The introduction of mandatory data standards to increase the efficiency of superannuation back-office systems could have far greater consequences on a super fund's technology system than is recognised, according to Bravura Solutions.
The automation of data flow under the proposed SuperStream legislation could mean funds would have to update other areas of their system as well.
"It is a bit like a freeway: you've got congestion coming into a city, so you add three lanes to a freeway to come into a city. But when people do, they still hit a single lane into the city," Bravura global head of product Darren Stevens said.
"So are you pumping lot of data in an automated fashion in and you just find another blockage in the system.
"That is what I think will be uncovered. A lot of people are working at that at the moment: the business process re-engineering and determining what processes need to be automated on the back of SuperStream.
"They could actually be more complex than the SuperStream piece itself."
He said particular organisations that had grown rapidly through mergers and acquisitions would face difficulties in integrating all their legacy systems with the mandatory standards.
"They've got a more complex environment that needs to be updated to the new regulations, some of which will be handled online and be simplified, but others have a more complex legacy and will have to look at changing their systems to be able to send data out and receive data in the [SuperStream] formats," he said.
Although some funds were up to speed with the development of automated data reception, others were struggling to make it work.
"As soon as the data comes in, you need straight through processing (STP)," Stevens said.
"You want electronic data in and then you need to funnel it into to the various systems that you have; be it your finance systems, be it your policy or finance registration systems.
"If you run multiple versions of those, that is where it starts to get quite complex as to how do you route that information into the various systems, because each of those systems will operate in a slightly different way."
Many organisations were running systems that were STP ready in name only, he said.
"There is a common joke in the industry that STP means straight through printer, and in a lot of cases it is still the case," he said.
"It is really getting that side of your business more efficient and able to cope with the data coming in in an electronic format."
