Tag Archives: Box

FPPad Bits and Bytes for January 29

Posted on January 29, 2016 by in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, Betterment launches 401k plans for business, Morningstar updates its iPad app for advisors, Vestorly raises a new venture capital, and more.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now!

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

Betterment for Business Officially Launches and Announces Advisory Board from PRNewswire.com

[This week’s top story features Betterment, as the automated investment service announced the official launch of Betterment for Business, the company’s 401(k) plan for employers.

Earlier this month, Betterment for Business received a very strong endorsement from the founder of a start-up called Estimize, saying the plan was so easy to set up that it could potentially crush the 401(k) industry.

With plan fees ranging from 60 basis points all the way down to 10 basis points for billion-dollar plans, and an interface built for ease of use, Betterment’s offering might actually be one that you recommend to your small business-owner clients, and you might even consider it for your own company’s 401(k) needs.

Among large 401(k) plans, established providers like Vanguard, Fidelity, and Financial Engines have a sizable advantage, but underserved companies establishing their first 401(k) plan should see Betterment as a very attractive solution.

This reminds me of how Betterment targeted young underserved investors back in 2010… huh.] Betterment, the largest automated investing service, today announced the official launch of Betterment for Business. The new 401(k) platform, which uses smarter technology and includes personalized investment advice for all plan participants, is now live for a charter group of plan sponsors and participants.


Preview Morningstar’s new iPad app dashboard for advisors from Morningstar

Sigma Prime leads Series A round for Vestorly from PEHub.com

Vestorly, Inc. the leading content marketing platform in financial services headquartered in New York City, today announced a Series A round of funding of $4.1 million.

New cloud storage options for Office mobile and Office Online from Office.com

Today, we’re making Office even easier for customers to use with cloud storage providers by adding real-time co-authoring with Office Online for documents stored in partner cloud services, extending our Office for iOS integration to all partners in the CSPP, and enabling integration between Outlook.com and cloud storage providers Dropbox and Box.

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for January 29, 2016

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for January 29, 2016

FPPad Bits and Bytes for September 26

Posted on September 26, 2014 by in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, financial innovation takes center stage at Finovate Fall 2014. Find out which startups are building tools to improve your business. Advicent Solutions announces its acquisition of Figlo. Will this popular planning solution from Europe receive similar adoption in the US? And, I get a personal tour of Fidelity’s Office of the Future. Find out which technology you should have if you want to become the “anywhere advisor.”

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now!

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

Today’s episode is brought to you by ITEGRIA, providers of complete outsourced technology support, security, infrastructure and IT solutions exclusively for RIAs.

itegria - providing a 360-degree, comprehensive approach to financial advisor IT needs

In their new book titled Red Flags, you’ll learn how to protect your firm from cyber-attacks, disasters, and IT compliance risks. Learn more about the Red Flags book by visiting fppad.com/itegria.

Here are the links to this week’s top stories:

Finovate Fall 2014: The Biggest Innovations in FinTech from Finovate

[This week’s top story highlights Finovate Fall 2014, the semi-annual gathering of many of the top startup companies in financial services. Finovate presenters cover a wide range of technology from mobile payments and automated investing to login security and financial literacy, so I’ve narrowed things down to the solutions that have the potential to help your business.

In no particular order, first up is My Virtual StrongBox with an updated version of its secure online file storage and sharing solution. Their competition for your business includes alternatives like Box and Sharefile for your document collaboration needs.

Next is Flexscore, which announced a new FlexScore Mobile financial profile scoring platform. Now with any mobile device, your clients can view their personal FlexScore, compare it with their peer group, and follow FlexScore’s recommend Action Steps to improve their score, which is a novel application of gamification techniques to financial advice.

Also showing potential is iQuantifi, a previous Finovate Best of Show winner, which is aggressively positioning itself as a virtual financial advisor solution. iQuantifi announced a new feature called “Cashfinder” to automatically recommend ways to reduce client expenses, and another one called “What if” that allows clients to tweak financial goals and view their effects in real time.

And the last company of note is bloom, which received one of this year’s Best of Show awards for its 401(k assessment and recommendation platform. bloom connects to client 401(k) accounts and evaluates its health using an image of a flower. Reducing risk or diversifying allocations leads to a healthier flower, which one again is an interesting and subtle play on gamification to get clients to take action on their financial future.]

