Are we asking enough of AI in Alternatives?
While AI has emerged as a valuable tool to ease workflows and boost staff productivity, research by BCG indicates that most organizations simply aren’t thinking big enough about AI implementations. Instead of using AI as a strategic driver for operational change, they’re instead focusing on individual productivity improvements that fail to move the needle on enterprise-wide success.
According to Jessica Apotheker, managing director and senior partner at BCG, businesses need to decide if they’re going to chase the small efficiency gains or use AI to “reimagine how the business transforms for the 100x payoff.” As it turns out, investment firms are part of this group, as too many are employing AI in pursuit of incremental efficiencies rather than broad-scale operational change.
Finding the 100x payoff in alternative markets.
At most investment firms, a single operations employee can cover only 200 to 250 investment positions, largely because document processing is still handled manually. As staff scour email threads for critical details or extract information from hundreds of PDFs, firms are facing 2 to 3 month-long quarterly close processes.¹ It’s a situation that is simply not sustainable as assets under management rise from $139 trillion today to a predicted $230 trillion by 2030.²
Another reason for the inefficiency is outsourcing data extraction. BPOs can take days or weeks to reconcile documents, resulting in delayed insights and reporting.
On the other hand, artificial intelligence makes it possible for a single employee to manage 3,000 positions, shrinking closing cycles to a mere 15 days.³ How? The firms realizing 100x payoffs like these are using AI to do more than streamline individual tasks. Cutting-edge firms are weaving AI into everyday workflows, reimagining organization-wide productivity in ways that eliminate the highest operational costs and risks.
McKinsey and Company confirms that high-performing companies—those seeing the biggest benefits from AI—are using the tech to transform operations, redesigning workflows to improve overall profitability, competitive positioning, and change in market share.⁴ To meet the demands of the future, alternative investment firms need to do the same by utilizing AI across workflows to streamline processes end-to-end.
Canoe exemplifies this shift. By embedding AI into operations, we reinvent entire workflows from data handling through valuation and reporting. In an industry where competitive positioning hinges on how quickly and confidently firms can turn data into insights, the ability to process and validate information across documents becomes a differentiator that drives results.
Canoe’s AI-powered data capabilities automatically ingest, classify, and validate details from investment documents and emails as part of daily operations. When it comes time for reporting or valuation, data is automatically mapped to internal reports and systems, giving firms fast, reliable access to decision-making insights.
By utilizing AI to reimagine and unify workflows, firms can reduce overall costs and accelerate reporting cycles. With data automatically extracted and on hand, investment teams no longer need to wait weeks or even days for outsourced providers to reconcile documents. The information is available in-house, enabling rapid valuations and decision-making amid evolving market conditions. Reducing or eliminating outsourcing also does away with one of the higher costs an alts firm may face, widening overall margins.
Of course, improving profitability and competitive positioning also requires firms to have a strong handle on risk. Canoe approaches risk management as a part of better workflow design. AI-driven automated data extraction and validation reduce the number of manual touchpoints—the places most prone to errors and bottlenecks. Downstream systems receive clean inputs, while inherent traceability and auditability protocols minimize reconciliation burdens and compliance strains. In addition, governance and compliance controls are continuously applied in the background, eliminating the need for manual checks and improving closing speed and efficiency.
A recent report indicates that the number of firms using AI has jumped 23 percentage points over the course of 2 years, and firms that have adopted AI workflows are seeing the results in “cost savings, fewer not-in-good-order errors, better prep for client meetings, and more time for higher-value work.”⁵ By embedding AI across operations, Canoe has moved beyond small daily efficiency gains, redesigning alts workflows to deliver a 100X payoff.
¹ William Trout. “The Hidden Crisis in Wealth Management: When Alternative Investments Outgrow Operations.” Datos Insights, Jan. 6, 2026. Web.
² “The Profitability Paradox: Competing for Relevance and Returns.” PwC, Nov. 24, 2025. Web.
³ William Trout. “The Hidden Crisis in Wealth Management: When Alternative Investments Outgrow Operations.” Datos Insights, Jan. 6, 2026. Web.
⁴ “The State of AI in 2025: Agents, Innovation, and Transformation.” McKinsey & Company, Nov. 5, 2025. Web.
⁵ Leo Almazora. “Wealthtech in 2026: Tech Choices Set to Separate ‘Winners and Losers’.” Investment News, Jan. 22, 2026. Web.
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About Canoe Intelligence
Canoe Intelligence (“Canoe”) is the platform for smarter alts management. We redefine alternative investment intelligence with AI-driven software that directly addresses the core challenges of private markets. Our technology empowers institutions, LPs, and wealth managers to future-proof their alts infrastructure, modernizing systems and providing a scalable foundation for long-term growth and compliance. By automating manual data processing with AI-native precision, Canoe helps clients reduce operational costs and risks, significantly lowering overhead and mitigating errors. Ultimately, our timely, accurate, and comprehensive data enables investment teams to drive superior investment outcomes through deeper insights and more profitable allocation strategies. With Canoe, it’s all about making Alts, smarter. Learn more at www.canoeintelligence.com.
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Betsy Miller Daitch
Canoe Intelligence
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