AGF Management Limited is a prominent Canadian-based independent asset management firm headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1957, the company offers a diverse range of investment solutions, including mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and private client products, catering to both individual and institutional investors.
AGF needed streamlined access to critical customer data, partially in real-time, to support faster decision-making and modernize its operations. However, the existing data integration landscape was complex, fragmented, and costly. Traditional extract, transform, load (ETL) processes were too slow to keep pace with AGF’s cloud migration initiatives and timely reporting needs. CData Virtuality offered a comprehensive solution, enabling real-time access, eliminating the need to copy redundant data into data stores, and replacing costly, rigid point-to-point integrations with a unified, scalable architecture. By accelerating the data product delivery and standardizing reporting across the organization, AGF strengthened its agility, reduced operational costs, and laid the foundation for richer, self-service analytics capabilities.
The challenge: Complex, fragmented, costly data landscape
AGF’s existing data integration environment had become a major obstacle. Call center agents needed instant access to customer data while handling their concerns. With multiple sources of data to work with, agents were forced to switch between them to get the relevant information they needed to serve customers. This created agonizingly slow response times and increased the risk of errors. Reporting accuracy took a hit as well. Different lines of business (LOBs) would use the same data, but each would apply different logic to build reports. This resulted in the LOB reports contradicting each other, losing out on the valuable insights and accurate decision-making that a single source of truth would provide.
Jeff Bowler, Director of Business Analytics at AGF, recognized that this fragmented landscape, built on point-to-point integrations, was not sustainable and too costly in the long term. A new approach was needed, one that would simplify integration, eliminate redundancy, cut costs, and deliver data faster to meet evolving business needs.
"They had multiple windows open like Salesforce and other programs and other applications that view the customer data from third-party systems."
—Jeff Bowler, Director, Business Analytics, AGF
The solution: Simplified, connected, and scalable data architecture
Jeff decided the most efficient path was to modernize AGF’s data architecture. His vision was to connect on-premises and cloud systems through virtualization, enabling real-time access to critical data, accelerating data product delivery, reducing operational costs, and standardizing reporting across the organization. That’s when he discovered CData Virtuality as the full-spectrum solution. Virtuality did more than solve the main challenge; it could also be applied to more use cases, like building a cloud-based data warehouse and migrating data to accelerated reporting.
Jeff’s interaction with CData went beyond his expectations. When first contacting CData for help, an OData connection to its CRM was missing. CData’s engineers quickly jumped on developing it for the investment company.
Once Virtuality was set up, the first order of business was to get the on-premises data sources together in one view. In just a couple of days, Jeff configured it to map the data from all AGF’s data systems into one virtualized view. Once connected and exposed as OData to the CRM, it was instantly recognized as though the data was stored natively within the tool.
With Virtuality in place, AGF’s teams gained real-time access to customer data—without duplication, delays, or excessive costs. Call center agents could instantly pull up the latest transaction details, and reporting discrepancies across lines of business disappeared. The true value, however, was felt in its day-to-day impact.
“[CData Virtuality] is a central component in our drive to enable richer self-service data reporting and analytics capabilities to our user community. That's the real value, in my opinion.”
—Jeff Bowler, Director, Business Analytics, AGF
The outcome: Fast response and accurate reporting at much lower data integration costs
The effect of adopting the solution came swiftly. CData Virtuality made a single source of live data available across departments and LOBs, but most importantly, to the customer service agents. No more switching between multiple data sources to get complete customer data. No more confusing and contradictory information. No more “Hold, please, let me look that up for you.” Customer service agents became more efficient and quickly resolved customer needs, improving overall satisfaction.
Today, any new or changed requirements can be addressed in under a week—most often in just a couple of days—including testing.
"CData Virtuality enables us to bring anything to market much faster. We can quickly prototype new requirements and seamlessly move them into production, thanks to the combination of virtualization and replication."
—Jeff Bowler, Director, Business Analytics, AGF
LOBs work from the same data with standardized views to make reporting simpler and consistent, eliminating excruciating delays from trying to make sense of contradictory or conflicting data. Insights are backed up by accurate information and are more actionable, streamlining decision-making processes.
Costs are considerably less, too. AGF doesn’t need to pay for separate external data connection licenses or cloud server space to store all its data, which is already significant. However, the financial benefit goes much deeper. Dedicating IT resources to extensive ELT redevelopment is no longer necessary. Streamlined processes, accurate information, and happier customers all equate to more cost savings, enabling AGF to focus resources on developing new and more innovative products and services.
CData Virtuality remains a critical part of AGF’s data ecosystem, simplifying its integration architecture by reducing the number of point-to-point integrations. With this reliable, adaptable infrastructure, AGF is well-positioned to meet future challenges, drive innovation, and make informed decisions with confidence.
CData Virtuality: Reliable data integration without the hassle
CData Virtuality empowers organizations like AGF to overcome complex data integration challenges with ease. By delivering real-time access to critical business data without costly migrations or operational disruptions, CData helps companies streamline operations, ensure data consistency, and drive informed decision-making. Discover how CData can simplify your data landscape and unlock the full potential of your business.
