Finovate Archives

FPPad Bits and Bytes for May 13, 2016

Posted on May 13, 2016 by Bill Winterberg in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, learn about top advisor technology from the Finovate Spring 2016, two lessons you should learn from a Salesforce database outage, hear top technology tips from industry experts, and more.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now!

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

Today’s episode is brought to you by Riskalyze, the company that invented the Risk Number™ and twice named as one of the world’s 10 most innovative companies in finance by Fast Company Magazine.

Advisors use Riskalyze to show prospects they’re invested wrong and prove to clients they’re invested right. See how Riskalyze creates fearless investors by visiting riskalyze.com/fppad to book a guided tour.

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

Client Insight for Wealth Management from IBM, and

IBM Watson-infused robo wants to help advisers, not beat them from Financial Planning

Envestnet Advisor Now demo from Finovate Europe 2016

[This week’s top story covers the Finovate Spring 2016 event held earlier this week in San Jose, California. With over 70 demos spread across two days, here are my picks for the most promising solutions for financial advisors.

First is IBM, as the company demoed its Client Insight for Wealth Management solution, designed to deliver better insights about your clients powered by, you guessed it, IBM Analytics. The Client Insight dashboard segments your clients by their behavioral profiles, predicts the likelihood of clients experiencing a significant life event, and automatically generates a list of top actions clients should take to make progress on their financial goals.

The analytics-powered insight is great, but it’s not yet clear to me if the solution is something you can buy today or if it requires an integration with the technology providers that you use, particularly with your CRM software. One third-party example I can think of is the automated investment service from Marstone, which to me, still seems to be evolving and appears to be rolling out at a very measured pace. So, if you want to start seeing some of these cognitive-powered insights in the tools you use, I think you need to prepare to spend a little bit more on your technology to make these benefits a reality.

The second demo of note came from Envestnet, as the company highlighted Advisor Now, which is now being positioned as an online financial planning tool that can be white-labeled by financial institutions or you, the independent financial advisor.

Advisor Now’s capabilities are quite a bit different than this time last year when the solution was first announced, as Envestnet is further leveraging its technology acquisitions of Upside, Yodlee, and Finance Logix.

Next week I’m headed to the Envestnet Advisor Summit in Chicago where I plan to get more details on Advisor New, but in the meantime you can watch a recent Advisor Now demo from Finovate Europe] IBM offers you a whole new level of insight to serve your customers with the most relevant offerings that helps you drive new revenue. It enables you to segment your customers quickly and analyze their behavior to deliver cross sell/ up sell offers which helps increase loyalty, retention and customer satisfaction.

Salesforce outage persists across US, CEO wades in from ZDNet, and

The Burning Irony of Salesforce’s #NA14 Social Media Nightmare from Medium

[Next up is news on Salesforce, as the company unfortunately suffered a failure in one of its critical databases this week affecting several thousand of its customers in North America. The outage of the NA14 database lasted for about a day and a half, causing many users to publicly vent their frustrations on Twitter.

Closer to home, I didn’t hear from any advisors who were affected by the downtime, which is good, but there are still two lessons I want you to take away from this incident.

First, when you use any cloud-based system, especially a CRM, be absolutely certain that you have an offline backup of the critical information you need to take care of clients. Make it part of your process now to export data like names, phone numbers, and email addresses so you can stay in touch with clients if and when your online systems have extended downtime.

And second, make plans now for what you’re going to do when your firm experiences a crisis. How will you contact clients? Will you post information on your website, or provide updates on Twitter? Whatever you do, identify your process in your disaster recovery and business continuity plan, and if it’s been a while since you tested your communication in a crisis, well, you might want to do something about that.] A Salesforce database failure has left some clients unable to access their services across the United States, prompting the firm’s chief executive to step in.

