How Operational Due Diligence Is Being Transformed by Data and Digital Tools: Insights from Jason Windt of M&G Investments
Jason Windt, Director of Operational Due Diligence (ODD) in the Impact and Private Equity Group at M&G Investments, brings a sharp focus to how technology and data are reshaping investment operations. In his recent appearance on The Allocation Agenda podcast, Jason shared the strategic ways digital transformation is enhancing risk oversight, scalability, and investment decision-making across M&G's private equity portfolios.
With a background that spans HSBC and PwC, Jason now helps oversee operational diligence for a portfolio exceeding 500 funds with a lean team of just three. This challenge has fuelled M&G’s drive to digitize ODD processes, helping them maintain agility, consistency, and transparency.
Jason's team approaches ODD as a consultative partnership with fund managers, offering feedback that supports institutional improvements. This feedback loop enhances not just internal standards but also benefits the broader limited partner community, many of whom may lack a formal ODD program.
A central theme from the discussion was the importance of digitizing workflows to create scalable, repeatable processes. Automation not only reduces manual workload and headcount pressures but also ensures audit trails, real-time data access, and accountability. By minimizing email dependency and consolidating investment documentation, digital platforms bolster readiness and enable data-led trend analysis.
Without digital tools, Jason emphasized, the team would struggle to remain current with market trends or respond to ad hoc data requests. The ability to act on evolving market risks or regulatory changes would be severely hampered.
Private markets have historically lacked transparency. However, digital solutions are enabling real-time insights into liquidity positions, risk concentrations, and counterparty exposures. Jason pointed to the 2023 U.S. regional banking crisis as an example where timely data access became critical for identifying fund exposures and managing portfolio risk.
Historically, due diligence questionnaires (DDQs) involved manual email exchanges and unstructured document storage. Jason's team has replaced these inefficiencies with automated platforms that streamline data collection, track responses, and highlight red flags using pre-set risk criteria. These systems allow insights to be shared more effectively across the organization, enhancing internal alignment and external responsiveness.
Systematized DDQ responses also feed into vendor benchmarking. M&G uses this data to compare fund managers' service providers by region and strategy, a valuable tool when advising GPs or making internal decisions. By mapping ecosystem exposures (from cybersecurity consultants to fund administrators), Jason's team strengthens risk identification and mitigation.
By digitizing scorecards, M&G can benchmark ODD reviews across different operational domains. This allows leadership to assess weaknesses by peer group, AUM, or strategy. The integration of these tools with deal pipelines and CRM systems ensures that ODD insights are embedded into firm-wide decision-making.
Jason cited the new U.S. Department of Treasury outbound investment regulations as an example of how digital platforms enable agile compliance. When facing such shifts, M&G can survey its entire portfolio instantly, gathering the insights needed to act decisively.
The scope of ODD is expanding beyond pre-investment checks to ongoing monitoring. Digital systems enable real-time tracking of organizational changes, cyber threats, and compliance metrics. By building systematic risk monitoring into the investment lifecycle, allocators gain a competitive edge without overburdening GPs.
AI use in legal reviews, compliance automation, and DDQ completion is growing, but Jason highlighted the importance of governance. Ensuring data quality, security, and ethical AI use are becoming new pillars of ODD.
Jason closed with a clear message: integrating systems, centralizing data, and adopting a digital-first mindset enables more confident investing. As allocators seek to optimize operations, data-centric ODD programs will be critical to delivering robust oversight and sustained outperformance.