Atlanta, Omaha, Las Vegas, Los Angeles…
That describes my homes away from home for the week leading up to and following today. While I didn’t have time to address some of the news that’s come across my wires, I still put together my Bits and Bytes list so you can quickly scan what’s going on in financial planning technology.
Here are this week’s stories of interest:
Erado Shatters 2011 Growth Projection from MarketWatch.com
[I’d like to say I played a part in Erado’s success, what with all the mentions here on FPPad and in my social media compliance presentations delivered across the country. Even so, all the marketing and buzz does nothing if the product fails to deliver on a fundamental need: automated, no-thought capture and archiving of social media messages posted by registered investment advisers and broker-dealer representatives.] Erado, the nation’s leading compliance and archiving firm in electronic communication, formally announces their record-shattering growth in 2011. Amongst many other key milestones, Erado added over 30 new broker-dealer clients and partners, provided social media compliance services to over 40,000 advisors, and will be hiring more employees from the area.
Keeping Files In The Cloud from the Wall Street Journal
[This is a preview of a larger story to which I contributed several ideas on best practices advisers should follow when deciding to use cloud services for file storage. You can view the full article with a free trial to Dow Jones NewsPlus.] Advisers are increasingly turning to Web-based services to hold business-related information, for the convenience of accessing it from anywhere. Some use simpler storage sites, while others are contracting a comprehensive document-management system based in the cloud, which may actually make it easier for advisers to meet some regulatory obligations.
Mercer Advisors Due Diligence Team Selects Orion Advisor Services as Portfolio Accounting Service Partner from MarketWatch.com
[With just one client, Orion effectively boosted its assets under administration by almost 6%. The competition is getting serious between the industry’s top service providers!] Orion Advisor Services, LLC was selected as the outsourced portfolio accounting partner by Mercer Advisors, a total wealth management firm with $3.5 billion in assets under management as of September 2011. The Mercer Advisors due diligence team includes 10 individuals that made on-site visits to a number of portfolio accounting service bureaus, including Orion.