2016 SSG Conference Technology Panel from YouTube

[And finally, wrapping up this week’s broadcast is news from Shareholders Service Group, as I attended their annual conference in San Diego a few weeks ago. One of the general sessions I attended was a panel discussion on technology opportunities that lie ahead for independent financial advisors, so I caught up with each of the panelists,

Greg Friedman of Private Ocean, Dave Welling of SS&C Advisory Market Group, Tim Welsh of Nexus Strategy, and Joel Bruckenstein of Technology Tools for Today, to get their main takeaways from the session and hear best advice for advisors from a technology perspective.

The full video from the event is embedded over on website along with a few additional stories that didn’t make this week’s broadcast.]

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

Docupace Closes on Management Buyback Transaction from BusinessWire

Docupace Technologies LLC, a premier digital compliance and cyber security company in the financial services industry, completed its planned repurchase of the majority interest in the company previously held by RCS Capital Corporation.

New Marketing Materials from Hidden Levers

HiddenLevers now provides pre-made marketing materials that can be used with clients. These include printable brochures, embeddable videos, website and signature plugins.

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for May 13, 2016

FPPad Bits and Bytes for May 22

Posted on May 22, 2015 by Bill Winterberg in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, Advicent rolls out Figlo to advisors in the United States, YCharts raises another $6 million to dethrone the industry’s dominant research terminal, and SEI rolls out a new program designed to streamline your internal workflow.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now.

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

Today’s episode is brought to you by Croesus, the affordable all-in-one portfolio management & CRM software for RIAs. Over 9,500 investment professionals use the Croesus application to manage more than $700 billion in assets, and Croesus is offering a 50% discount on set-up fees for Advent Axys users until June 30th.

To learn more about Croesus or to sign up for a free trial, visit fppad.com/croesus.

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

Advicent Unveils the Figlo™ Client Centric Planning Tool from Advicent, and

Advicent and Redtail Partner through Figlo™ Integration from Advicent

[This week’s top story comes from Advicent, as the company announced the official release of the Figlo™ interactive planning tool in the United States. You should recall that Advicent announced the acquisition of Netherlands-based Figlo back in September 2014 which I covered in episode 141, so they’ve wasted very little time to introduce the planning tool to advisors here in the U.S.

Figlo has nearly 20 years of history in the European marketplace and will bring a suite of features stateside that you should find compelling, especially if you strengthen your client relationships through comprehensive financial planning. So here’s what you can expect:

Figlo offers a prospecting and lead generation tool called Figlo Leads, the Figlo planning tool presents an interactive lifeline and goal gauge for plan illustrations, you can collaborate with clients using the client portal and secure document vault, and you can streamline client data entry through a new integration announced this week with Redtail CRM. The integration is a one-way connection with Redtail to start, but you can expect the data synchronization between the two programs to deepen over time.] Advicent Solutions, the leading provider of SaaS technology solutions for the financial services industry, announced the U.S. release of Figlo™, an interactive financial planning tool within its complete product offering for financial professionals. Advisors leveraging Figlo™ technology will have more opportunities for interactive, meaningful and impactful conversations with both prospects and clients.

YCharts Closes $6 Million Investment Round, Hires Morningstar’s Jeremy Diamond as Growth Accelerates from BusinessWire

[Next up is news from YCharts, as this week the provider of research and interactive charts announced series C funding to the tune of about $6 million, bringing its total funding to approximately $14.5 million. YCharts was founded in 2010 and positioned itself as an alternative to higher-priced research terminals, and in less than five years, the company is proving to be a very powerful and popular research tool for portfolio managers, wealth managers, and independent RIAs.

Back in episode 133, I told you about the new dashboard rolled out by YCharts, but at the time, research was limited to equities and ETFs. Fast forward to today, and YCharts now also offers extensive data on over 40,000 mutual funds. So once again, if detailed research and data plays a significant role in your investment process, you might find YCharts to be an attractive alternative to the high-end terminals so prevalent in the industry, but one that’s available at a fraction of the price.] Shawn Carpenter, co-founder and CEO of YCharts, the Financial Terminal of the Web, announced the closing of a C round of venture funding of about $6 million and the appointment of Jeremy Diamond as chief revenue officer of YCharts. These moves coincide with an acceleration of the company’s growth.

