Tag Archives: Google

FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 10

Posted on October 10, 2014 by in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, Schwab and Google drop hints about their online investment services. See how this crowded market is about to become a little bit more cozy. Digital estate planning for your clients is becoming more important than ever. Find out which new solution will help your clients plan for their digital assets. And, Bob Veres gets me fired up about the use of social media in your business. You’ve been warned, prepare for a storm off!

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now.

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

Today’s episode is brought to you by Envestnet | Tamarac, the provider of Tamarac Advisor Xi, a web-based portfolio and client management platform that uniquely integrates portfolio management, reporting, monitoring, rebalancing, and trading with a client portal and enterprise level CRM.

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Find out more about Advisor Xi and download their latest white paper on best practices for technology evaluation and implementation by visiting fppad.com/tamarac

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

Exclusive: Schwab ready to unveil free ‘robo-broker’ service from Reuters, and

Google study heightens fund industry peers from Financial Times (subscription required) or Google Looks to Enter Financial Industry from NBC Bay Area, or Google will likely re-invent the industry rather than play in the existing sandbox from Valuewalk

[This week’s top story covers *two more* announcements in the online investment algorithm space. You did watch last week’s episode, didn’t you? So first up is Charles Schwab who, according to a Reuters article, is developing its own automated investing service for use by you, the financial advisor, to attract emerging clients with a low-cost solution. How low cost you ask? Rumors indicate the service will be free, not including the four to 19 basis points charged by Schwab’s ETFs used in the platform.

And on the heels of Schwab’s news, Google hinted that the company is exploring its own entry into the investment management business. Financial Times first reported that Google commissioned a research report back in September on entering the asset management industry, which trigged a wave of industry speculation that gained a lot of momentum this week.

So let’s take a step back for a moment. Schwab has over 7 million investor accounts with over $1trillion in assets under management and Google has over one billion users across their various online services and mobile devices.

Collectively, the online investment providers have somewhere around $3 billion in assets under management (that’s 3 tenths of a percent of Schwab!) and less than 100,000 users (that’s one one-hundredth of a percent of Google!). Are the disruptors about to be disrupted? I don’t know, you tell me, and it all depends on whom you ask.] Charles Schwab Corp. is weeks away from introducing an automated investing service aimed at winning business from novice investors it does not currently serve, company officials told Reuters.

Estate Assist Wants To Provide Estate Planning For The Social Media Age from TechCrunch

[Next up is an announcement of a new service called Estate Assist, an online safe deposit box, if you will, that stores information about digital assets and shares that information with trusted recipients after a user passes away.

Identifying and managing your clients’ digital assets is probably not a part of your current service model, partly because there really haven’t been any decent solutions out there you can use that are better than using plain old spreadsheets. But with the introduction of Estate Assist, I think it’s time you consider including digital asset management services. Look at my YouTube channel or my email newsletter as an example: if I got hit by a bus <pause>, how will my spouse and beneficiaries access these assets?

In addition to Estate Assist, I think you should look into similar services from PrincipledHeart.com, created by CFP® practitioner William Bisset, as well the data inheritance feature from SecureSafe.] Estate Assist, launches out of beta today. Its aim is to help you store all your online passwords, social media accounts, digital health records, bank info and other paperwork.

The Five Biggest Ways Your Practice Needs to Change from Advisor Perspectives

[And finally, this week’s episode wraps up with industry commentary from Bob Veres, as he identifies the biggest ways your business needs to change in a recent Advisor Perspectives column. Now Veres says “pundits and journalists” say you need to make radical transformations, but they don’t give you any specifics. I hope he’s not talking about me, because I try to load these broadcasts you’re watching with tons of resources you should have on your radar. But I digress.

Veres mentions a number of what he calls “genuine evolutionary trends” which are all enlightening in their own way, but buried down at the bottom of his column, he says he suspects that “social media is going to be the least productive in terms of generating business for your firm.”

Really? Now to his credit, Veres says you should play to your strengths, and if social media isn’t one of them, it’s ok.

