and human error from our processes. Implementing Moxy and Axys is a big step towards achieving our goal," he said.

Moxy is the industry's most widely used trade order management system. Moxy features portfolio modeling, rebalancing, and what-if scenarios; intra-day order management; pre and post-trade compliance checking; and electronic order routing and trade execution.

Axys is a comprehensive and powerful accounting and reporting system enabling firms to easily manage an extensive range of investment instruments, resulting in efficiencies that allow them to grow their business without increasing overhead, and focus on differentiating their services.

The implementation was completed over two stages leading up to an intense two-week onsite visit in Moscow. Working together as a team with the Alfa Capital staff was a key element to the success of the implementation, explains John Legrand, Director of Professional Services, Advent EMEA: "The Alfa project team worked closely with a senior Advent consultant on the data conversion, the configuration of both Moxy and Axys together with their installation and user training. Both parties worked together in a disciplined manner following our project management methodologies, and remained focussed on successful delivery which was completed on time and within budget," Legrand said.

Håkan Valberg, General Manager of Advent EMEA commented on the diversity of Advent's professional services team. "Our whole organisation is focused on delivery, from sales through to our professional services team - which has a 100% track record of successful implementations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Our team is made up of many nationalities speaking 14 languages so we are able to relate to all our clients' local requirements. We understand that having a satisfied customer base is the most valuable asset in gaining new clients," Valberg said.