Intelligent failure: How COOs can innovate without losing control
AI is creating new possibilities for investment operations, but for Katie Thorpe, Partner and Global COO at Partners Capital, adopting new technology is not simply a race to automate. The challenge is to innovate without compromising the controls, culture and client service on which an investment firm depends. At SuperReturn CFO/COO, Thorpe discussed the expanding role of AI, the importance of keeping humans in the loop and why Partners Capital is exploring a concept she describes as “intelligent failure”.
Key takeaways
- AI adoption across private markets is growing, but firms remain at very different stages of implementation.
- The complexity of fund structures, IRR calculations and valuations makes accuracy particularly important.
- AI can reduce manual work, but reliable automation depends on clean, structured data.
- As valuations become faster and more frequent, traceability and auditability become increasingly important.
- AI can support judgment, but accountability still sits with people.
Complexity is increasing
Partners Capital continues to serve mission-driven institutions and families, but Thorpe says the environment around that service has become more complex.
AI use cases have accelerated rapidly, creating both new opportunities and new operational challenges. At the same time, changing client expectations, including those associated with intergenerational wealth transfer, mean firms need to understand increasingly varied goals and priorities.
The operational challenge is therefore not simply doing more.
It is retaining a bespoke level of service as the organisation, technology and client base evolve.
AI is exciting, and terrifying
Thorpe sees enormous potential in repetitive workflows.
But she is equally clear about the risks.
I find it exciting and terrifying in equal measure.
Katie Thorpe, Partner and Global COO, Partners Capital
Rather than imposing automation from the top, Partners Capital asks the people closest to individual processes to identify their pain points. AI can then be used alongside those teams to solve specific problems.
The case for intelligent failure
Thorpe expects investment excellence and client service to remain fundamental over the coming decades.
What must change is the organisation’s willingness to experiment.
Partners Capital has been exploring what Thorpe calls “intelligent failure”: accepting that innovation will inevitably involve experiments that do not work, while controlling the way those failures happen.
We’re not going to get everything right, and that’s okay.
Katie Thorpe, Partner and Global COO, Partners Capital
The important distinction is between a failed experiment and an uncontrolled operational failure.
A firm can test new ways of working, learn from mistakes and iterate, but it must do so without exposing clients or core operations to unacceptable risk.
For the COO, that may increasingly become the balancing act at the centre of the role. Innovation has to move quickly enough to matter. Governance has to remain strong enough that the firm can afford to learn.