Fundpath at FundsTech Forum 2025: Is Fund Distribution Behind the Curve?
Fundpath’s Chief Growth Officer Adam Harrison recently sat down for an interview at Funds Europe’s FundsTech Forum 2025. A summary of the discussion is presented below.
At the 2025 FundsTech Forum hosted by Funds Europe, Fundpath’s Chief Growth Officer, Adam Harrison, joined the stage for an interview on a topic at the heart of the asset management industry’s transformation:
“Is fund distribution behind the curve when it comes to data and technology?”
The conversation spanned the historical lag in data adoption across distribution teams, the current inflection point driven by AI and forward-looking data, and the opportunities that lie ahead for firms willing to rethink how they approach sales, marketing, and relationship management.
Why has distribution lagged?
Adam opened by acknowledging that, compared to the investment side of the business, distribution has historically had fewer incentives to innovate. While front-office investment teams have long embraced data to seek out performance and alpha — backed by a clear, measurable mandate and strong commercial justification — distribution has largely been treated as a cost centre.
This meant fewer resources, less experimentation, and limited access to data. Even when data was available, it was often historic in nature — offering a rear-view mirror, rather than a forward-looking compass. Distribution teams have had to make decisions using lagging indicators, building strategy on yesterday’s news.
But that landscape is changing — fast.
From the Information Age to the Intelligence Age
With the emergence of AI, large language models, and more structured access to unstructured data, distribution teams can now access a whole new category of insight: intent, sentiment, and contextual intelligence. These are the kinds of signals that have traditionally lived in conversations, emails, CRM notes — in other words, in places difficult to consolidate, analyse, or act on at scale.
We are now entering what Adam called the Intelligence Age — a shift from simply accessing information to being able to leverage it for timely, personalised, and meaningful engagement. This unlocks the potential to replace high-cost “discovery work” with high-impact “sales work” — enabling distribution teams to focus their efforts where there is clear intent and live opportunity.
Rethinking distribution under margin pressure
Adam also pointed to the industry-wide pressure on margins, brought on by the shift from high-fee active to low-fee passive strategies. While overall assets under management have grown, fee compression has created an imperative for firms to reduce costs — especially in sales and marketing.
However, cutting back headcount or spend without a replacement strategy risks damaging market coverage, brand visibility, and client service — all of which have direct consequences for asset growth and retention.
This is where intelligent data plays a critical role. By applying the same rigour to distribution strategy that investment teams apply to research, firms can use data to inform sharper targeting, reduce inefficiencies, and extend coverage without increasing headcount. Distribution can move from a reactive, relationship-dependent model to a proactive, insight-led one.
Where Fundpath fits in
Fundpath was built to enable this shift.
Adam explained how Fundpath specialises in qualitative, forward-looking data gathered directly from fund selectors in the wealth management industry — data that has historically been difficult to access, fragmented, or left to decay in notebooks and CRMs. This includes everything from organisational changes and research processes to live searches and future allocation intentions.
By capturing this “private but not secret” intelligence at scale — and making it structured, searchable, and actionable — Fundpath enables asset managers to respond with the right message, at the right time, to the right person.
Rather than relying on irregular personal networks or anecdotal feedback, sales and marketing teams can operate with a shared, data-driven understanding of the market. This enables better planning, stronger coordination, and smarter execution — all critical in a world where every basis point counts.
Final thought
Fund distribution has lagged behind — but no longer has to. The tools, data, and technology are now available to not just catch up with the investment side, but to leap ahead. Those firms that embrace this new intelligence paradigm will be best positioned to thrive in the next decade of fund distribution.