On September 23 & 24, Finovate returns to NYC with FinovateFall, our flagship two-day showcase of the latest and greatest financial and banking technology innovations from leading established companies and hot young startups.

Advicent Solutions Acquires Figlo from Advicent

[Next up is news from Advicent Solutions, which announced its acquisition of Figlo, a financial planning software provider based in the Netherlands.

Figlo made a splash waaaay back in February 2011 at the T3 Conference in Florida when it demoed its software that had a very fresh and appealing user interface, but the company just didn’t gain all that much traction among advisors in the United States.

Now with the Advicent Solutions acquisition taking place, you should expect Figlo to benefit from Advicent’s marketshare with its NaviPlan and Advisor Briefcase solutions, and perhaps see the introduction of more compelling and user-friendly ways to deliver financial planning advice to clients.] In a deal that will further cement its position as the leading provider of financial consultancy and planning software solutions for banks, insurers and financial consultants, Advicent Solutions announced today its acquisition of Figlo.

Exclusive tour of Fidelity Institutional’s Office of the Future from FPPad

[And finally, several months ago in episode 129 I told you about Fidelity Institutional’s Office of the Future that the company created in its Smithfield, RI campus. I recently had the opportunity to tour the Office of the Future in person and was given a guided tour by Ed O’Brien, Head of Platform Technology for Fidelity Institutional.

The Office of the Future is divided into four distinct environments focusing on the diverse needs of today’s technology-empowered advisors: the briefing room, the “anywhere adviser” zone, the collaborative office, and the home environment.]

Fidelity Institutional’s Office of the Future shows how an adviser’s future office may not be a physical office at all.

Here are the stories that didn’t make this week’s broadcast:

Interactive Advisory Software Announces Data and Performance Validation, Client Billing and Reporting Services

Interactive Advisory Software (IAS) recently announced the launch of their new line of service offerings for new and existing advisors.  This marks the firm’s first major step toward a fully developed service bureau, in addition to their flagship fully-integrated technology platform.  Data and Investment Performance Validation, Client Investment Performance Reporting, and Account Billing are the first additions to the technology firm’s custom advisory services.

Actua to Acquire FolioDynamix, a Cloud-Based Wealth Management Technology Platform

Actua Corporation, formerly ICG Group (NASDAQ: ACTA), today announced that it has reached agreement to acquire FolioDynamix, a leading, secure, cloud-based investment and wealth management platform.

 

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for September 26, 2014

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for September 26, 2014

FPPad Bits and Bytes for September 5

Posted on September 5, 2014 by in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, custodians are battling for your business with their technology solutions. Which one is coming out on top? Hacked celebrity photos have been posted all over the Internet. How are you protecting your cloud data so you don’t embarrass yourself in front of clients? And Box is thinking outside of the cloud file storage, uh, box. Find out which new initiatives offer the best efficiency gains for financial advisors.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now.

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

This week’s episode of Bits and Bytes is brought to you by Total Rebalance Expert, the industry’s largest, privately owned portfolio rebalancing software provider.

Total Rebalance Expert

Now available as a part of the Orion Advisor Services platform, TRX features tax-efficient rebalancing, an easy to use interface, and more, all at an affordable price. Learn how you can gain a half a million dollar return on your technology investment by downloading their latest white paper at fppad.com/trx

Here are the links to this week’s top stories:

Tech Update: What the Big Custodians Now Offer from Financial Planning

[This week’s top story comes from Joel Bruckenstein and his article in Financial Planning magazine. This month, Bruckenstein covered technology updates that the four major custodians have introduced, or are planning to introduce shortly, to financial advisors.
First on the list is Pershing Advisor Solutions, which most recently unveiled a new client portal called NetXInvestor, designed to be the single resource clients can access to view their portfolio holdings, access documents stored in the online vault, and in the near future, collaborate with their advisor through a secure messaging system.

Next is TD Ameritrade Institutional and its rollout of the Veo Open Access dashboard, which Bruckenstein said is poised to have the “most far-reaching impact” for advisors. The dashboard aims to unify your experience when using CRM, portfolio management, document management and other technologies. So instead of bouncing around from window to window, the dashboard leverages deep integrations with over 75 vendor integrations including Redtail CRM, Orion Advisor Services, and MoneyGuidePro to review, edit, and update data without leaving the Open Access dashboard.