Well, I think that attitude was valid 20 years ago before it was possible to find out just about anything about anyone online using a quick Google search.

Just look at this broadcast. Complete strangers are watching it, they’re getting consistent value from it, and if they meet me in person at a conference, they say they feel like they already know me. So to say it’s the “least productive” way to generate business.. that’s it, I’m done.] Pundits and journalists make their living telling you that our profession is in a period of rapid evolutionary transition, and exhort you to be open to radical transformation. What you don’t hear in these messages are the specifics.

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

Watch all of the videos from Finovate Fall 2014 presentations

Mobile Dossier Startup Refresh Finds A Revenue Model With Its Salesforce App from TechCrunch

Refresh, the mobile tool for making you smarter at meetings, is now positioning itself to help sales teams be smarter about their clients and potential clients. To do that, the company has created a new product for Salesforce’s AppExchange that will allow users to access detailed information about the people in their professional network.

 

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 10, 2014

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 10, 2014

 

FPPad Bits and Bytes for August 29

Posted on August 29, 2014 by in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, Google ups the ante among office mobile app providers. Will the enhancements be enough for you to leave Office 365? Dropbox and Amazon want your cloud file storage business. Find out who has the features and pricing that are right for your firm. And, creating time-lapse videos just became a whole lot easier. Learn how you can use a new iPhone app for an interesting twist on your website’s contact page.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now!

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

Today’s episode is brought to you by the 2014 T3 Enterprise Conference, exclusively designed for the technology needs of broker-dealers and financial enterprises.

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If you’re looking for the best place to monitor trends in broker-dealer technology, you need to come to Atlanta November 11th through 13th. Reserve your spot today by visiting t3enterpriseconference.com

Here are this week’s stories of interest: Google bolsters iOS productivity suite with Slides, updates to Docs and Sheets from Apple Insider

[This week’s top story comes from Google, as the Internet search giant released a new app for iOS devices called Slides. Originally contained inside the Google Drive app, Slides is now the latest stand-alone app from Google to round out its mobile office productivity suite, which includes the previously-released Google Docs and Google Sheets apps.

This now rounds out Google’s mobile office toolkit, matching, at least in basic functionality, the Pages, Numbers, and Keynote apps from Apple, and the Office 365 apps of Word, Excel and PowerPoint most advisors know, and may or may not love.

The apps are free to use if you have a Google account and are included in Google Apps for Business subscriptions, priced at $50 per year per user. So if you don’t need any of the complex features in the Microsoft Office apps, the Google office apps may be everything you need to manage your business on the go at an affordable price.] Google on Monday released presentation app Slides alongside updates to existing iOS apps Docs and Sheets, offering a free Web-connected alternative to similar productivity suites from Microsoft and Apple.

Introducing a more powerful Dropbox Pro from Dropbox, Amazon Opens Up Its Enterprise Cloud Storage Service Zocalo To All from Techcrunch, and Cloud Storage Showdown: Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud and More Compared from Gizmodo

[Next up is news on two cloud file storage services, Dropbox and Amazon Zocalo. First up is Dropbox, which announced this week that the company is upgrading it’s Pro plan to offer better security controls when sharing files and folders with others. Also new is an improved remote wipe feature. Before this update, any files synchronized to a device that later became unlinked from a Dropbox account would still stay on the device. Now with the updated remote wipe feature, that’s no longer the case.

And the storage space of the Dropbox Pro plan was increased to one terabyte with pricing remaining at $9.99 per month.

But a new service competing directly against Dropbox Pro users is Amazon’s Zocalo, which is now available for the general public after being in a limited preview for a few months. Designed with enterprise users in mind, Zocalo can integrate with Microsoft’s Active Directory services for user permissions and administration. Pricing for Zocalo starts at $5 per month per user for 200 gigabytes of data, and with all these options now for cloud file storage, it’s hard even for me to keep everything straight. But if you head over to fppad.com/138, I’ve linked to a handy chart from Gizmodo with the details of many of the top cloud file storage providers.] We first launched Dropbox to help you simplify your life. Since then, you’ve told us that Dropbox does more than just that — it enables anyone with an idea, project, or passion to create amazing things.

