Tag Archives: dell

FPPad Bits and Bytes for November 8

Posted on November 8, 2013 by in Bits & Bytes

On this week’s broadcast, get up to speed on all the developments from the T3 Enterprise Conference, find out which portfolio rebalancing company just acquired a portfolio management software provider, and another CRM with a long history with advisors gets a fresh start in the cloud.

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 Mimic Technologies, providers of complete outsourced technology support, security, infrastructure and IT solutions exclusively for RIAs.

Mimic Technologies

To learn how you can keep your data safe from attackers, download a free copy of their white paper on social engineering attacks by visiting fppad.com/mimic.

Here are this week’s top stories:

Joel Bruckenstein convenes a wholesale version of T3 for IBD execs who choose software for thousands of reps from RIABiz.com, Trying to harness the power of big data for advisers from InvestmentNews.com, Live from T3: Deploying Tech at the B/D Level and Day Two at T3: A Lack of Data Standards from WealthManagement.com.

[First up this week is a recap of the first-ever T3 Enterprise Conference for broker-dealers and financial enterprises. T3 Enterprise is modeled after the T3 Conference for financial advisors, now in its 9th year, and in full disclosure, I co-produced T3 Enterprise along with Joel Bruckenstein and David Drucker.

If you weren’t able to attend or follow the conference hashtag on Twitter, here’s what you need to know:

Redtail, the leading provider of cloud-based CRM to advisors, unveiled a new platform called Redtail Data Cloud. Redtail Data Cloud aims to tackle the challenge of making sense of “big data” present in disparate or poorly integrated technology solutions, and generate valuable, meaningful insight that was generally only possible after pouring over custom spreadsheets for hours upon hours.

Redtail Data Cloud collects over 500 unique data points across its CRM, email, and document imaging products, and also collects data via integrations with Riskalyze, Advisor Websites, Advisor Deck, ActiFi, and MoneyGuidePro. Look for the platform to debut for both advisors and broker-dealers this January.

Also, two companies exited stealth mode at the conference by introducing new promising products.

The first is CleverDome, is a Scottsdale, Arizona-based startup born from the back-office of United Planners Financial Services. Their two new solutions, SOAR, or Source of Accurate Record, and miVu, or Media Integrated View Unification, are best described as document management tools that are invisible to the user, so if that doesn’t make you at least a little curious about what they do, I don’t know what will.

And second to emerge is Gotham Tech Labs, led by John Rourke, who introduced two new stand-alone products, WealthBox CRM and WealthBase. WealthBox CRM is intended to be a simple CRM with a streamlined interface, but with powerful social and collaborative workflows. WealthBase is an inbound marketing network intended to connect financial advisors with consumers seeking feedback and engagement on their financial needs.] Joel Bruckenstein and his co-producers, David Drucker and Bill Winterberg, made it a two-day event geared toward broker-dealers and large RIAs looking to enhance their advisors’ productivity and simplify the many day-to-day processes of providing advice.

Total Rebalance Expert Acquires PowerAdvisor from Cornerstone Revolutions from PRNewswire.com

[The next story is news hot off the presses from Total Rebalance Expert, the San Diego-based portfolio rebalancing software provider. In a press release issued just today, TRX announced that it acquired the PowerAdvisor portfolio management software solution from Portland, Oregon-based Cornerstone Revolutions. PowerAdvisor will be rebranded as TPX, or Total Portfolio Expert, and TRX will continue to support over 100 firms that use portfolio management software every day in their business.

Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed, but this deal will likely offer advisors with a tightly integrated portfolio management and rebalancing software package, a single resource for customer service and back office support, and a very capable solution offered at a very compelling price point.] Total Rebalance Expert (TRX) today announced the acquisition of PowerAdvisor’s portfolio management software suite from Cornerstone Revolutions. The combination of TRX’s industry leading portfolio rebalancing platform with PowerAdvisor’s portfolio management system will create a complete and integrated portfolio management solution.

Tech Review: ProTracker Cloud CRM Software from Financial-Planning.com

 [And finally, this week’s broadcast wraps up with an update on ProTracker software, providers of desktop-based CRM to advisors for over 16 years. In his technology column for Financial Planning magazine, Joel Bruckenstein reviewed ProTracker Cloud, the latest CRM to introduce a cloud-based solution, which is built on top of the SugarCRM platform. This is similar to the concept of overlays from XLR8 and AppCrown, which both customize the out-of-the-box Salesforce platform and tailor it for the wealth management environment.

Warren Mackensen, president of ProTracker Software and also an active fee-only financial planner, certainly has the experience of knowing what it takes to run a successful advisory business, so I’m optimistic that he’ll be able to introduce SugarCRM, which hasn’t yet gained much traction among advisors, as a viable contender among cloud-based CRMs.] A well-established product for independent advisors is moving to a platform that will provide increased flexibility and may attract new categories of users.

