Abacus Group, a global provider of IT services for alternative investment firms, today announced it has launched a new third-party patch management feature for its AbacusFLEXä IT-as-a-Service clients, as well as enhanced compliance reporting within the Abacus Client Portal. Abacus continues to invest heavily in its premium service, technology solutions, cybersecurity and R&D to meet the unique and stringent compliance requirements for investment firms.

The new automated third-party patching option provides Abacus clients with an added layer of security to help mitigate vulnerabilities on their workstations. Keeping workstations up-to-date with the latest versions of sensitive applications is a critical component of endpoint security. With automated patch management built into its IT systems, a firm has the opportunity to take advantage of this enhanced security layer. Abacus also provides clients a third-party patch management audit report within its Client Portal, assisting with compliance and oversight reporting.

The proprietary Abacus Client Portal is a suite of compliance tools developed in-house and designed to provide financial firms with complete transparency and control over their firm’s technology platform. Abacus has invested heavily in new reporting capabilities and features for clients within the portal so far this year. Clients can now access a newly enhanced set of inventory reports on their Abacus-managed assets, including a device inventory report that shows important detail about all of their workstations, mobile devices, virtual machines, routers and switches. A new antivirus activity report provides unprecedented visibility and transparency into virus and malware-based threats mitigated on their network. Other recent enhancements to the portal include new features providing clients with visibility into their firm’s web browser policy settings and email distribution lists.

Earlier this year, the company launched AbacusIDä, a new Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) feature that provides clients with single sign-on to third-party applications using their AbacusFLEX credentials. The secure and flexible identity management solution simplifies and improves control over employees’ access to a variety of web-based applications.

“We’ve invested significantly in our client services over the last year and the return on our investment is evident in the increasing number of clients seeking our managed IT solutions,” said Chris Grandi, CEO of Abacus Group. “The alternative investment management community demands expert providers of cloud solutions with state-of-the-art cybersecurity. Our goal is to always meet and exceed their needs.”

To provide the best service to its clients, Abacus has grown its team to over 170 employees across eight office locations in the US and in the UK. Earlier this year, a major expansion and renovation of the New York office was completed, doubling the square footage of the midtown Manhattan headquarters. The New York-based team from Proactive Technologies, which Abacus acquired in February, recently moved into the newly expanded space, fully integrating with the Abacus team and operations. Last year, the Abacus teams in London (UK) and Charlotte, N.C., moved into new, larger offices, and this year, the growing team in Los Angeles will soon be moving into a new space.

Over the last several months, Abacus has continued to be recognized with industry awards and accolades, including:

• Named to CRN’s 2019 Managed Service Provider (MSP) 500 list in the Pioneer 250 category, which recognizes North American solution providers with innovative approaches to managed services
• Winner of 2019 HFM US Hedge Fund Technology Award as “best IT service for small and start-up firms”
• Shortlisted for 2019 HFM European Hedge Fund Services Award
• Shortlisted for 2019 Fund Technology and WSL Award
• Abacus Group CEO Chris Grandi named winner of Finance Monthly’s 2019 Game Changers Award, which highlights the most innovative and forward-thinking leaders in the industry
• Meena Jeenarain, Director of Project Management at Abacus Group, named winner of the WatersTechnology 2019 Women in Technology and Data Awards as “Support Person of the Year (vendor)”