Hyperlapse: Instagram’s First Standalone App You’ll Actually Want to Use from Mashable

Download Hyperlapse from Instagram from iTunes

[And finally, my last story will give you something to do to add some creativity to your weekend. Earlier this week, Instagram released a new app for iOS called Hyperlapse. The Hyperlapse app allows you to record several minutes of video on your iPhone and condense down to a quick time-lapse video with some added video stabilization. So why is this relevant to you as an advisor?

Here’s one idea on how you can use the Hyperlapse app in your business. The next time you drive to your office, mount your phone to your dashboard and record the route you take to get there. The hold your phone while you walk into your building and go to your office, and then create a Hyperlapse video from that footage. Post that Hyperlapse video next to your address on your website’s contact page. That way, anyone who is going to visit your office for the very first time can actually see where they should park and what door to enter, all in cool Hyperlapse video.] Instagram’s latest standalone, Hyperlapse, is simple, elegant and actually really useful. The app, which rolled out Tuesday, allows users to quickly and easily create on-the-go time-lapse videos— something that hasn’t been easily and effectively accomplished on mobile, until now.

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

The Freewheeling Life of the Virtual Advisor from ThinkAdvisor

Financial planner Alan Moore is at the forefront of a trend that is extending the reach of traditional advisors onto digital platforms.

Every Time You Buy Something, This App Invests a Few Pennies on Wall Street from WIRED

Now, a startup called Acorns wants to solve these problems with a new smartphone app, hoping it can help millennials outgrow the piggy bank. 

 

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for August 29, 2014

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for August 29, 2014

FPPad Bits and Bytes for March 14

Posted on March 14, 2014 by in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, Google Drive adds new features with third party add ons. Find out which ones will help you be more efficient. A new startup emerges to help advisors compete against “robo advisors.” How their partnership with a leading network of planners could change the mass-market advice model forever. And, find out about the biggest mistakes you should avoid before you upload your first video to YouTube.

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. Wealthbox is collaborative, social, and outrageously simple CRM for financial advisors.

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Sign up for a free trial today by visiting fppad.com/wealthbox

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

Google launches Docs plug-ins to better compete with Office from PCWorld, and

The Best Add-Ons for Google Drive from Lifehacker

[Three weeks ago, I covered news from Microsoft as they changed the name of SkyDrive, their cloud-based file storage solution, to OneDrive, and added several useful features to the service. Not to be left out, Google announced this week that it is extending the functionality of Google Drive with third-party plugins.

The new feature, called “add-ons,” allows users to enhance the Docs and Sheets office apps similar to what you can to today with Extensions in Google Chrome or packaged apps for ChromeOS. So what are the best new add-ons you can start using today?

The first is HelloFax, which allows you to send a file from Google Docs to any fax number by simply clicking on the HelloFax add-on and typing in the destination phone number. Now you can finally get rid of your fax machine and return it to 1985. Next is an add-on called Mapping Sheets, which lets you create custom Google Maps using data in a Google Sheet file. So for example, if you wanted to quickly map the addresses of all your clients, you could create a Google Sheet with the data and use the Mapping Sheets add-on to easily make the map.

And last is an add-on called Track Changes, which is one of the features where Google Docs underperformed its Microsoft Office counterpart. The new Track Changes add-on now essentially replicates the track changes feature found in Microsoft Word, closing the gap between the two programs, at least for the time being.] Yesterday, Google introduced add-ons for Google Docs and Sheets. These add-ons allow you to add all kinds of functionality to your documents, including signing faxes, creating bibliographies, and more.

Garrett Planning Network To Make Guide Financial Available to Its Network Of 300+ Advisory Firms from PRNewswire

[Next is news from a company new to the advisor technology marketplace called Guide Financial. Guide works in a similar fashion to Mint.com, as it aggregates data from banking, credit card, and investment accounts, but Mint.com doesn’t have an advisor dashboard, which is where Guide steps in.

