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FPPad Bits and Bytes for June 17

Posted on June 17, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

Now that summer is here (where it won’t go below 75 degrees here in Dallas for another two months), the typical slowdown is upon us. I’m taking the opportunity to focus on several projects that I put off this spring and build up a library of topics for future blog posts and columns.

So is there something you’re dying to learn about in the financial adviser technology world? Perhaps a vendor tool or web-based productivity plugin? Contact me and let me know. I get my best content from advisers like you.

Now on to this week’s stories of interest:

An adviser dives into video stream from InvestmentNews.com

Davis Janowski had a hard time tracking down advisers using video and screen sharing software with clients and prospects. But when he identified one, he learned of the many ways this technology is helping one adviser grow his business.

What one big RIA has to say about its switch from Advent Axys to Advent Portfolio Exchange from RIABiz.com

How much better is APX over Axys, and it is good enough for a firm to want to stay on Advent’s platform? Read about one firm’s process of evaluating their options and APX conversion experience.

Think your millionaire clients aren’t e-media savvy? Think again from InvestmentNews.com

[Bill’s note: You shouldn’t be surprised by the results in Fidelity’s survey. The question is, what are you doing to deliver service to clients over their preferred media?] According to a Fidelity Investments survey released today, 85% of millionaires use or are willing to use electronic media, such as e-mail, social-media sites and text messaging, compared with only 43% of financial advisers and brokers.

SEI Quick Poll: 1 in 4 Top Financial Advisors Use Electronic Tablets for Client and Prospect Meetings from Marketwire.com

According to a survey of 150 top financial advisors at SEI’s National Strategic Advisor Conference in May, one in four respondents indicated they currently use electronic tablets for client and prospect meetings. Additionally, nearly half (46 percent) of advisors are thinking about using electronic tablets for work.

Securities America Jumps on the Social Media Bandwagon from RegisteredRep.com

[Socialware will be Securities America’s compliance technology solution] During its National Conference in Orlando, Fla., this week, independent broker/dealer Securities America announced its new social media program, which will allow all of its 1,800 reps to access and post content on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter in mid-July, said Leia Farmer, deputy chief compliance officer.

 

FPPad Bits and Bytes for June 10

Posted on June 10, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

I’ve spent the week catching up on a backlog of work, vendor demos, phone calls, and reading due to May’s busy travel schedule. Tungle.me deserves recognition for helping me keep my sanity while scheduling all the calls and demos this week. If you haven’t heard of Tungle.me, read my column for Morningstar Advisor A Simpler Way to Schedule Meetings and try it yourself.

Now on with this week’s stories of interest:

Cabinet NG Creates New Class of Web-Based Document Management with CNG-WEB from CabinetNG.com

Cabinet NG, an on-premise document management software application, extends its functionality to the web with its latest release of CNG-WEB, making document capture and access from remote locations easier than ever.

One RIA’s unvarnished views on Advent, Black Diamond, Tamarac, IAS, Orion and Schwab PortfolioCenter after an odyssey of test drives from RIABiz.com

Take six portfolio management applications, drop them in a bucket, shake it around with a dose of trials and due diligence, and out comes one winner (in theory). Here’s one adviser’s perspective on hashing out a portfolio management solution for his practice.

Choosing Software That Works for Your Advisory Firm—Part 7: The Keys to Success from AdvisorOne.com

The seventh update in a series by Spenser Segal of ActiFi designed to present best practices to advisors on how to choose, implement and monitor new technology for an advisory firm.

Advent Brings APX to Pershing NetX360 from Marketwire.com

Advent Software, Inc., a leading provider of software and services for the global investment management industry, today announced that Pershing’s introducing broker-dealer and independent registered investment advisor (RIA) customers will now have access to Advent Portfolio Exchange® (APX) through NetX360™, its innovative, open-architecture technology solution.

 

FPPad Bits and Bytes for June 3

Posted on June 3, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

This week’s FPA NorCal Conference wrapped up a hectic month of May, involving four separate conferences in four cities across the U.S., combined with two short vacations coupled with the travel.