Third up is Schwab Advisor Services, as Bruckenstein highlighted incremental updates to its esignature support, streamlined trade uploads from the Tamarac rebalancing soft are, and the integration of Morningstar Office to Schwab’ OpenView Gateway. Of particular interest is Schwab’s upcoming PM squared portfolio management platform, a completely new online solution that, according to Schwab’s Neesha Hathi, should be in limited beta testing as we speak.

And finally, updates on Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services rounded out the review, as the company’s WealthCentral platform will soon offer account-opening integration with Redtail and Skience for Salesforce, single sign on and trade order imports from Tamarac, portfolio imports into Naviplan and MoneyGuidePro, and other enhancements.] Over the last several years, the four major custodians have done a good job of enhancing their technology platforms. While there are some clear differences across the industry, it is fair to say that today’s platforms are far superior to what was being offered a few years ago.

You’re Reacting to Celebgate Wrong from Yahoo! Tech

Download my free Defend against hacking, phishing, and spoofing attacks handout

[Next up is news on cloud security, as I’m sure you might have heard that compromising photos of celebrities were leaked, apparently accessed from mobile device backups in the cloud. The Internet blew up, saying “Apple was hacked” and “iCloud has a security flaw.” Well, maybe not.

Yes, many of the private photos were obtained from the cloud, including Apple iCloud, but the method by which they were obtained is pretty old fashioned. Hackers used brute force attacks to successfully crack passwords and then correctly answered security questions that were far too basic, and the rest is history. So what can you do to prevent the sensitive data you manage from falling into the wrong hands?

Use long passwords, use a unique password for each website, and obfuscate answers to security questions. Instead of answering using Honda Civic as the make and model of your first car, use the word green, which might have been the color of your first car.

I have a lot more tips on keeping your data safe in a free handout you can downloaded, which is linked along with this week’s top stories.] Ever since somebody released nude photos of female movie stars this week, the wild overreactions have been clogging the Interwebs. Most of the hysteria runs along one of a few lines, and a lot of it is plain wrong.

Box’s Next Act: Box for Industries, Introducing Box Workflow, and BoxWorks 2014: New Ways to Collaborate in the Cloud from Box

[And finally, the online cloud file storage market is getting very crowded, so some of the top players are looking to set themselves apart from the competition. Case in point is Box, who this week announced several new initiatives, including Box for Industries, Box Workflow, and Box for Office 365.

Box for Industries expands on the Box OneCloud application marketplace and now highlights integrated solutions for verticals such as health care, education, and more, but notable absent is financial services. Box Workflow adds business process capabilities to firms by leveraging automation and document metadata. And Box for Office 356 better integrates Box with Microsoft’s online office suite which, if you’re not satisfied with OneDrive, opens up another cloud storage alternative.] Today… we’re announcing Box for Industries, a new initiative to accelerate business transformation in every business by combining tailored solutions leveraging Box’s metadata, workflow, compliance, and platform capabilities; industry-specific applications from curated third-party developers and partners; and world-class implementation services from Box and key system integrator partners.

Here are the stories that didn’t make this week’s broadcast:

Worth The Wait from Financial Advisor Magazine

It has taken much longer than anticipated, but Junxure CRM (www.junxure.com), a firm that integrates CRM technology, consulting and training for financial advisors, has finally announced the general release of “Junxure Cloud,” its comprehensive, cloud-based suite of CRM/office management products for financial advisors. After trying the application out for a few days, I’m happy to report that it was well worth waiting for.

Riskalyze announces Compliance Cloud to pinpoint risky portfolios from FPPad

Riskalyze Compliance Cloud aims to single out portfolios that drift outside a client’s risk tolerance

Online Adviser’s New Target: Investors With $1 Million or More from the Wall Street Journal

One of those online firms, sometimes dubbed “robo advisers,” is edging into the business of providing wealth-management services to people with $1 million or more.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for September 5, 2014

FPPad Bits and Bytes for September 5, 2014

FPPad Bits and Bytes for June 20

Posted on June 20, 2014 by in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, Apple previews new features in its mobile and desktop operating systems. Will they be enough to wean advisors away from Microsoft? Betterment launches a new tax loss harvesting algorithm. How much potential additional return can this service add to client portfolios? And, if you just can’t get enough of real-time stock and economic data, then you need to check out the new Dashboard from YCharts.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now.