 News that didn’t make the broadcast:

Dell sells its majority stake in Smarsh to investment fund Toba Capital from Businessweek

[This in an informative review of Smarsh’s odd ownership by Dell, as a result of its purchase of Quest several years ago. Dell was a silent owner for roughly a year, making strategy moves challenging, according to the article. Now that the uncertainty seems all but gone for now, Smarsh is making strides to expand its growth among several industries, including archiving for financial services. They even opened a new office in the Atlanta metro area, about a half hour drive from FPPad world headquarters!] Dell has quietly unloaded its majority stake in digital archivist Smarsh, ending a prolonged period of uncertainty for one of Portland’s fast-growing tech companies.

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for November 8, 2103

FPPad Bits and Bytes for June 21

Posted on June 21, 2013 by in Bits & Bytes

integration

For financial advisers, integration, no matter how simple or complex, leads to higher revenue, profitability, and income says one survey.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

What I Learned from Getting Robbed: Part 1 from Advisortechbuzz.com

[This is a last-minute addition to this week’s Bits and Bytes. Here’s a personal story from Commonwealth’s Justin Unton about a robbery at his house and the theft of a bunch of his electronics. Unton strongly advocates the use of two-factor authentication (see: How to enable two-step verification on your LinkedIn account) which renders these devices and online logins useless without access Unton’s mobile phone. Let this be a lesson to us all: turn on two factor authentication wherever you can to give yourself an additional layer of protection in the event something like this happens to you.] At first, we thought it was our cat, Oscar, who had caused the mass destruction in our living room. We even laughed it off, thinking that he must have seen a fly and done his best puma impression to track it down and pounce on it. That all changed as we went down the hallway to our bedroom and saw the contents of our drawers strewn about the floor.

Envestnet | Tamarac White Paper: Technology Integration Leads To 20% More Annual Income For Advisors from Marketwatch.com

[I think it’s generally common sense to equate the use of integrated software tools with increased profitability. But just in case you have your doubts, here’s a white paper compiled from an Aite Group survey that demonstrates this fact. So what is “some degree” of technology integration? The white paper says it’s single sign-on, manual data sharing, automatic data sharing, and cross-product functionality. Want a copy of the white paper? Visit http://tamaracinc.com/White-Paper-Download.aspx and offer your contact information.] Envestnet | Tamarac, part of Envestnet, Inc., a leading provider of integrated web-based portfolio and client management software for independent advisors and wealth managers, has released a white paper showing that financial advisors at independent RIA practices with some degree of technology integration earn approximately 20 percent more in annual income than their counterparts at independent RIA practices with no technology integration.

AssetBook rolls out mobile portfolio management application from InvestmentNews.com

[AssetBook joins other portfolio management software providers including Black Diamond and Orion Advisor Services (see: Eric Clarke, President of Orion Advisor Services, on additional integrations and mobile apps) in offering a native mobile app advisers can use to view portfolios.] AssetBook LLC announced Friday the release of AssetBook Mobile: a native application for devices running both iOS and the Android operating system.

Smarsh, an archivist for the information age from OregonLive.com

[Smarsh routinely appears on FPPad for email and social media compliance. Clearly they’re a popular service provider among their regulated financial service customers, and that popularity has resulted in dramatic growth of what was once a small start up in the Pacific Northwest.] Companies used to wish away their old correspondence. Old letters were a legal liability, the thinking went, and ought to be destroyed. Smarsh has built one of Portland’s fastest-growing tech businesses by taking the opposite approach, contending that in the information age nothing is ever really gone.

Dell owns 60 percent of Smarsh, with an option to buy more from OregonLive.com

[This is a sidebar to the Smarsh article above, but I felt it important enough to break it out separately. Did you know Dell, yes, that Dell, now owns 60 percent of Smarsh? I didn’t either. That news managed to fly under my radar.] Companies that produce the kind of growth that Smarsh has inevitably attract suitors. But don’t look for a buyout at Smarsh: It’s already happened.

Tweet this: Finra spot-checking firms for social media compliance from InvestmentNews.com

[Surprise, surprise, FINRA is checking broker-dealer rep’s use of social media! It’s not breaking news, FINRA is doing what they’re supposed to be doing; their job! Still, if these spot-checks scare you, here’s what you need to have: 1) A compliance manual that includes your social media policy, 2) documentation that reps are periodically trained, and 3) a monitoring and archiving system that contains the history of social media posts. Is there anything I left out?] The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. is doing social-media compliance spot checks on some of its member firms. In a notice posted Monday on Finra’s website, the regulator said it wants broker-dealers to identify the sites used by a firm, as well as all individuals who post or update the firm’s content on social-media sites.

 

Increase Adviser Productivity At Least 10%

Posted on December 9, 2008 by in Efficiency, Technology

Monday’s Wall Street Journal has a short column extolling the benefits of using multiple monitors on a computer.

The article, titled When More Is More by Michael Totty can be viewed by clicking here.

From the article:

Paccar has added multimonitor setups for material planners on its manufacturing lines, who have to manage demand for production parts using information on inventories inside and outside the company. Because of limited desk space and falling prices of displays, planners received two larger widescreen monitors instead of the three-screen setup in the call center. The ability to manage more rapidly changing information has produced a 10% to 20% boost in productivity, Mr. Quinn says.

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