Financial planning documents can be long, complicated, and intimidating. With so many assumptions, graphs, and recommendations, do your clients’ eyes glaze over when presented with their final plan?
Perhaps a succinct, one-page diagnostic report might be in order.
In this month’s column for Morningstar Advisor, I reviewed goalgamiPro from Advisor Software, Inc., which may help reduce that dazed and confused look you receive when delivering planning advice to clients.
Let’s face it. Time after time you hear speakers at conferences and on webinars talk about implementing workflow processes in your practice. It easy to talk about, but much harder to effectively implement in a busy financial advisory firm.
So why not start small and target your own personal workflow?
In this month’s Quickview update for Morningstar, I cover a clever web app designed to help you do one thing: master your personal workflow.
Workflowy is a clever web app to help you tackle your personal workflow
Workflowy is the app I reviewed, and the screenshot above shows you an example of how I use it for my own workflow. Read the full column and start experimenting with Workflowy this weekend.
Hot off the wires this morning (and perhaps coincidentally timed with this week’s T3 conference?), Envestnet announced it will buy Tamarac, Inc., the Seattle-based provider of integrated wealth management software for RIAs, for $54 million in cash.
Click here to view the press release on TheStreet.com
In a statement, Tamarac CEO Stuart DePina said, “We are excited to build on the momentum Tamarac has generated with independent RIA’s seeking to streamline their operations through integrated technology and outsourced services. Now that we can leverage Envestnet’s solutions, Tamarac will accelerate many aspects of our strategic initiatives while allowing us to focus on our client’s needs.”
I’m attending the T3 conference today through Saturday, and have some time blocked off to interview Brandon Rembe, CTO of Tamarac this Friday. I’ll be sure to ask what this means for Tamarac’s clients and post the video shortly thereafter (so you might want to subscribe to the FPPad YouTube channel while you’re there).
How one family office uses document management from Laserfiche
One of the afternoon sessions I attended featured one family office’s implementation of Laserfiche content management software.
Ed Wright, Managing Director of Piedmont Financial Trust Company and oversees technology and operations for the Greensboro, NC firm. Piedmont formed in 1928 as a family office, and it now has 25 staff to manage 650 accounts for 350 family members. In addition to family office and private trust company services, Piedmont provides asset allocation, investment monitoring, estate planning, tax prep, bill payment, education management services to its clients.
Prior to 2008, Piedmont suffered from inefficiencies due to volumes of unmanaged data, high data maintenance costs, and too many boxes of paper taking up valuable office space. Wright also commented that processes to comply with Office of Foreign Asset Control requirements were cumbersome due to their paper-based nature.
Wright sought a solution to alleviate such inefficiencies in the firm and heard about Laserfiche from an Advent User Group to which he belonged. Wright soon connected with Kevin Smith and his team at One Source Document Solutions.
In total, Wright said it took about six to eight months to fully roll out Laserfiche across the firm. They mandated buy-in from everyone, but involved all employees in clever games and incentives (like giving away iPod Touches) to increase their participation and engagement in the new environment.
At the same time, Piedmont also changed CRM systems and selected Microsoft Dynamics with customization from Salentica. Much of the scanning was performed with several multi-function printers from Sharp and lots of elbow grease.
Piedmont also worked with a web developer to create a secure document storage area on the firm’s website, leveraging Laserfiche to power the system behind the scenes. With some clever use if license management, Piedmont is able to share one license for all the ad-hoc website vault visits by clients. It’s a clever implementation, and I’m impressed with the flexibility of the Laserfiche API to support such requests.
Finally, Wright ended the session by stating that the ROI on Laserfiche far outweighs its purchase price simply in time savings alone. On top of that, their tax department loves Laserfiche, as they can quickly find any client tax document, saving valuable time during the February-to-April busy season. Laserfiche workflow has also streamlined the OFAC approval process, and Piedmont has been able to eliminate its off-site storage for archived paper documents.
It always nice to hear of financial services firms using document management systems like Laserfiche, and from Wright’s presentation, it’s clear that such software is a requirement for any firm, not just a nice-to-have.
The CEO of Laserfiche, a leading Enterprise Content Management, provides an update and identifies plans for the future.
Nien-Ling Wacker, Laserfiche Founder & CEO welcomed a group of over 1,600 attendees to Empower 2012, the company’s annual conference held at the Anaheim Marriott in Southern California. Wacker provided updates on the company’s accomplishments and future goals to a mix of users, resellers, vendors, integrators and media.
Wacker began by comparing the economic climate of the last four years to the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme. No matter how many people are assigned to fix the problems du jour, nobody seems to be able to put things back together again. But despite the severe economic headwinds, Laserfiche managed to buck the trend and continue to grow and expand.