SEI’s ProcessWise Program Introduces New Workflows Designed to Maximize Advisor Efficiency and Productivity from MarketWatch

[And finally, rounding out this week’s broadcast is news from SEI, the turnkey asset management provider, that just released a new workflow program called SEI ProcessWise.

Once again, back in 2014 at the T3 conference, I covered SEI’s announcement of their partnership with Redtail CRM, MoneyGuidePro and ActiFi to develop an automated workflow solution for advisors. SEI ProcessWise is the first product of this partnership that is being rolled out to the roughly 6,100 advisors that work with SEI.

SEI ProcessWise provides 48 step-by-step workflow processes that address a variety of client service, account maintenance, and portfolio management activities, and for advisors who already use Redtail CRM in their business, SEI will preconfigure those workflows directly within Redtail to facilitate adoption. In addition to the workflow configurations, SEI is also including three months of training to help advisors implement the automated workflows into their business for a nominal cost.] As financial advisors look for new sources of productivity and efficiency, SEI announced today the launch of SEI ProcessWise, a comprehensive workflow program which streamlines client interactions, sales, marketing, and practice management tasks.

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

NFP Advisor Services Adopts Vestorly to Strengthen Advisors’ Digital Presence and Help Drive Business from PRNewswire

NFP Advisor Services, a leading independent broker-dealer, announced it will provide integrated access to the Vestorly solution to all affiliated financial advisors which includes over 1,400 registered representatives.

Finovate Spring 2015 Demo Archives from Finovate

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for May 22, 2015

FPPad Bits and Bytes for May 15

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Bill Winterberg in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, the SEC issues an alert about automated investment tools, see how Envestnet is ready to leverage its recent acquisition of Upside, and, find out which fintech buzzword has huge implications for your business.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now.

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

Today’s episode is brought to you by Riskalyze, the company that invented the Risk Number™ and named as one of the world’s 10 most innovative companies in finance by Fast Company Magazine.

Advisors use Riskalyze to show prospects they’re invested wrong and prove to clients they’re invested right. See how the Risk Number can grow your business today by visiting riskalyze.com/fppad to book a guided tour.

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

Investor Alert: Automated Investment Tools from the Securities and Exchange Commission

[This week’s top story comes from the Securities and Exchange Commission, as the industry regulator recently released an investor alert concerning automated investment tools, more commonly known as, well, you know where I’m going.

In its five-point alert, the SEC urges all investors to understand terms and conditions of any online service, know what the limits of automated tools are and assumptions that don’t apply to their situation (say, perhaps, tax illustrations for a married couple living in California who are in the highest tax bracket), be aware that when filling out questionnaires, garbage in equals garbage out, be careful not to assume goals are the same as a generic investment time horizons based on age, and to practice good security hygiene to protect financial accounts.

So how can you use this alert to make your business more appealing to prospective clients? At the very least, be as transparent as possible about your fees and your process. Next, focus on the ongoing relationships you have with clients, because the advice you provide doesn’t end the moment a client fills out a risk tolerance questionnaire.

And finally, emphasize the breadth of your services. Yes, prudent investing is important, but it’s critical to also factor in insurance needs, tax strategies, estate planning and so much more, all of which are areas largely untouched by automated investment tools. Let’s be absolutely clear, this is your value to your clients, and if you’re not broadcasting it at every opportunity you have, you’re in danger of failing to differentiate your business from the competition.] The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) are issuing this alert to provide investors with a general overview of automated investment tools.

Envestnet Driving Digital Advice Transformation from Envestnet.com

[Next up is more news from Envestnet in a follow up to the company’s summit held earlier this month in Chicago. Last week I covered Envestnet’s acquisition of Finance Logix, but this week the story is all about Envestnet’s new digital advice portal called Advisor Now™. So what is Advisor Now?

