Abstract Tech

Are You Still Guessing Which Mandates to Chase? Here's Why That's Costing You

Winning institutional mandates has never been more competitive. Timelines are shorter. Consultant influence is stronger. And the margin for error? Almost zero.
Yet many distribution teams still rely on intuition and fragmented signals to decide where to focus. The result: missed opportunities, wasted resources, and a pipeline that feels more like a gamble than a strategy.

The Reality: Manual Mandate Discovery Is Broken

For years, the process has looked the same:

  • Scour public disclosures
  • Track consultant behavior through countless hours of analysis
  • Hope your timing is right

But in a market where mandates can open and close in weeks, this reactive approach isn’t just inefficient—it’s risky. Every day spent chasing the wrong lead is a day your competitor gets closer to the right one.

The Shift: From Guesswork to Guided Action

Imagine starting your day with a clear, ranked list of mandates—scored on their likelihood of success for your firm. No more guesswork. No more ‘spray and pray.’

That’s what smarter mandate selection delivers:

  • Daily scoring of open and replacement mandates on a 0–5 scale
  • Signals that matter—performance vs. incumbents, consultant sentiment, viewership trends, and plan alignment
  • Actionable context so your team knows not just what to pursue, but why

Why It Matters Now

Institutional relationships are hard-won. Missing a mandate—or chasing the wrong one—can derail growth plans for a quarter or more. With a data-driven approach, you can:

  • Engage earlier—before RFPs are issued
  • Allocate coverage where win probability is highest
  • Turn effort into measurable impact

Proof in the Numbers

In live testing*, our new workflow using Nasdaq eVestment™ data sets evaluated 3,700+ managers across 20 mandates and delivered an average Opportunity Score of 4.46 on the mandates pursued.

Translation: We developed a way for distribution teams to move faster, engage smarter, and win more.

Next-Level Speed: AI Agents in Your Own Environment

Here’s where it gets even more powerful: we’ve embedded this capability into AI-ready data sets in Snowflake or Databricks, enabling an agentic workflow that works like a digital analyst on demand**.

Instead of navigating dashboards, you can prompt the system in plain language—‘Which investors are under-allocated in core and core plus fixed income and have open mandates?’—and get ranked opportunities in seconds, complete with context on performance, consultant activity, and influence potential.

This turns questions into action without leaving your data environment, whether your team lives in Snowflake, Power BI, or your CRM.

eVestment AI Agents in Snowflake Cortex

Ask. Answer. Act - in seconds.

Delivered Where You Work

The intelligence meets you where decisions happen—via APIs, pre-built Power BI templates, and AI-driven agents. No rip-and-replace. No six-month integration slog. Just actionable insight, embedded in your workflow.

Ready to Compete on Confidence, Not Guesswork?

Your next high-probability mandate is out there. The question is: will you see it first?

  • Explore smarter mandate selection
  • Talk to a specialist

* The participant factor model is a systematic approach to assessing asset managers across a range of critical criteria, including performance track record, incumbent relationships, consultant and plan sponsor interest in the associated product within the Nasdaq eVestment Analytics platform, consultant screening practices, investment strategy, risk management practices, and alignment with the pension plan’s values and investment policies. Strategies are scored and ranked relative to their peers and assigned our proprietary Opportunity Score between 0.00 and 5.00.  Opportunity Score is recalculated each day for each strategy/mandate based off of the above factors and changes to the underlying data in our participant factor model. 

** AI agents provide data-driven insights and do not replace human judgement.

© 2025 Nasdaq, Inc. The Nasdaq eVestment™ is a trademark of Nasdaq, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All rights reserved. This communication and the content found by following any link herein are being provided to you by Nasdaq eVestment, a business of Nasdaq, Inc. and certain of its subsidiaries (collectively, “Nasdaq”), for informational purposes only. Nothing herein shall constitute a recommendation, solicitation, invitation, inducement, promotion, or offer for the purchase or sale of any investment product, nor shall this material be construed in any way as investment, legal, or tax advice, or as a recommendation, reference, or endorsement by Nasdaq. Nasdaq makes no representation or warranty with respect to this communication or such content and expressly disclaims any implied warranty under law. At the time of publication, the information herein was believed to be accurate, however, such information is subject to change without notice. This information is not directed or intended for distribution to, or use by, any citizen or resident of, or otherwise located in, any jurisdiction where such distribution or use would be contrary to any law or regulation or which would subject Nasdaq to any registration or licensing requirements or any other liability within such jurisdiction. By reviewing this material, you acknowledge that neither Nasdaq nor any of its third-party providers shall under any circumstance be liable for any lost profits or lost opportunity, direct, indirect, special, consequential, incidental, or punitive damages whatsoever, even if Nasdaq or its third-party providers have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

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