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

Today’s episode is brought to you by Wealthbox CRM. Don’t waste another warm summer evening reading your CRM’s user manual.

Wealthbox CRM

Instead, turn on simplicity, tune in to Wealthbox, and drop out of CRM school with Wealthbox’s outrageously simple CRM. Get a free trial today by visiting fppad.com/wealthbox

Here are the links to this week’s top stories:

Preview iOS 8 from Apple, and

Preview OS X Yosemite from Apple

[This week’s top story highlights Apple’s announcements at its 2014 World Wide Developers Conference held in San Francisco. The company introduced a ton of new features coming in iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite later this fall, but here are ones that are most relevant to financial advisors.

First, iCloud Drive was introduced as Apple’s answer to popular cloud document synchronization services like Dropbox, Box, and ShareFile. You’ll soon be able to synchronize all kinds of files, not just Pages, Numbers, and Keynote documents, to the iCloud service, but iCloud Drive’s sharing features are not as robust as other providers. While you can share individual files from iCloud using a unique URL, you can’t sync entire folders of documents with other iCloud users.

Second, an update to the iOS keyboard includes predictive text that will suggest contextually appropriate words and phrases to significantly speed up your replies while responding on your device. Hopefully this will put an end to your pithy text message lingo!

Third, security gets a boost as data stored in the Calendar, Contacts, Reminders, Notes, and Messages apps first requires a passcode for access any time the phone is rebooted.

And fourth, iOS 8 will allow you to mirror your device’s screen directly to an Apple TV without joining a WiFi network. This peer-to-peer AirPlay connection is perfect for the times you want to mirror your iPad screen to a TV, but don’t have access to a WiFi network at a client’s home or at a conference hotel. Try doing that with a Chromecast! 

On the OS X Yosemite side, advisors should enjoy the flexibility to make and receive phone calls from your computer using your iPhone, a supercharged Spotlight app that offers search results from Wikipedia, Bing, Maps, and more, and a clever Handoff feature to synchronize your work in progress between your Mac and your iOS devices.]

Betterment Introduces Tax Loss Harvesting+™ from Betterment.com, and

White Paper: Tax Loss Harvesting+™

[Next up is news from Betterment, the online algorithm-powered investment service, which just announced the introduction of Tax Loss Harvesting Plus™.

In a very detailed white paper, Betterment identified how its Tax Loss Harvesting Plus service would have generated an additional 0.77 percent annualized after-tax return over 13 years of backtested data. But as I read through the discussion of navigating wash sale rules and Betterment’s Parallel Position Management strategy, I couldn’t help but think that managing such nuances of tax loss harvesting can potentially turn in to a full-time job for advisors, especially those who employ active strategies with individual equities and ETFs.

I reached out to Jon Stein, Betterment founder and CEO, and he confirmed that the Tax Loss Harvesting Plus™ service will be available in the Betterment Institutional platform that will be introduced to financial advisors in the near future. So now you’re faced with a yet another decision: will you continue to manage time-consuming tax loss harvesting strategies with in-house technology, or outsource this service once Betterment’s Institutional offering becomes available?] Tax Loss Harvesting+ can reduce your tax exposure better than other automated harvesting tools. Every transaction, both customer and system initiated, is executed in a tax-efficient way.

YCharts Dashboard from YCharts.com

[And wrapping up this week’s broadcast is news from YCharts, a research and charting provider to a variety of financial institutions. In response to overwhelming feedback, YCharts introduced a new Dashboard application that allows users to build their own customs screens with all sorts of analytical tools.

If you live and breathe charts, watch lists, and economic indicators but don’t want to pay the high price for a Bloomberg terminal, YCharts lets you view data on US and Canadian equites, ETFs, ADRs and over 400,000 economic indicators. Shawn Carpenter, YCharts co-founder and CEO, also told me that the next wave of data updates to YCharts will include mutual funds.] The Dashboard is all about you: Which companies you want to see. Which indicators you want to follow. Which indices matter to your investing process. Set it up once, and it will be with you for the rest of your investing career.