You start with the original Envestnet Advisor Suite™ for portfolio management, add in a serving of the Envestnet | Tamarac Advisor Xi platform for its CRM, portfolio rebalancing, and client portal features, mix in the online automated investment solution from Upside, blend them all together and out comes Advisor Now.

So clearly Envestnet is further positioning itself as a dominant custodian-agnostic all-in-one technology provider, and if you’re an existing Envestnet and/or Tamarac user, you’ll soon experience the benefits of Advisor Now as it gets updated according to the company’s 60-day release cycle.

But if your technology consists of integrations between separate best-of-breed solutions, I think you have some work ahead of you if your objective is to match the Advisor Now portal feature-for-feature.] Envestnet, Inc. announced that it will be launching Advisor Now™, a digital advice portal harnessing Envestnet’s core capabilities to help independent advisors demonstrate more value to clients and improve financial outcomes for investors.

Purge the Word ‘Frictionless’ from Banking from Bank Innovation, and

Hedgeable’s Robo Advisor 2.0 Platform Automates Risk Managed Investing,

Vanguard Debuts Diversification Visualizer,

and Trizic’s Accelerator Enables Financial Firms to Scale Investment Advice from Finovate.com

[And finally, I’ve was following the chatter on Twitter this week from the Finovate Spring 2015 conference in San Jose, and one of the buzzwords that lit up the #Finovate hashtag was “frictionless.” The majority of presenters, whether they were mobile payment solutions, peer-to-peer lending networks, or even crowdfunding services to pay off medical bills, focused on eliminating the friction in financial transactions.

In fact, “frictionless” was mentioned so much that one attendee said the word should be purged from the world of banking. But think about your business for a minute. How much friction do you create for your clients? How much paper are you pushing? Are you accessible by text and video chat in addition to phone calls and face-to-face meetings? Can clients access the information they want from a smartphone?

I think it’s time you look at your business from the client’s perspective and identify all the processes that generate friction. For each process, figure out how technology can streamline what you do and reduce the time and effort required to get something done. That sounds like a pretty useful activity for a Friday afternoon if you ask me.

Oh, and if you want to know which three companies from Finovate are worthy of attention on my radar, they are Hedgeable, for their online investment service featuring active management and alternatives, Vanguard, for their clever 3D graphs of diversification illustrations, and Trizic, yet another online investment service that can be white labeled by financial advisors.] It’s time to relegate the phrase ‘frictionless’ to the FinTech trashbin.

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

Beyond E-Signatures from Financial Advisor Magazine

As someone who has been a proponent of the paperless office for many, many years, I often feel a sense of frustration at the number of paper-driven activities still prevalent in our industry.

How Well Does Your Firm Virtually Serve Your Clients? from ThinkAdvisor

Advisors need to make sure their technology offerings are in line with their clients’ expectations

Watch Bits and Bytes for May 15, 2015

FPPad Bits and Bytes for September 26

Posted on September 26, 2014 by Bill Winterberg 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.

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

[Video Spotlight] FutureAdvisor co-founder Bo Lu at FinovateSpring 2012

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Bill Winterberg in Video Spotlight

In my final spotlight interview from FinovateSpring 2012, I asked Bo Lu, co-founder of FutureAdvisor, about his company’s service offering to the retail investor.

Hear how the platform is designed to deliver personalized, actionable advice to all investors and the company’s plans to incorporate financial advisors via recommendation marketplace.

(click to view on YouTube)

[Video Spotlight] iQuantifi CEO Tom White at FinovateSpring 2012

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Bill Winterberg in Video Spotlight

iQuantifi is a new company I discovered at FinovateSpring 2012 (see FinovateSpring 2012 highlights for independent financial advisers: Day 1). I met with with founder and CEO Tom White to get more information on the company’s product. iQuantifi was also awarded Best in Show for FinovateSpring 2012, one of 7 out of 64 presenters. Quite the accomplishment!