Still, we’ve managed to keep an eye out for relevant technology articles in the financial planning profession. Here are this week’s stories of interest:

AIG’s Advisor Group to roll out revised platform from InvestmentNews.com

See what an investment in the “healthy seven digits” looks like for representatives under the AIG Advisor Group technology platform.

Commonwealth’s revamp of technology includes subtracting Advent from RIABiz.com

Advent first buys Black Diamond, but then Commonwealth Financial Network breaks its ties with Advent Software citing a lack of value for the cost.

One-Click Calling from CRM at MorningstarAdvisor.com

In Bill’s monthly blog at Morningstar Advisor, he discusses how advisers can simplify making phone calls with web browser extensions. Say goodbye to 10-digit dialing!

FPPad Bits and Bytes for May 27

Posted on May 27, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

This week’s Bits and Bytes is a big one! There are a few stories carried over from the previous week, as updating this page when traveling exclusively with an iPad is not the easiest thing to do, but a lot of great stories entered the wires this week, too.

And a reminder, Bill will be attending FPA NorCal next week in San Francisco, presenting Cultivating Clients in a Connected World on Wednesday afternoon. If you’ll be there, stop by and introduce yourself!

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Choosing Software That Works for Your Advisory Firm—Part 6: Ensuring New Technology Meets Your Business Goals from AdvisorOne.com

The sixth update in a series by Spenser Segal of ActiFi designed to present best practices to advisors on how to choose, implement and monitor new technology for an advisory firm.

Compliance and Connectivity from Financial-Planning.com

Well, well, it seems that Bill’s presentation Cultivating Clients in a Connected World has persuaded Bob Veres to consider adopting social media for purposes other than marketing and search engine optimization. See what he has to say about advisers considering this new communication medium (and follow @bobveres on Twitter).

Smarsh Report Identifies Electronic Communications Compliance Gaps at Smarsh.com

Smarsh, the email and social media archiving solution provider, released results from a survey of compliance professionals regarding the use of electronic communications including social media. In summary, it confirms what you already know: compliance professionals aren’t up to speed on supervising and archiving electronic communication, specifically social media.

Tweet on the Street from NYTimes.com

Morgan Stanley is ready to unleash its 17,800 brokers into popular social media service Twitter (their archive and monitoring solution is Socialware). But nothing they post will be unscripted. Good luck with that, we say.

IPS AdvisorPro® and Redtail Integrate Technology Systems from IPSAdvisorPro.com

IPS AdvisorPro® and Redtail Technology announced the availability of a new data integration between their industry leading technology platforms for financial advisors. The new integration will streamline the preparation of Investment Policy Statements (IPS) by automatically populating IPS AdvisorPro® fields with client information contained in Redtail’s CRM solution.

After tortoise-like beginnings, AssetBook is now on-the-hop in portfolio management software from RIABiz.com

One smaller but fast-emerging portfolio management software firm is AssetBook. Based in McHenry, Md., it has burst onto the portfolio management software scene thanks to a recent marketing push and now has 150 firms using its services.

 

FPPad Bits and Bytes for May 20

Posted on May 20, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

Bill is attending NAPFA National 2011’s final day today after appearing as a panelist for Thursday’s session on adviser technology. As always, look for the live tweets from this conference which can be found under the #NAPFA11 hashtag.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Behind the scenes in social media at InvestmentNews.com

As regulators take their own sweet time coming up with guidelines for social media, the marketplace is coming up with its own solutions for financial advisers.

A blessing from Charles Goldman helped seal the Advent-Black Diamond deal from RIABiz.com

It was a big deal for the RIA business. Yet the planned combination of Advent Software and Black Diamond was not so large that investment bankers got called in to finance or advise on the transaction. What sufficed in place of Goldman Sachs, it turns out, was Charles Goldman.

Tweets That Mean Business from Financial Advisor Magazine

Advisors are finding that social media is more helpful than just sharing silly things like what you ate for dinner last night.

