July 29th, 2010 Bill Winterberg
Yes, FPPad has been very quiet for the month of July. We’re working hard behind the scenes managing consulting projects for clients, caring for my 16-month-old son, and authoring contributions to trade magazines and journals.
On the authoring front, I want to share a column I wrote for the August issue of Financial Planning magazine. Titled Better Balance, I highlight the trend of increased use of rebalancing software programs, but also address how these programs help with a firm’s fiduciary obligation to treat all clients fairly and equitably.
Click here to read Better Balance at Financial-Planning.com.
I hope you enjoy the column, and feel free to leave feedback in the comments below.
Posted in Compliance, Software | No Comments »
June 10th, 2010 Bill Winterberg
My June column for Morningstar Advisor is now available!
This month I tackle the issue of the constant back-and-forth messaging in which advisors often engage to schedule meetings with clients and colleagues. There is a better way!
Click here to read “A Simpler Way to Schedule Meetings” at Morningstar Advisor.
Posted in Software, Technology | No Comments »
June 7th, 2010 Bill Winterberg
Long-time subscribers to FPPad my remember my review of ClientVision CRM from AdviceAmerica of Fremont, Calif. back in February 2009.
Earlier today I received an alert that Fiserv, Inc., a financial services technology solution provider, announced its acquisition of AdviceAmerica and will add the company to its Investment Services unit.
Click here to read the press release from Fiserv.
Overall, I liked ClientVision for its simpler user interface and easy learning curve. After all, ClientVision integrated inside Microsoft Outlook, so if advisors know how to navigate Outlook, they can navigate ClientVision.
The press release didn’t mention ClientVision specifically, but I assume that the CRM will continue to be supported under Fiserv’s management.
Let’s hope that the folks managing ClientVision can throw in that global search feature that I talked about in my review. That combined with the low price point would make a capable entry-level CRM for many advisers.
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April 7th, 2010 Bill Winterberg
I learned today that Concenter Services, LLC, based here in Dallas/Ft. Worth, has purchased the assets of Moulton Strategic Partners, creator of the XLR8 overlay to Salesforce.
Moulton Strategic Partners was one of the first companies to customize Salesforce, the popular SaaS CRM tool, and offer it to advisors under the XLR8 label.
I haven’t yet found a website for Concenter Services, LLC, but its CEO, Mary Ferguson, maintains a profile on LinkedIn. Click here to view it.
Below is the full text of the announcement from Concenter:
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December 12th, 2009 Bill Winterberg
Thanks to Andrew Tobias for pointing me towards a bookmarklet called Readability (had I kept up on my Lifehacker RSS reading, I would have seen Readability back in March).
I could spend a few paragraphs explaining how to install the bookmarklet and how it makes reading stuff on the Internet easier, but allow me to let the pictures tell the story.
So, out of the two identical articles below, which one do you want to read?
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Posted in Efficiency, Software | 1 Comment »
December 7th, 2009 Bill Winterberg
I try my best to keep up to date on the popular paperless office solutions on the market, particularly on those that are popular in the independent financial services industry. Every once in a while I run across reviews of solutions that are polar opposites of one another.
Here’s one recent example.
December’s Financial Advisor magazine features a write-up of PaperPort Professional v12.0, reviewed by Joel Bruckenstein. In the review he says:
…its ease of use, low cost and robust features make it an attractive option for smaller advisory firms with limited technology and training budgets.
and…
For the price, PaperPort provides a great deal of functionality.
Sounds fairly promising. For $199, advisers can get an entry-level document management and scanning solution that provides some of the basic functionality needed to implement a paperless office. What’s not to like?
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November 1st, 2009 Bill Winterberg
Last week I wrote about how the Dropbox service prevented minor embarrassment when my presentation slides weren’t loaded on the presentation laptop.
I finally got around to reading the October edition of Forbes magazine and saw Lee Gomes’ Digital Tools column.
Click here to read Forget Disruption. Dive Deep Instead on Forbes.com.
The point of the column is how Dropbox programmers worked extremely hard to tackle some very difficult code, yet the result is a simple and elegant program that just works. Once you “get” the concept of Dropbox and start using it, you wonder how you ever lived without it.
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Posted in Software, Technology | 1 Comment »
October 25th, 2009 Bill Winterberg
I just returned from presenting at the SRI in the Rockies 2009 pre-conference event hosted for members of the First Affirmative Financial Network. I presented two breakout sessions for the group, one on using CRM systems to enhance relationship continuity with clients and one on increasing adviser productivity.
One of the tools I recommend in my productivity presentation is a service from Dropbox. Dropbox is a utility that synchronizes all files stored in the Dropbox folder on a computer with any of your other computers where the software is installed. It also has a web interface to browse, view, and download the files stored in the folder. The first 2GB of data stored on Dropbox is free; additional storage is available for a nominal fee.
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Posted in Software, Technology | 4 Comments »
October 16th, 2009 Bill Winterberg
So I’m reviewing my messages in GMail this evening and happened to glance over at the Google AdWords. In the top spot is an ad for Junxure CRM and boasts how “Version 7 Rocks!” (the mixed use of upper and lower case is interesting, too)
Isn’t Junxure on version 8 now?
Posted in Software | 1 Comment »
October 16th, 2009 Bill Winterberg
ProTracker Software Inc., the makers of ProTracker Advantage, announced an update to its resident CRM system (i.e. not SaaS or cloud service) as well as a new version of its Compliance Manual.
Full coverage of the releases is provided by Davis Janowski at Investment News.
ProTracker Advantage is a CRM system originally developed by Warren J. Mackensen, a fee-only planner in Hampton, N.H., for use in financial planning and wealth management firms.
In my opinion, ProTracker is a suitable CRM solution for advisers who seek a system with a lower learning curve than competitors and one that is not hosted over the Internet (and subject to service interruptions and less-than-realtime performance). Although one drawback of locally-installed programs is that someone must perform the update to the latest version!
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