(click to view on YouTube)

[Video Spotlight] inStream Solutions CEO Alex Murguia at FinovateSpring 2012

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Bill Winterberg in Video Spotlight

Yesterday I covered inStream Solutions’ presentation at FinovateSpring 2012 (see FinovateSpring 2012 highlights for independent financial advisers: Day 2). Below watch a short spotlight video with inStream CEO Alex Murguia about the ways the application can expand beyond the independent RIA marketplace.

(click here to view on YouTube)

FinovateSpring 2012 highlights for independent financial advisers: Day 2

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Bill Winterberg in Conferences

Today is the second and final day of FinovateSpring 2012. Be sure to read my highlights of Day 1.

Here are today’s best takeaways for financial advisers.

(updated 10:27PM PDT)

Pindrop Securiity uses acoustic forensics to identify fraudulent and spoofed phone calls

[Last month I posted Why financial advisers can’t trust their clients anymore, as hackers are using more sophisticated methods to “spoof” clients’ identity and steal money. Some hackers use Caller ID spoofing to display a victim’s phone number in an attempt to fool an adviser into believing the incoming call is legitimate. Pindrop Security now offers a way to use acoustic forensics to examine over a hundred characteristics of incoming phone calls. They look for call characteristics like transmission over cellular networks versus voice-over-IP (VoIP), geolocation information, and more. While it’s likely targeted to call centers with high call volume, I wouldn’t be surprised if a tool like this trickles down to independent financial advisory firms who need such security capabilities.]

FutureAdvisor Announces its Premium Beta from Finovate.com

[I spoke with FutureAdvisor co-founder Bo Lu and filmed the interview for my YouTube channel. I should post it sometime next week. In the meantime, FutureAdvisor is another direct-to-consumer online advice platform, but is focused on servicing the defined contribution 401(k) market. At Finovate, they changed their business model by offering its Premium subscription tier for free while in beta, which previously cost $149 per year.] Kicking off the final afternoon session, FutureAdvisor showed how its new platform gives actionable investment advice.

(updated 1:35PM PDT)

inStream Shows How it is Changing the Financial Planning Software Industry from Finovate.com

[After opening their product to advisers last year, inStream Solutions, the proactive financial planning software application, now has over 800 firms representing $200 billion in assets under advisement on board. I filmed inStream CEO Alex Murguia here at Finovate and will post the video to YouTube in the next week.] inStream is changing the market standard for what is generally referenced today as “financial planning software” through multiple innovations

(updated 11:14AM PDT)

Would you rather watch football instead of planning for retirement? This app’s for you.

[Here’s an interesting take on financial education and planning tools; combine football concepts with finance. Portfolio Football is a platform that invites users to make a fantasy football “team” (aka portfolio) of 11 “players” (aka stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs). With a fantasy team assembled, Portfolio Football delivers allocation summary and performance graphs to show how this portfolio has performed in the past. It’s interesting, but I didn’t get a feel of how Portfolio Football determines what “players” would be appropriate on a “team” across a variety of investors, and whether or not 11 is a magic number of players. I give them credit for focusing on a very specific niche, though; the fantasy football community!]

(updated 10:02AM PDT)

Transparency Labs Helps Retirees Maximize Savings from Finovate.com

[What Brightscope did for retirement plan ratings, Transparency Labs seeks to do for retirement plan disclosure language. Have you ever read all the fine print about how your 401(k) works? Me neither. While intriguing, clients that engage financial advisers have an edge, as advisers generally counsel clients on the penalties of cashing out 401(k) accounts prior to reaching retirement. But for the rest of America, this can be a useful tool to help plan participants keep more of their money.] Transparency Labs addresses America’s “Cash-Out Crisis” by helping retirement savers understand the penalty, fee and tax implications of cashing-out their retirement savings as they change jobs

(updated 9:42AM PDT)

BehavioSec Uses Behavioral Analytics to Tackle Mobile Security from Finovate.com

[You have client data loaded on computers, phones, and tablets. By and large, sensitive data is protected by a basic username and password login. What BehavioSec does is apply a transparent layer of security protection that samples the behavior of how a user interacts with a device and types passwords into the system. BehavioSec calculates a confidence score in real time, and if the input behavior doesn’t match the user’s behavior, access is denied. Definitely cool software for security.] BehavioSec demonstrated its mobile security solution that uses behavioral analytics.