Recognizing the potential of Guide’s dashboard, the Garrett Planning Network announced this week that it will begin to private-label the Guide online portal to the Network’s 300 plus advisory members.

This is a clever agreement between the two companies, as the online portal form Guide will help Garrett members boost their client-facing technology, squarely taking on the competition from robo advisor services that are proving to be very attractive to Gen X and Gen Y clients.

Pricing details of the private-labaled portal weren’t disclosed in the press release, but you can sign up for your own 15-day free trial to test Guide Financial on your own and watch their presentation from Finovate Fall 2013 by visiting the links to this week’s top stories.] Guide Financial (www.guidefinancial.com), a web-based service provider targeted to financial professionals at advisory firms, banks and insurers, announced today that it has reached an agreement to make its service available to the over 300 advisory companies in the Garrett Planning Network.

Guide Financial Finovate Fall 2013 Video

 

YouTube secrets for financial advisers from FPPad

[And finally, you’re probably watching today’s broadcast on YouTube, and you might be considering uploading your own video content to get discovered on the world’s second largest search engine. But before you get started, do you know what the top mistakes advisors are making on YouTube?

Earlier this week, I joined Joe and Luke Simonds in a lively Google+ Hangout to talk about the opportunities of YouTube content, but we also highlighted the biggest mistakes some advisors are making when they post content online. These mistakes include not getting compliance to review a script prior to filming, not making your own thumbnail images, and not using video annotations and hyperlinks to their fullest potential.] Effective video thumbnails, annotations, and hyperlinks are the biggest missed opportunities on YouTube for financial advisers

And stories that didn’t make this week’s broadcast:

Save more with Google Drive from Google

We’ve lowered the price of our monthly storage plans to $1.99 for 100GB (previously $4.99), $9.99 for 1TB (previously $49.99), and $99.99 for 10TB, with even more storage available if you need it.

4 New Advisor Tech Trends from Financial Planning

For advisors, technological change can seem both lightning fast and very slow.

 

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for March 14, 2014

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for March 14, 2014

FPPad Bits and Bytes for January 17

Posted on January 17, 2014 by in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, have robo advisers finally cracked the code to asset gathering? A leading document management provider rolls out mobile and social features your business soon can’t live without, and who are the top industry bloggers all financial advisors should be reading? All this 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 Blu Giant Advisor Studios, a multi-disciplinary creative firm, empowering advisors to engage clients though branding, social media, video and the web; an experience called “hypermedia.”

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Experience Blu Giant’s new interactive website and see what’s possible for your business by visiting fppad.com/blugiant

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

Wealthfront Reaches Over Half a Billion Dollars in 2013 from Wealthfront

[This week’s top story comes from the world of online advice providers, aka “robo advisors,” as Wealthfront announced this week that the company surpassed $500 million dollars in assets under management. While topping $500 million in AUM might seem like celebrating another 1,000 point threshold in the Dow Jones index, Wealthfront is starting to increase the gap over similar competitors like Betterment, which manages a reported $360 million, and Personal Capital, weighing in at a little over $200 million.

Wealthfront claimed over $67 million dollars in new assets for the month of December, which for many RIAs would make up a great year in new assets under management. Still, Wealthfront may not be a profitable business just yet, as Nerd’s Eye View blogger Michael Kitces estimated an optimistic annualized revenue of $1-and-a-quarter million dollars generated to support a team of expensive, full-time software engineers.

But pay careful attention to the types of clients Wealthfront cites in its announcement. Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and more make up the top ten list of Silicon Valley companies with the most employees that are Wealthfront clients. This group IS next generation of clients for your business, so if you’re interested in attracting them, your technology needs to be up to par, but you must offer something that robo advisors completely lack; a real relationship with a trusted advisor.] Although we began the year with less than $100 million in assets under management, we closed 2013 with over $538 million, growing over 450% to become the largest and fastest-growing software-based financial advisor.