 

 

FPPad Bits and Bytes for May 13

Posted on May 13, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

We’re attending the 2011 FPA DFW Financial Planning Symposium today (our second of four conferences this month!) and will be live tweeting updates using the #FPADFW hashtag.

In the meantime, below are this week’s best stories in financial planning technology.

Read this month’s column for Morningstar Advisor, A Popular CRM Gets an Upgrade

Over the last 12 months, Redtail product developers and engineers have been working hard to prepare a new version of its CRM, code-named Project Leapfrog, scheduled for official release in January 2012. In this month’s column, Bill explores the new features and design of Project Leapfrog and how they improve this already-popular CRM.

Cabinet NG First to Offer Scheduling, Workflow and Document Management in One Package from MarketWire.com

Cabinet NG, provider of document management and workflow management software, today announced the latest version of CNG-SAFE 7.0. The new version aligns document and contact management through its breakthrough scheduling capability making it an industry first with scheduling, workflow and document management in one core package.

Cambridge, Commonwealth vault advisors into social media; the boost is mostly free, for now from RIABiz.com

Sensing the urgency for advisors to have access to social media, Cambridge Investment Research and Commonwealth Financial Network have begun offering their advisors coaching and technology services to help them use social web sites.

Choosing Software That Works for Your Advisory Firm-Part 5: How to Implement New Technology from AdvisorOne.com

The fifth update in a six-part series by Spenser Segal of ActiFi designed to present best practices to advisors on how to choose, implement and monitor new technology for an advisory firm.

Actiance Selected by Smarsh as Social Media Compliance Partner from Reuters.com

Actiance, enablers of the safe and compliant use of unified communications, collaboration and Web 2.0, today announced that Smarsh, the managed service leader in secure and reliable email archiving and compliance solutions, has expanded its agreement with Actiance to include the Socialite platform.

 

 

FPPad Bits and Bytes for May 6

Posted on May 6, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

Today is the final day of FPA Retreat 2011, and Bill will soon be flying to Baltimore for a short weekend visit before returning to Dallas next Monday. As the events at Retreat unfolded, we’ve taken brief breaks to cover the best of technology news for advisers this week.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

TechCheck: Archiving for QuickBooks gets quicker from InvestmentNews.com

This InvestmentNews update covers a new Quickbooks integration in eFileCabinet Inc., a free social media policy resource, and news of the partnership between Trust Company of America and Black Diamond Performance Reporting.

TradeWarrior and TradePMR Announce Integrated Partnership from MarketWire.com

TradeWarrior and TradePMR announced today an integration between the two firms. The partnership provides TradePMR advisors with the ability to seamlessly export their client data files into TradeWarrior’s powerful rebalancing and trading system. The affiliation marks the first time TradePMR has made rebalancing software available to their advisors.

Lean on Me at FA-Mag.com

The major custodians are taking a leaf from the page of the independent broker-dealers who, in the best of cases, look beyond their advisors’ need for trade execution to the entire area of practice management.

Dropping Out of the Tech Arms Race at RegisteredRep.com

But even while confidence has slowly crept back among advisors, as the market has cooperated as well, many are still holding tight to the lessons of the past few years — spending on technology, but with a new kind of financial savvy and discretion.

Read Bill’s column for the May issue of the Journal of Financial Planning, Five Misconceptions About Document Management

Financial planners have benefited tremendously from new technologies introduced in the digital age by being able to conduct much of their business while on the go. However, one area of the digital movement that financial planners have been slow to adopt is document management technology.

The Tech Needs of Advisors on Advisor TV at Financial-Planning.com

At the Tiburon CEO Summit, Stuart DePina, CEO of software provider, Tamarac Corp., discusses what firms need to do with technology to service clients more effectively.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for April 29

Posted on April 29, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

Today is the beginning of a busy itinerary for us at FPPad. We’re starting a short vacation to visit family in the Mid-Atlantic, then flying to Ft. Myers, Fla. for FPA Retreat 2011, swinging back north to Baltimore for a few days, then returning to Dallas May 9.