Here are the links to stories that didn’t make this week’s broadcast:

Cybersecurity firm says large hedge fund attacked from CNBC.com

In an audacious and sophisticated attack, cybercriminals acting in late 2013 installed a malicious computer program on the servers of a large hedge fund, crippling its high-speed trading strategy and sending information about its trades to unknown offsite computers, CNBC has learned.

RegEd Launches Enterprise Risk Control Center

RegEd, a leading provider of technology solutions for compliance and risk management for the financial services industry, announced today the launch of RegEd SCORE™ Risk Control Center, the industry’s first analytics-driven solution that brings together critical compliance and business data to enable Broker-Dealers to identify and manage behavioral and sales practice risk among their registered population.

A Guide to RIA CRM Software for Investment Adviser Firms of all Sizes from RIAinaBox.com

Using data from our recent 2014 RIA Systems and Operations Survey along with other industry observations, we wanted to provide some guidance when it comes to selecting the right CRM software tool for your advisory firm.

 

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for June 20, 2014

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for June 20, 2014

FPPad Bits and Bytes for March 28

Posted on March 28, 2014 by in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, cybersecurity takes center stage at FINRA and the SEC, what you need to do to protect your business from attacks. Amazon launches its cloud desktop service to the public. Does this mark the end of plain old desktop in your business? And two growing providers form a new joint venture to take your portfolio management efficiency to the next level.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now.

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

Today’s episode is brought to you by Orion Advisor Services, the nation’s largest privately held portfolio accounting service bureau.

Orion Advisor Services

Providing full-service data reconciliation, advisory fee billing, Salesforce integration, mobile apps and more, Orion believes it’s time for you to enjoy your business again. Visit fppad.com/orion for more information.

Here are the links to this week’s top stories:

Top Cybersecurity Threats for BDs, Advisors from ThinkAdvisor, and

SEC Cybersecurity Roundtable Webcast from SEC.gov

[Leading off today’s broadcast is an update from FINRA and the SEC highlighting cybersecurity threats faced by advisors and broker-dealers. In a roundtable event held in Washington DC this week, regulators and industry representatives acknowledged that the number one cybersecurity threat to firms of all sizes is the unauthorized account takeover.

This happens when a hacker compromises an investor’s username and password credentials, or manages to take control of an investor’s email account. The hacker then proceeds to liquidate holdings and transfer money to outside accounts, or even poses as a client with a convincing story to get advisors to transfer funds to an outside account, a clever tactic known as spoofing.

Both FINRA and the SEC acknowledge they must play a role in this area, but neither provided details on what exactly that role should be, and if any advisor exams are to include cybersecurity audits, they are likely to start in the fall of 2014 at best.

Until then, here’s what I recommend you do: First, update your compliance manual with policies for what you do when faced with a cybersecurity attack.

Second, train everyone in your organization so they’re familiar with the common tactics from hackers, including phishing, spoofing, and reverse social engineering. And finally, invest in technology to boost your security, like activating multi-factor authentication, deploying firewalls, and even using phishing simulation software that I highlighted in episode number 115.] The top risks broker-dealers face in dealing with cybersecurity threats are operational risk, “insider” risks posed by rogue employees and hackers penetrating BD systems, Daniel Sibears of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said Wednesday at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s cybersecurity roundtable.

Amazon WorkSpaces, Amazon’s Cloud Desktop Service, Launches To Public Along With New Sync Client from TechCrunch, and

Amazon WorkSpaces from Amazon

[Next up is news from Amazon, as the company announced the general release of its virtual desktop solution to the public called WorkSpaces.

WorkSpaces is squarely aimed to take on other virtual desktop providers like Citrix, VMWare, and Microsoft, and with pricing ranging from $35 to $75 per month for each user, WorkSpaces is roughly half the price of the competition. If you’re looking to get rid of your aging server and move all of your core software to the cloud, Amazon WorkSpaces just became a very compelling option.

Plus, with the introduction of a new WorkSpace Sync application, you can backup and synchronize up to 10GB of documents between your WorkSpaces, the Amazon Simple Storage Service, and even your local desktop computer. This gives you a secure and reliable document storage alternative to consumer services like Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive that you might be using today.] Amazon WorkSpaces, the company’s virtual desktop computing environment introduced last fall at the AWS re:Invent conference, is today available to the public.