Laserfiche Unveils Product Roadmap at Empower 2014 from BusinessWire.com

[Next up is news from Laserfiche, one of the leading providers of document and electronic content management to financial advisors. Laserfiche held its annual Empower conference for users and resellers in Southern California this week, selling out for the first time in the event’s history.

Laserfiche announced a number of updates, including a complete redesign of its web-based interface called Laserfiche Web Access 10. Users will find the fresh interface easier to navigate and much more user-friendly on tablets and smart phones. And speaking of smartphones, Laserfiche also introduced a brand new app for Android, adding more support for mobile devices since the introduction of the app for iOS back in 2011.

Finally, an interesting development for financial advisors is the addition of new feature in Laserfiche Forms 9.1. Laserfiche posted a form online that anyone could fill out to post a message on Twitter. But before each tweet went global, the message was automatically routed through an approval process built in to Laserfiche.

Tie that in with Laserfiche’s archiving capabilities, and you have a pretty elegant solution anyone in your business can use to stay compliant on social media and also avoid those embarrassing drunk tweets.] Laserfiche today kicked off its sold-out Empower 2014 Conference with a keynote speech from company CTO Karl Chan outlining new and upcoming software releases. The new lineup includes social BPM, expanded mobile offerings and new web products.

The RIABiz top 10 industry blogs — and what bloggers they recommend from RIABiz

[And finally, many of you ask where I get my news and information to produce each episode of FPPad Bits and Bytes. Well several of my favorite sources were just listed among the top 10 industry blogs for financial advisors.

This week, RIABiz published its list of the best industry blogs, and what’s wrong with a little shameless self-promotion since FPPad.com was listed as number three!

So let me thank you for helping make FPPad a part of the top industry blogs, because without your questions, feedback, and loyal viewership, FPPad would not be the resource that it is today.] The RIA business is a land of micro-niches where owner-operated blogs are often the best reading spot for advisors to find the vibe and the level of granularity they seek on a subject

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for January 17, 2014

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for January 17, 2014

FPPad Bits and Bytes for December 13

Posted on December 13, 2013 by in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, find out my picks for the best advisor technology of 2013, how building your own workflow with Internet services just got a bit easier, and how you can let prospects you’ve never seen before tour your office, virtually.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now!

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

Today’s episode is brought to you by My Virtual COO, a leading practice management firm that helps advisors free up time so they can devote their energy to mission critical, profitable, and enjoyable activities.

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To find out how you can implement a lean operations plan, download their latest white paper titled “The Lean Solution to Becoming a More Profitable, High Growth Advisory Firm” by visiting fppad.com/myvirtualcoo

2013’s Best Tech for Advisors from Morningstar Advisor

[December has clearly arrived, as I, like many of you, have endured sub-zero temperatures while on the road, but it also marks the release of my column on my top advisor technology picks for the year. Each year I highlight what I feel is the best back office technology, the best client-facing technology, and the best overall innovation for the year.

So taking the honor as this year’s best back office technology winner are two recipients, LPL Financial and Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services. Both companies launched mobile check deposit support earlier this year using apps on mobile devices. While advisors using mobile devices to deposit client checks might not seem very sexy, the capability does reduce many of the challenges when dealing with paper checks deposited in the traditional ways.

Next up is this year’s best client-facing technology, which is awarded to Riskalyze. You’ve heard about Riskalyze before on several of my earlier broadcasts, as they’ve gained significant momentum among advisors seeking tools to objectively quantify each client’s unique risk tolerance. Their reasonably-priced tools allow you to better measure how your clients respond to market volatility, instead of leaving an assessment up to your own intuition and gut feelings.

Finally, this year’s innovation of the year award goes to Trade-PMR for its introduction their bold Fusion Advisor Workstation. This growing custodian delivered a shot across the bow of its larger competitors by pushing the envelope on the custodial technology interface. Its Windows 8-inspired design and touch responsive support unveils a completely new way to manage your client’s financial assets, so look for the competition to play catch-up next year to the new bar established by Trade-PMR.