Wacker noted that the company continues to hire to meet demands on all levels, adding 137 new Rio installations in 2011. Laserfiche hired 56 people in 2009, 56 in 2010, and 73 in 2011, and has always offered a 50% match to employees’ 401(k) accounts. “Maybe you should join us!” said Wacker jokingly.
Wacker then provided a sneak peek into what Laserfiche is planning for 2012. First off is the rollout of a Solution Exchange, a web-based network of users that can interact with one another and share best practices of using the system. In addition, there will be online calculators that can illustrate the ROI of adopting ECM, identify workflow scripting, optimal business processes and more.
Laserfiche is also growing the Certified Professional Program (CPP), adding a Gold certification to the list of skills Laserfiche vendors and integrators can earn.
Finally, Wacker alluded to a sneak preview of a Laserfiche app for iPad, and there’s a video currently available on Laserfiche’s conference website you can view. Click here to view it.
Obviously more will come as the conference continues, so when I have an opportunity for a break, I’ll do my best to share new insight and information with you.
Reviews of the major CRM applications in use by advisers are fairly easy to come by. As programs like Redtail, Junxure, and Salesforce support thousands of users, advisers can usually find information posted by others on each program’s strengths and weaknesses.
But finding similar information on the smaller CRM providers is much more challenging. One of those programs that fits in the “smaller provider” category is Grendel CRM from Big Brain Works, LLC
I took the opportunity to review Grendel for this month’s column on Morningstar Advisor. I was impressed with its breadth and depth of features, so find out why this promising CRM package just hasn’t caught on with advisers.
Read my column, One Capable CRM Flying Under Most Advisors’ Radar at Morningstar.com/Advisor
My contribution schedule to the Journal of Financial Planning has changed for 2012. Instead of columns in the May and November editions, look for my articles in this year’s January and July editions.
To kick off 2012, I highlight 13 products and services you can purchase in 2012 that are sure to increase your firm’s growth and your personal productivity.
And you don’t need to spend big bucks to benefit from these ideas. There’s something for everyone with budgets ranging from as little as $100 up to $5,000.
If your advisory firm’s value proposition consists of personalized investment advice tailored to your clients’ individual needs, your business might be in trouble.
Today, Personal Capital launched its website where consumers can log in and view a financial dashboard of all their aggregated accounts. Backed by former Intuit chief executive Bill Harris, Personal Capital is the latest effort to deliver personalized investment advice to the masses using scalable web and mobile applications.
I’ve included the introductory video of Personal Capital’s benefits below (click to view on Vimeo.com)
In addition, Jessica Toonkel highlights more details of Personal Capital’s launch, including their proposed fee structure, for Reuters.
Click here to read Internet entrepreneur dives into wealth management at Reuters.com.
Leading up to this week’s FPA Experience 2011, the largest annual gathering of financial planning professionals, Junxure today announced the release of Version 9 of its CRM software.
The latest version offers additional security features and updates to the Import Wizard interfaces. In the press release, Junxure president Greg Friedman said, “Junxure 9 delivers the tight controls that will be necessary for the success of upcoming custodial interfaces.”
Click here to read the full press release (eReleases.com)
Also, additional details on Version 9’s features can be viewed in the company’s September 2011 newsletter.
My commentary below was originally included in September 9’s Bits and Bytes post, but I pulled it out because it deserves to be featured in its own thread.
Custodians and technology vendors are doing all they can to win the business of advisers. The one tool used by the majority of firms is CRM. So in theory, if one can deliver the “best” CRM solution, one will likely win the majority of business from advisers. Salesforce seems to be the common thread in the CRM space heading into the final quarter of 2011 (see September 9’s Bits and Bytes for details).
My Thoughts on Salesforce
I think it’s safe to say that all roads in adviser CRM developments are leading to Salesforce. After all, they’re one of the leading providers of a CRM platform to enterprises. They had 45,000+ attendees at last week’s Dreamforce conference. They have Chatter, a built-in social collaboration product, to expand the platform’s functionality. And they have mobile apps.
But most advisers know that out-of-the-box, Salesforce is not designed for the way they do business. It needs customization, sometimes extensive and costly customization. To solve the customization issue, several providers exist that build and support overlays to the Salesforce platform. See AppCrown and Concenter Services. Then there’s the customer service and support element. I hear from frustrated advisers that they can’t get decent customer support once they sign on. And all Salesforce plans require an annual contract, so if 90 days go by and the firm hates Salesforce, there are no refunds.
And now, TD Ameritrade, Schwab Intelligent Technologies, and even Orion Advisor Services are customizing Salesforce. So which one will have the best (or better) custom overlay? And which one will provide the best support to its advisers?
I feel the vendor/custodian that figures out how to provide the best customer support to its advisers will win the war in CRM. Building the best custom overlay is just the battle.