Orion Advisor Services, LLC and Total Rebalance Expert (TRX) Form Joint Venture; Announce Technology Integration from PRNewswire.com

[And finally, two popular providers in portfolio management and rebalancing software, Orion Advisor Services and Total Rebalance Expert, announced a new joint venture this week called the “Total Technology Platform.”

The two companies first integrated their solutions back in October of 2012, enabling the import of account, transaction, and tax lot data from Orion directly into TRX with a single click.

But this latest venture goes beyond bidirectional integration, as users of Orion will now be able to access TRX directly from within the Orion platform. At the same time, both companies said they are committed to maintaining open-architecture platforms rather than hold advisors captive to one bundled solution.

Orion users can still take advantage of integrations with Blaze Portfolio, iRebal from TD Ameritrade Institutional, and Rebalance Express from RedBlack Software, and TRX users can continue to import data from Morningstar Office, Portfolio Center from Schwab Performance Technologies®, Advent’s Black Diamond Performance Reporting and more.] Total Rebalance Expert (TRX) and Orion Advisor Services, LLC (Orion) announced today a joint venture between the two companies to provide a “Total Technology Platform” designed to simplify and streamline the portfolio management process.

Here are stories that didn’t make this week’s broadcast:

Box Unveils First Standalone Product And New API Pricing At Inaugural Dev Conference from TechCrunch

New Kitces Network to Target Planners for Gen X & Y from Financial Planning

Office 2 HD for iPad is now Citrix ShareFile QuickEdit, drops $7.99 price to become free via iTunes

 

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for March 28, 2014

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for March 28, 2014

FPPad Bits and Bytes for February 21

Posted on February 21, 2014 by in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, why did Microsoft rebrand several of its services, and how might it change the tools that you use, how one large RIA’s technology change created a time savings of over 40%, and a new collaboration hopes to eliminate concerns over support for one Salesforce overlay provider.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now!

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

This week’s episode of Bits and Bytes is brought to you by Total Rebalance Expert, the industry’s largest, privately owned portfolio rebalancing software provider.

Total Rebalance Expert

Fresh off its acquisition of PowerAdvisor, TRX offers advisors tax-efficient rebalancing, an easy to use interface, and more, all at an affordable price. Learn how you can gain a half a million dollar return on your technology investment by downloading their latest white paper at fppad.com/trx

Here are this week’s top stories:

Microsoft launches Office Online in battle with Google Drive from TheVerge.com,

Microsoft SkyDrive Morphs Into OneDrive, Bringing New Features from Mashable, and

Microsoft and DocuSign announce strategic partnership to bring eSignature to Office 365 customers from Microsoft

[Now occasionally I get feedback that I don’t pay enough attention to Microsoft, so Mike, this week’s lead story is just for you! The world’s largest software company just announced the rebranding of several of its product lines, beginning with its free web-based versions of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, formerly known as Office Web Apps.

The company acknowledged that using the word ‘apps’ led to some confusion among its customers, as many assumed that native Office apps for iOS and Android were available, so now Microsoft is referring to the web-based tools as Office Online. While this move hopefully will clear up confusion over the different versions of Office available, no new features were released to coincide with the rebranding. Office Online will continue to store files in the cloud, which leads me to the second story about Microsoft.

Microsoft’s answer to online storage services like Dropbox, Box, and Google Drive has been SkyDrive, but this week the company rebranded SkyDrive to OneDrive, due to a legal dispute over the use of the word ‘Sky.’ Unlike the Office Online name change, OneDrive’s launch DID come with a series of new features.

OneDrive users can now automatically upload photos from their Android devices, which previously was only supported on iOS and Windows Phone. Online collaboration has also improved, as real-time editing in Office 365 documents is now done character by character. And subscriptions to OneDrive are now available on a monthly basis in addition to the annual subscription previously required under SkyDrive.

And rounding out the Microsoft trifecta this week, the company announced that eSignature support will be coming to Office 365 users through a new partnership with DocuSign. Expected to roll out in March, Office 365 users will be able to submit and sign documents using DocuSign without leaving their Microsoft applications. So if you use Microsoft documents for your internal client agreements and disclosure materials, the DocuSign integration should help you further streamline the e-signature process as you complete the on boarding of new clients.]

