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FPPad On Air with Russ Thornton to talk about cool apps for advisers

Posted on November 9, 2012 by in On Air

Today I connected with Russ Thornton of Wealthcare Capital Management (find Russ online at http://www.wealthcareforwomen.com) on a Google+ Hangouts On Air to talk about several apps and services he’s using to get more done in his business.

I want to make this a weekly broadcast for your benefit. Have suggestions on future guests, topics, or time slots? Contact me!

Here are the links to those apps we highlighted in the Hangout:

http://jobchangenotifier.com
https://birthdayco.com/index.php
http://getpocket.com
https://www.contactually.com

Home


http://www.workflowy.com

Click here to watch on YouTube, and thanks for watching!

Like integration, “mobile compatible” means different things to different people

Posted on November 9, 2012 by in Video Spotlight

When a technology vendor advertises a product as being “mobile compatible,” what does that really mean?

More often than not, mobile-compatible products usually display static reports and charts on mobile devices like tablets and smartphones. But that’s not really taking advantage of mobile device capabilities, most notably a device’s touchscreen.

TrustFort, primarily known for its portfolio reporting technology to broker-dealers and RIAs, is now moving ahead with mobile app development with several of its partners that goes beyond basic report presentations, and instead provides a rich, interactive user experience. Such an environment lets both advisers and clients drill down into the details of financial and investment plans, touching different elements and expanding certain sections to view more detailed information.

Hear more about the mobile app development underway from TrustFort president and CEO Atindra Barua.

(click to watch on YouTube)

FPPad Bits and Bytes for November 9

Posted on November 9, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

What Does Windows 8 Mean for Advisors? from AdvisorOne.com

[I’m clearly biased here. I left Windows for Mac OS in May 2011 and it was the best thing I did. I clearly get more done because I spend less time on intrusive system updates and waiting for programs to finish reporting errors. So my prediction on Windows 8: advisers will avoid it until they have to buy a new desktop or laptop. And what about your custodian’s web-based programs? I bet they’ve not been tested with Internet Explorer 10. Oh, have you seen the Three Sheets video making the rounds on Windows 8 first impressions? see: (some NSFW language) A Drunk Person Tries Windows 8 For the First Time] Early expectations for Windows 8 are that it will not receive as much attention and fanfare as the previous operating system. However, remember that with Windows 7, the initial goal was to quickly erase the memory of Windows Vista.

Salesforce, powered by Orion Connect, gets phone system integration and smarter email reports

Posted on November 8, 2012 by in Portfolio Management Software, Video Spotlight

I’m still not convinced that Salesforce, out of the box, is an attractive CRM for financial advisers.

Most firms need to customize much of what comes with the standard Salesforce package; some succeed after making substantial investments, while others give up, frustrated by the seemingly endless list of things to change (see: Salesforce for financial advisers solicits bipolar reactions; AppCrown attempts to resolve disjointed CRM).

Instead of customizing Salesforce in house, many advisers are leveraging third-party utilities found in the AppExchange. One of those utilities comes from Orion Advisor Services, called Orion Connect.

For details on Orion Connect and several new functions it offers, I spoke with Orion Advisor Services president and CEO Eric Clarke in the video spotlight below.

(click to watch on YouTube)

PODCAST: Daily follow-up reminders help financial advisers maintain strong client relationships

Posted on November 5, 2012 by in Podcast

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Zvi Band, co-founder and CEO of Contactually

How did one financial adviser boost his client retention rate from 90% to 98%? According to this Wall Street Journal story, the answer was more client follow up.

So how do advisers target their most important client relationships with relevant follow-up reminders?

One way is by using a program called Contactually.

I’ve been a Contactually user for about a year (likely equivalent to a decade in “app years”). I first wrote about my experience with the program in January for Morningstar (see: Add Automation to Your E-mail Follow-Up).

I recently had the chance to connect with Contactually co-founder and CEO Zvi Band to learn more about how financial advisers are using Contactually to cultivate new and existing relationships and ultimately grow their business. Listen to the podcast of that conversation below.

FPPad On Air with Advisor Websites CEO Bart Wisniowski

Posted on November 2, 2012 by in On Air

Today I connected with Bart Wisniowski on a Google+ Hangouts On Air to talk about opportunities to improve financial advisors’ websites (duh!), new integrations and partnerships formed by the company, and lead generation tips.

I want to make this a weekly broadcast for your benefit. Have suggestions on future guests, topics, or time slots? Contact me!