We’ll do our best to provide a weekly update on May 6, but if not, this week’s Bits and Bytes will have to hold you over for two weeks.

TD Ameritrade brings software elite to Dallas for an API summit from RIABiz.com

TD Ameritrade Institutional welcomed around a dozen financial adviser technology providers to its two-day Technology Summit this week in Dallas, TX and provided updates on using its Application Programming Interface.

BlazePortfolio Unveils ATOM ALIGN Cloud Service from BlazePortolio.com

BlazePortfolio today announced the launch of ATOM ALIGN Cloud Service, a hosted rebalancing and trade order management solution for investment organizations.

Choosing Software That Works for Your Advisory Firm-Part 4: Building an Action Plan from AdvisorOne.com

The fourth update in a six-part series by Spenser Segal of ActiFi designed to present best practices to advisors on how to choose, implement and monitor new technology for an advisory firm.

 

And in case you missed our earlier post, read BrightScope Launches Advisor Pages™, Aggregates SEC/FINRA Sources to Improve Adviser Search

One innovative company is attempting to change the way consumers search for financial advisers.

 

FPPad Bits and Bytes for April 22

Posted on April 22, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

We spent the week finalizing details on several new speaking engagements and attended Redtail University in Dallas on Tuesday to get a better look at Redtail’s Project Leapfrog CRM (a name we’re fond of as Bill once wrote software for LeapFrog Toys).

See our speaking page to view details on new engagements added for FPA chapters and NAPFA conferences later this year.

Without further ado, here are this week’s stories of interest:

Commonwealth Finds Compliant Solution to Interactive Social Media from FA-Mag.com (additional coverage from AdvisorOne.com)

FPPad readers know about Commonwealth Financial Network’s relationship with Erado from our Bits and Bytes coverage on April 8. In June, Commonwealth will be the first broker-dealer to roll out what it considers to be a FINRA-compliant social media solution to its reps. What remains to be seen, though, is exactly who is responsible for creating and maintaining social media policies and procedures: Commonwealth’s compliance department, individual reps, or both?

Trust Company of America adds inexpensive Black Diamond technology — in its own way from RIABiz.com (and press release coverage from FA-Mag.com)

With an eye toward creating a slick package of integrated, easy-to-use software for breakaway brokers, Trust Company of America reported today that it became the latest asset custodian to make Black Diamond Performance Reporting part of its arsenal.

Make sure all your data are safe from InvestmentNews.com

Keeping client data safe has become even more important in light of all the sensitive information that is now being stored on portable devices.

Read the final part of an interview AdvisorWebsites.com conducted with Bill on financial adviser technology:Bill Winterberg Talks Technology: Part 4 (be sure to read Part 1,Part 2 and Part 3).

FPPad Bits and Bytes for April 15

Posted on April 15, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

Did you file your tax return yet? We managed to file a few days before the potential government shutdown.

But if you’re still scrambling to complete those last few client returns (or extension filings), here’s a 60-second breakdown of this week’s top stories in financial planning technology so you can get back to your forms.

The inside story of a giant RIA’s move to Tamarac from Advent from RIABiz.com

The thought process behind $2-billion Signature Estate’s move from Advent to Tamarac for its portfolio management technology.

Mobile Apps 101: 10 Must-Have Applications for Every Advisor from Financial-Planning.com

Whether it’s an iPad, Android, BlackBerry or iPhone, just about everyone these days is walking around with a digital appendage to keep themselves constantly in the know and able to communicate with friends, family and business associates around the clock.

Read this month’s MorningstarAdvisor.com column Avoid E-mail Audit Headaches to determine how technology can prevent last-minute scrambling to assemble e-mail records for examiners.

And finally, read part three of an interview AdvisorWebsites.com conducted with Bill on financial adviser technology:Bill Winterberg Talks Technology: Part 3 (read Part 1 and Part 2)