How a $5 billion RIA’s Laserfiche conversion generated time savings of 40% from FPPad

[Next up is a fascinating case study from a large RIA about its search for a robust electronic document management solution. At last week’s T3 conference, Jim Anderson of CLS Investments highlighted the firm’s approach to converting from IBM FileNet, its legacy content management system, over to a new implementation with Laserfiche. The RIA, which manages more than $5 billion in assets, migrated over 1.5 million documents into Laserfiche, and Anderson estimated that in the first year alone, the firm has realized a time savings of roughly 40%.

There’s a lot more to the story, including a time Anderson said everyone acted as if their hair was on fire, so be sure to get the link to read all the details.] One $5 billion RIA converted 1.5 million documents to Laserfiche in less than a year, saving the company 40% of its collective time

AppCrown Collaborates With a Global Services Major to Help Market, Deliver and Support Their Integrated Financial Services Platform in Banking and Wealth Management from PRWeb

[And finally, many of you who use Salesforce for your CRM might be familiar with AppCrown, the financial services technology provider built on the Salesforce.com platform. In prior years, AppCrown received criticism for failing to provide adequate support to its users who were implementing Salesforce in their business.

So to beef up its support, AppCrown just announced a new collaboration with Mphasis, a global service and solution provider owned by HP. It remains to be seen how the collaboration with Mphasis will improve AppCrown’s support of its financial advisor users, but if concerns about support have stalled your implementation plans, it might be time to reconsider whether AppCrown’s version of Salesforce could be a potential solution for you.] AppCrown, the leading provider for cloud based financial systems across CRM, Banking & Wealth Management, today announced its intent to partner with Mphasis.

 

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for February 21, 2014

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for February 21, 2014

FPPad Bits and Bytes for July 5

Posted on July 5, 2013 by in Bits & Bytes

fireworks

The Fourth of July holiday is an ideal time for independent financial advisers in the U.S. to celebrate independence.

But before you leave for the long weekend of hot dogs, hamburgers and cold drinks, take three minutes to review this week’s stories of interest:

Lockbox and Smarsh Partner to Offer a New Standard in Privacy and Security Service to Financial Services Professionals from Marketwire.com and Exemplar Turns to the Cloud for Document Security from Financial-Planning.com

[Who is Lockbox? They rapidly advanced up my watch list of companies with technology solutions for financial advisers. Lockbox is an Australian company that just entered the US market in May this year. They are entering a crowded space of cloud document storage providers along with Dropbox, Box, ShareFile, SpiderOak, and many more. Lockbox’s strong points are that it offers two-factor authentication and client-side encryption (see: Evaluating Online Document Storage at the Journal of Financial Planning for more details), but Lockbox lacks a number of features I’d like to see in a true solution for advisers. As of today, Lockbox isn’t compatible with Mac, they don’t offer desktop file synchronization, and they don’t have mobile apps for iOS or Android. Add these capabilities and change pricing from user based to storage capacity based, and I’ll be interested.] Lockbox, the leader in privacy and security service, today announced that AdvisorSquare, part of the Smarsh suite of website services designed specifically for financial services professionals, has joined the company’s affiliate community.

SigFig Lands $15 Million in Series B Funding From Top Investors from Finovate.com

[Officially launched just under two years ago, San Francisco-based SigFig raised $15 million in Series B funding to . Formerly known as WikiInvest, SigFig aggregates over $75 billion in assets on its platform and is entirely about making investment analysis accessible and transparent, while delivering investment recommendations in an attempt to generate a higher return in a portfolio. Recommendations typically cover switching mutual funds or ETFs for similar, lower-fee versions, or changing financial institutions where lower trading commission charges are offered. But for clients who have professional investment advisers, SigFig compares portfolio performance to a peer group of thousands of other investment advisers aggregated in the platform. If your portfolio isn’t performing, SigFig tells clients “Your adviser sucks for the following reasons:” How’s that for a nudge?!?] SigFig, the platform that helps users manage a total of $75 billion in assets, recently received $15 million in Series B funding.