Watch the replay on YouTube.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for November 2

Posted on November 2, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

Don’t forget to watch today’s broadcast with Bart Wisniowski of AdvisorWesbites.com on Google+. It starts at 4:15pm ET/1:15pm PT. Head over to my Google+ profile and click the “Join Hangout” button at that time.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Smarsh Launches Archiving & Compliance for Yammer from Smarsh.com

[(see Advisers using Yammer can enhance collaboration without sacrificing compliance for a podcast of this story) Yammer is a collaboration tool that provides an interface similar to the Facebook News Feed for your business. I’ve been recommending it in my Transformative Technology presentation to advisers for a year now as a way to supplant stand-up meetings in your office that can disrupt productivity and waste time. Now Smarsh has an archiving solution to capture and retain Yammer activity for both client-related and in-house communication.]  Smarsh®, the managed service leader in secure, innovative and reliable email archiving compliance solutions, today announced the launch of Archiving & Compliance for Yammer. Developed in partnership with Yammer, the hosted solution enables organizations to capture, preserve, search, supervise and produce Yammer files and communications in support of compliance, e-discovery and recordkeeping initiatives.

Schwab and Advent Software forge (historic) agreement — mostly for the good of Black Diamond users for now from RIABiz.com

[It’s nice that Schwab lets us know that an integration with Advent and Black Diamond is coming, but *when* it will actually be available to advisers is still anyone’s guess. If you’ve read our past stories on integrations from Fidelity and TD Ameritrade Institutional, you know that Schwab is playing catch up relative to their competition. So view this announcement as one way the industry’s biggest custodian is trying to fill the gap.] Schwab Advisor Services chose Advent Software as its first major portfolio management software partner for its grand ecosystem of software — Schwab Intelligent Integration.

Watch my live Google+ Hangout with Bart Wisniowski this Friday November 2 at 4:15PM Eastern

Posted on October 31, 2012 by in Video Spotlight

I continue to try and add to the ways you can learn new things about technology in financial services and wealth management.

This year, I launched both a YouTube channel and an iTunes Podcast featuring a variety of content, interviews, and screencasts on topics ranging from apps to workflow. With nearly 8,000 YouTube views and over 1,000 podcast downloads, you clearly are engaging this content and are likely sharing it with your colleagues.

Now I’m going to try another new way to deliver content to you.

Live Google+ Hangouts

Google+ Hangout with John Schobel and Blane Warrene of RegEd

Starting this Friday, November 2, I’m going to interview vendors and thought leaders live on Google+ Hangouts On Air.

Tune in this Friday at 4:15pm Eastern, 1:15pm Pacific, for my interview with Advisor Websites co-founder Bart Wisniowski. My agenda includes the one thing advisers are missing on their website and details of recent partnership announcements.

How to Watch

To watch Friday’s Hangout, you’ll need a free Google account. When logged in, simply visit my public Google+ profile, and at the top, you should see a button to join the Hangout On Air. That’s it!

And if you’re so inclined, feel free to submit your questions for Bart Wisniowski in the comments below, or you can tweet them to me at @BillWinterberg during the live broadcast.

 

 

PODCAST: Advisers using Yammer can enhance collaboration without sacrificing compliance

Posted on October 30, 2012 by in Compliance, Podcast, Social Media

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Advisers experimenting with enterprise social networks now have an option to solve their compliance needs.

Sam Kolbert-Hyle, vice president of business development and strategic initiatives at Smarsh, Inc.

There are a host of new collaboration tools on the market today, all attempting to harness the promise of an enterprise social network.

Services like Chatter, Jive, and Yammer allow you to create your own internal network for your business that resembles many of the popular networks like Facebook and Twitter.

These services offer many new ways to work with colleagues and review important news at a glance, but advisers must address one persistent complication of any new technology: compliance.

Until now, there have been few methods available to capture and archive content posted on enterprise social networks, which is required for all communications related to client service.

Earlier this week, Smarsh, the email and social media compliance provider, announced the launch of Archiving and Compliance for Yammer, the popular enterprise social network.

For more information on Archiving and Compliance for Yammer, I spoke with Sam Kolbert-Hyle, vice president of business development and strategic initiatives at Smarsh.

Listen to the podcast below to learn how these collaboration tools can now be used without sacrificing compliance.

Salesforce for financial advisers solicits bipolar reactions; AppCrown attempts to resolve disjointed CRM

Posted on October 29, 2012 by in Software

Salesforce.com is like black licorice among financial advisers; they either love it or they hate it.

Just 5% of all advisers who responded to the 2011 Financial Planning Magazine tech survey said they use Salesforce as their CRM. For a CRM widely used in other verticals, financial services just hasn’t warmed up to the program.

So along comes a company called AppCrown (you may remember them as E*Assist back in the 00s) with the hopes of successfully implementing the AppCrown variant of Salesforce in wealth management firms.

Here’s a short interview with AppCrown COO Franklin Tsung on why he believes the adoption of Salesforce.com will grow among financial advisers and how the company’s “pure play” integrations will contribute to its success in the market.

(click to view on YouTube)