Active in the asset management industry since 2013, the SAND agency today announced the launch of SAND360, the 1st WordPress(1) plugin entirely dedicated to asset management professionals. Founder Antoine ROGER tells us more. Fibee: can you tell us a few words about your agency?A.R.: SAND is an agency specialized in online communication for asset management professionals, which we launched nearly 10 years ago. We support IFAs, private banks and asset management companies in their website creation and redesign projects. The animation and development of their social networks and the sending of their emailings. Fibee: is there a reason why we’ve chosen to focus on this particular sector?A.R.: Sophie, Virgile and I have been working in this sector for many years in different agencies. We started working with Virgile nearly 20 years ago, developing Flash(2) performance graphs for DNCA… That’s something! It therefore seemed logical to join forces when the time came to move forward with this adventure. Three of us at first, then Jean-Baptiste joined us a few years later. Fibee: so you’ve launched the SAND360 plugin, what’s it all about?A.R.: since we’ve been developing websites on WordPress for 10 years, we thought it would be a good idea to create a plugin that would work on all sites created on this platform, offering a number of adapted tools. It’s a kind of Swiss Army knife for management companies, offering a wide range of functions. Firstly, it allows users to simply import the VLs of their funds from any source, be it a csv, Json or database file, all manageable from the user interface. It then performs all the performance calculations based on a simple VL. Last but not least, it allows data to be displayed in the form of graphs and performance charts, all using a simple shortcode(3), as WordPress users are accustomed to doing. This makes it easy for the user to create a new fund page, display a product performance graph in an article, or simply integrate dynamically loaded data into a text block. Just copy and paste. So Fibee is a tool for collecting, processing and retrieving fund data?A.R.: Yes, but not only that. There’s also a tool for updating all commercial and regulatory documents for funds and the company. And it’s “all-in-one”: this plugin brings together all the functionality that was previously scattered across different plugins and bits of code embedded here and there. Fibee: is it easy to download and install?A.R.: we’re currently installing and customizing it to suit our customers’ needs, but it’s not impossible that in the not-too-distant future we’ll be offering it for download on WordPress or from our website.
Fibee: what are the next steps?A.R.: we have a number of projects underway, including the management of disclaimers and investor profiles, which we’d like to integrate directly into the plugin. We’re also moving ahead with automated plugin updates so that our users always have an “up to date” version installed on their sites. Interview Conducted by Fibee (1) As of May 1, 2021, WordPress is used by 41.4% of websites worldwide, (2) Adobe Flash, or Flash, formerly Macromedia Flash, is a set of software technologies for manipulating vector graphics, raster images and ActionScript scripts to create or use multimedia content. Wikipedia (3) Short code using a fund’s ISIN code to display a dynamic element.