Tech Review: New Digital Content Services from Financial-Planning.com

[You work something like 40 hours a week. If you want to maximize time servicing existing clients and attracting new ones, how much time should you be devoting to creating content shared on social media networks? Probably not a lot. Thankfully, Joel Bruckenstein shares two providers, Vestorly (listen to my podcast with Vestorly co-founder Justin Wisz at Social currency might just be the answer to financial advisers’ frustration with social media) and AdvisorDeck,  in his July column at Financial Planning that can streamline your content generation process, saving you precious time while still allowing you to maximize your compliant use of social media.] While many advisors have struggled to adopt social networking tools, there have been few low-cost, turnkey solutions to help advisors curate information and automatically deliver digital content to clients and prospects.

Succession Planning for an Entire Industry: Why Study Groups Aren’t That Bad from AdvisorOne.com

[Warning: subtle self promotion ahead! This story by AdvisorOne’s John Sullivan tells you why study groups are not bad, contrary to what compliance adviser Tom Giachetti might say. I belong to an outstanding study group called Xcelsior, and in this story you’ll ready why this study group shows that an exciting future lies ahead for the financial planning industry.] Compliance curmudgeon Tom Giachetti doesn’t think much of study groups. “Study groups are a bunch of people sitting around convincing each other that they’re right,” the chairman of the securities practice group at the law firm of Stark & Stark said recently in Denver.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for March 22

Posted on March 22, 2013 by in Bits & Bytes

I made it! The new FPPad headquarters is up and running in Atlanta (and if there weren’t boxes and papers everywhere, I’d post a photo).

But right now, it’s back to unpacking for me. So here are this week’s stories of interest:

Personal Phones, iPads at Work: Convenience or Cyber Threat? from Financial-Planning.com

[BYOD, or bring-your-own-device, is a growing trend in all businesses, including yours. Do you allow employees (and you, too) to connect to work-related systems with a personal mobile device? It can be as simple as allowing email or contacts to be synchronized to the device. If so, it’s critical you have procedures and systems in place to adequately protect any sensitive data stored on personal devices. This short review from new FP editor Paula Vasan is a timely reminder, plus you’ll get three mobile device management resources cited by me.] Personal devices can pose a serious threat to businesses if strict policies and preventative cybercrime measures are not put in place, according to a study.

Citrix follows Box’s lead by adding content editing and secure synching to its ShareFile mobile apps from TheNextWeb.com

[Dropbox, Box, ShareFile, etc. are common names heard when talking about cloud file storage and synchronization. Dropbox is wildly popular among consumers, Box is a leader in the enterprise, and ShareFile is growing well among financial advisers (it was also one of my picks for Best Tech of 2012). This week, ShareFile enhanced its mobile app by allowing users to create and edit documents, spreadsheets, and presentations directly within the ShareFile app, as well as allows users to markup and annotate PDF documents. With Box, you can do similar tasks using other third-party apps compatible with OneCloud. With Dropbox, you can’t do this.] Citrix, a cloud, networking, and virtualization technology company, will announce on Tuesday that it is updating its ShareFile file-sharing app with better mobile content editing. What this means is that the service aims to compete against Box and other enterprise-focused file sharing services, hopefully allowing users to be more productive while on the go, even when they are offline.

With a fresh $20M and sharp increase in assets managed, Wealthfront keeps growing from PanoDaily.com

[How is online advice platform Wealthfront fairing? Well, they’re up to $170 million in assets aggregated through the platform. I’d judge by growth in 2012 that the company is on its way to $500 million in assets by the end of 2014. Still, with a fresh round of $20 million raised, coupled with $3 million in Angel and $7.5 million Series A capital, its a significant investment for a questionable return so far. But again, there’s potential here if Wealthfront catches on with the next generation of wealth transfer on the horizon.] Wealthfront, which makes software that acts as a financial advisor for its clients, hasn’t had the easiest road remaking the financial world in Silicon Valley’s image. But it after a name change, a pivot and some key new hires it appears to be growing rapidly.

Erado Announces the Latest Addition to Their Social Media Compliance Solution, Salesforce Chatter from Erado.com

[Erado continues to increase their social media archiving coverage with the addition of Salesforce Chatter connectivity. Smarsh has supported Chatter since October 2012 (see FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 5), and with Erado onboard, I’d expect to see a slight uptick in Chatter use among advisers using Salesforce for their CRM.] Erado, the nation’s leading compliance and archiving firm in electronic communication, officially announced the newest addition to their Social Media Capturing suite, Salesforce Chatter.