Case study

Guaranteeing accurate analysis of alternative assets and a reliable portal presence 

Cherry Creek Family Offices supports a diverse collection of families, providing insightful investment management, financial counseling and personal services for sustained prosperity. The families served by Cherry Creek hold portfolios that range in value from $30 million and above, with assets including both publicly traded securities, alternative investments and real assets. These families also employ complex ownership structures that can’t be easily modeled in legacy software systems.

To provide consistent, optimized client service, Cherry Creek needed a platform that could model and analyze traditional securities and alternative assets on one platform with accuracy and expediency, as well as take sophisticated ownership hierarchies into consideration. The firm also sought paperless reporting that would cater to younger, tech-savvy investors who want a cloud-based solution without a physical document trail. But finding a platform to handle all of these requirements proved initially challenging, says Ben Novak, Chief Financial Officer of Cherry Creek.

“We were using fairly archaic architecture,” Mr. Novak explains. “With our previous platform, our ability to efficiently produce reports was very challenging — sometimes it took an entire day to run a report. The legacy software’s capacity to create reports other than the standard templates provided was nonexistent. There was also no portal presence or web presence for clients at all. We consistently struggled with the accuracy of numbers and we had to do a lot of corrections to produce accurate reporting, which was time-consuming.”

A modern technology platform for deeper client engagement 

"Addepar handles complex hierarchical schema, with regard to ownership, very well."

Ben Novak

Cherry Creek required a toolset that could not only navigate the complexity of its clients’ portfolios and hierarchal organization, but also connect the firm with its families by using future-forward technology. Addepar addressed all of these needs and more. “Addepar handles complex hierarchical schema, with regard to ownership, very well,” Mr. Novak says. “We have significant complexity in our clients’ ownership structures. Most of our clients have multiple investment partnerships that are owned by individuals, trusts or other partnerships and we must present the flow-through of investment ownership and related performance on the client portfolios. Addepar helped us model and address these sophisticated situations with ease.”

With Addepar, Mr. Novak and his colleagues can directly input and manage all alternative asset data, eliminating the need for the outside team the firm had previously employed to help manage and process the data. Addepar enabled complete control. “We are able to ensure the transactions are entered correctly and that this information is represented accurately in compelling reports for our clients.”

Paperless, Seamless Communication for the Next Generation of Investor

In addition to allowing the advisors at Cherry Creek to provide robust, comprehensive reporting, Addepar also provides the team with the ability to communicate with its families and clients through branded portals that leave no paper trail. “We use the portal in two ways: it’s a place for us to display some of the key metrics of our clients’ portfolios that they’re able to look at, at any time. It’s also a mechanism for us to distribute reports, so our clients can log into the portal and see them. We can conduct meetings using a portal, where no hard copy information is being sent out at all.”

This emphasis on privacy and control is especially relevant to more sophisticated, younger investors. “Our clients can be sensitive about portfolio information, especially the younger family members. For example, the client could be in college and they have a portfolio worth $12 million. It’s important to utilize a paperless environment as far as that information is concerned to retain privacy.”