We’ve been there: How GBST managed its own platform upgrade

Delivering large-scale technology change is often likened to changing a plane’s engine mid-flight. The stakes are high: how do you modernise critical systems while maintaining uninterrupted service for clients? At GBST, we understand the challenge because we’ve experienced it first hand. When the time came to enhance our flagship Composer platform to the latest technology, we committed to a transformation that safeguarded continuity, met evolving expectations, and ensured long-term value, all without requiring any data migration or disrupting our clients’ day-to-day operations.

Financial institutions worldwide face a common challenge. Technology is evolving rapidly, and so are the expectations of regulators and clients. Many firms operate with legacy infrastructure that was never designed for today’s interconnected, digital-first environment. At the same time, they are under pressure to control costs, launch new propositions more quickly, and deliver better client experiences across every channel.

Upgrading core systems is a logical step, but it can also be daunting. Any disruption to day-to-day operations can create reputational risk, damage client trust, and trigger compliance concerns. Many of our clients face this reality, and it’s exactly the challenge we navigated ourselves when we upgraded Composer. Here’s what we learned from our experience and how it can help you navigate your own technology journey.

Why did we transform Composer?

GBST has partnered with many of the world’s leading financial services organisations since 1983. Forty years in this sector have shown that technology firms must innovate to succeed. Our flagship product, Composer, has long served as a strong, reliable wealth administration platform for some of the world’s leading financial institutions. But expectations have shifted. Clients now demand faster onboarding, greater automation, native SaaS, and seamless integration. Anticipating these needs and recognising some of our architecture limitations, we decided to modernise Composer and ensure it would continue to deliver strategic value in a fast-evolving market.

Like our clients, we needed a future-ready platform that could quickly adapt to new regulations, market expectations, and evolving customer needs. Furthermore, we recognised the need for greater scalability, more efficient processes, and the ability to quickly adapt to changing market demands without impacting day-to-day operations. Transforming Composer enabled us to experience and solve these challenges firsthand, placing us uniquely well to support our partners through similar journeys.

Modernising without disrupting

However, while we wanted to adopt the latest technology, our partners, many of whom are regulated financial institutions, couldn’t afford any interruptions to their services. We had to work out a way to change the engine mid-flight.

Because we shared our client’s concerns about disruption, we prioritised continuity and stability above all else. We chose a phased implementation, carefully maintaining parallel systems so clients experienced no interruption to their daily operations. This involved incrementally rolling out new functionality alongside existing systems, ensuring that every stage was stable before proceeding to the next. We know from firsthand experience that even minor disruptions can carry significant business, regulatory, and reputational risks; therefore, our transformation was deliberately designed to avoid these pitfalls.

Technology transformation is rarely just a technical exercise. It’s as much about culture and coordination as infrastructure and code. One of the key reasons our transformation was successful was the level of cross-functional collaboration throughout the business. Product managers, engineers, compliance leads, and client support teams all actively shaped the programme. Everyone understood what was at stake and was committed to protecting our clients from disruption. We also adopted a continuous feedback loop. This helped us course-correct early, spot issues before they escalated, and build confidence in the process.

Strong leadership alignment played a crucial role in driving the programme forward. Our executive team recognised early that this wasn’t simply a technology upgrade. It was a business transformation affecting nearly every part of the organisation. By tying the programme to GBST’s broader strategic goals, we ensured that decisions were guided by long-term priorities rather than short-term convenience. This clarity helped the teams stay focused and aligned, even when the programme encountered complexity.

Planning over speed

Upgrading a well-established platform into a modern, cloud-native solution involved significant complexity and careful planning. It involved rebuilding the underlying infrastructure, redesigning the software architecture, leveraging new technology, and ensuring compatibility with existing systems and processes. Such a comprehensive overhaul required careful planning, testing and execution, demanding significant effort and time. We rebuilt Composer from the ground up to deliver a modern architecture designed to work intuitively with our clients’ existing operations. Hence, you spend less time worrying about compatibility and more time serving your customers.

Moving from older systems to a modern platform also required a shift in mindset. We had to rethink how our teams approached configuration, deployment, and client engagement. Instead of replicating old ways of working on new systems, we saw this as a chance to design for the future. That meant simplifying workflows, improving integration points, and ensuring Composer could scale with evolving client needs.

We learned firsthand that technology transformation cannot — and should not — be rushed. Our two-year timeline reflected our deep commitment to safeguarding our clients’ operational integrity. Carefully rebuilding Composer’s foundations allowed us to deliver a modern, stable platform that seamlessly integrates with client workflows. Rigorous planning and testing ensured our upgrade never compromised our clients’ ability to meet their obligations or serve their customers effectively.

Tips and recommendations

What would we recommend to organisations preparing for a major platform upgrade?

1. First, define what success really looks like. Clear objectives aligned with client outcomes and internal priorities help keep the programme focused.
2. Second, allow time for deep integration testing. It’s easy to underestimate the complexity that sits within legacy processes, and rushed transitions often create more problems than they solve.
3. Third, maintain open communication at every stage. This applies to both internal teams and clients who may be affected. Transparency builds trust and gives people time to prepare for change.
4. Finally, involving teams early in the process helped us build shared ownership of the outcomes and avoid resistance when changes were introduced.

These principles guided our work and helped us avoid the most common pitfalls of transformation.

Future-ready – with continued innovation

Our experience in proactively upgrading Composer means we have a deep understanding of how to position our clients for ongoing market leadership. Composer is now cloud-native, highly secure, and specifically designed to adapt as your business evolves. Clients benefit from faster onboarding, reduced operational overheads, and smoother compliance processes. Whether it’s new regulations, digital innovation pressures, or changing customer demands, Composer is built for adaptability because we’ve navigated these challenges ourselves.

We aim to ensure that GBST consistently delivers outstanding investment administration, enabling our partners to continue providing the best possible service to their clients. Our proactive journey in upgrading Composer has provided us with unique insights into successfully managing complex technology transformations, positioning us as a trusted partner for your future challenges. We’re uniquely positioned to support you, not just as a technology provider, but as a partner who’s been through the journey themselves.

Our journey offers practical insight for financial services organisations navigating their own technology transformation. Every programme differs, but the risks, complexities, and opportunities often follow familiar patterns. We know what it takes to change the engine mid-flight and still land safely, so we can help you build a roadmap that protects operations, supports growth, and sets your business up for long-term success.

Speak to us. We’ve been there and are ready to help you chart a smooth course forward.

This article originally appeared in Pan Finance on 20 June 2025.

Posted in: Wealth Management Administration