FinovateSpring 2012 highlights for independent financial advisers: Day 1

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Bill Winterberg in Conferences

I’m attending FinovateSpring 2012 today and tomorrow. When I have a chance, I’ll update FPPad with items independent financial advisers will want to add to their radar.

(updated 3:34PM PDT – final update of the day)

Smart Expense™ from Concur simplifies travel expense reporting with TripIt integration from FPPad.com

[Again, here’s another option to facilitate expense report generation, especially if you are an existing TripIt user, Smart Expense from Concur. The disadvantage is there’s a monthly fee for TripIt Pro, but people on Twitter swear by it, so appears worthwhile. SmartExpense from Concur is free.] While you’re traveling, Concur’s mobile travel & expense app helps you stay on the ball. Need to change a flight, book a hotel or rental car, or even hail and pay for a taxi? Concur’s mobile app puts the ability to do all this in the palm of your hand.

(updated 2:41PM PDT)

SaveUp Helps Banks Gamify Consumer Saving from Finovate.com

[Do you have clients that just aren’t meeting their savings goals? Maybe they need to make savings a game. SaveUp takes the basic human desire for positive reward reinforcement by allocating special credits for doing the right things, then those credits can be redeemed for prizes and contest drawings.] First on stage in today’s final session, SaveUp demonstrated how financial institutions can use its platform to instill positive saving habits in members.

(updated 11:34AM PDT)

iQuantifi helps clients optimize and prioritize financial goals in real time from FPPad.com

[Unbeknownst to me prior to today, iQuantifi is an online goal-planning and illustration tool built by Franklin, Tenn.-based financial planner Tom White. Its goal is to “help people identify, prioritize, and achieve their financial goals.” It has a very appealing goals-based interface with an interactive timeline users can use to click and drag goals and see what happens to goal planning in real time. The product is in a private alpha, but you can sign up for their enewsletter to stay informed of product updates. Here’s the Finovate blog entry.]

(updated 11:05AM PDT)

Actiance Helps Financial Institutions and Advisors Track Social Media Activity from Finovate.com

[FPPad readers should be well aware of Actiance and their social media archiving services (among others) for advisers. They presented at FinovateSpring 2012 to gain more exposure in regulated industries. Socialware, Arkovi, Erado, et. al., are you listening?] Wrapping up the first session, Actiance showed how financial institutions can encourage consumer engagement without compromising their brand.

Personal Capital announces iPhone app, Universal Checkbook from tuaw.com

[Personal Capital is known for its free iPad app offered directly to consumers. At FinovateSpring 2012, the company announced the release of an iPhone app and also Universal Checkbook, a way to link a checking account to Personal Capital and use it to send payments to almost anyone. How’s that for integration?] Personal Capital also announced a new feature in the iPhone app that is not part of their iPad app — the Universal Checkbook.

Expensify Trips Aims to Make Travelling Easier from FinovateSpring.com

[Travel a lot to adviser conferences? Expensify might save you tons of time by linking photos of your receipts while traveling with your trip itinerary, generating an expense report in real time.] Expensify showed how its Trips platform makes travelling easier by helping you get a head start on processing travel receipts:

FPPad

FPPad Bits and Bytes for May 13, 2016

FPPad Bits and Bytes for May 22

FPPad Bits and Bytes for May 15

FPPad Bits and Bytes for September 26

[Video Spotlight] FutureAdvisor co-founder Bo Lu at FinovateSpring 2012

[Video Spotlight] iQuantifi CEO Tom White at FinovateSpring 2012

[Video Spotlight] inStream Solutions CEO Alex Murguia at FinovateSpring 2012

FinovateSpring 2012 highlights for independent financial advisers: Day 2

Bill Winterberg’s Tweets

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