Market Crashes, pandemics, competition, client demands, and new regulation are paving the way for digital transformations

"They want more transparency; they've wanted more operational information; they want to look more into different things," says Brad Bailey, a research director with Oliver Wyman's Celent unit. "We've seen a lot of people making these platforms for efficiency. These are major forces."

Bailey cites State Street Corp.'s 2018 acquisition of the investment management software and systems vendor Charles River Development. He said the deal is an example of the steps that providers of operation infrastructure, like global custodians, are taking to offer packaged solutions from the front to back office.