There’s a lot more to my best technology picks of 2013, including products deserving honorable mention, so be sure to read the full article for all the details.] This is my fourth year positioned in the hot seat of a high-stakes evaluation process that can literally make or break the future of an advisor technology provider!

The Insider’s Guide to the New Zapier, now with 250+ Supported Services from Zapier.com

[Next up is an interesting development on connecting Internet services so you can build your own simple workflows. One service I wrote about last year is IFTTT, an acronym for If This Then That, which allows you to perform an action in one Internet service using a trigger from another.

A second service receiving a lot of attention this week is Zapier, which announced an extensive redesign of its interface and expanded support of over 250 integration partners. There’s no end to the number of cool things that can be done with these services, so be sure to read up on Zapier’s announcement to see how you might start using the service for your own clever workflows.] Today we’re launching a brand new web app and announcing that we now have over 250 integration partners.

Create your own Street View from Google Maps

[And finally, you know how handy it is to use Google Street View to check out unfamiliar places before you travel. Well did you know that you can now duplicate the experience by creating a virtual tour of your business for clients and prospects? Starting this week, Google announced that you can use your own photos from your Android phone or a digital SLR camera to construct a 360 degree photo sphere of your business.

While the direct financial planning applications of a photo sphere are pretty nonexistent, I think setting one up for your business is a very clever way to market yourself to prospects that want to work virtually with you, but still appreciate the environment and people you support that help contribute to their financial success.] Well, starting today, it’s now possible for you to build your own Street View experiences to do just that. Using a new feature in our Views community, you can easily connect your photo spheres to create 360º virtual tours of the places you love, then share them with the world on Google Maps.

 

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for December 13, 2013

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for December 13, 2013

FPPad Bits and Bytes for September 6

Posted on September 6, 2013 by in Bits & Bytes

On this week’s broadcast, a peek at Junxure’s new cloud CRM for advisers, a custom built workflow system is coming to MoneyGuide Pro, why it’s time you should stop asking clients for referrals, and more. So get ready, Bits and Bytes begins now.

(Watch on YouTube) This week’s episode is brought to you by Shareholders Service Group, offering custodial services, advanced technology, and superior client service to nearly 1,100 independent RIAs nationwide.

Shareholders Service Group

Access leading technology from Black Diamond, MoneyGuide Pro, Redtail, TRX and Envestnet through the SSG open architecture platform. You personally handle your clients’ financial needs, so let SSG be the custodian that personally serves you. For more information, visit fppad.com/ssg

Here are the links to this week’s stories of interest:

Tech Review: Junxure Cloud Reaches for the Sky from Financial-Planning.com

[Leading off is an update on Junxure CRM, as their long-awaited transition to the cloud is just about ready for prime time. Financial Planning magazine technology editor Joel Bruckenstein recently reviewed Junxure Cloud, but hesitated to issue a resounding endorsement of the product. Bruckenstein praised Junxure Cloud’s modern design, reminiscent of tiles found in Windows 8, but cited a lack of functional widgets and live integrations as reasons to wait before fully embracing Junxure Cloud. Those issues, combined with minimum retail pricing of $2,700/year for 3 users, will likely put advisers in a wait-and-see mode to determine if Junxure Cloud eventually lives up to its potential.] Over the years, Junxure has added a few additional products, including ClientView, a client portal service, and Junxure Mobile. But the one component it’s been lacking is a cloud-based CRM product, which it’s been working on for about two years. Those efforts are about to bear fruit.

Financial Planning Software Experts at Money Guide Pro Select Fox Financial Planning Network To Develop Integrated Workflow System from eReleases.com

[Next up is news from MoneyGuide Pro, the most popular web-based financial planning software program used by advisers today. This week, MoneyGuide Pro announced that it selected the Fox Financial Planning Network to develop a custom workflow system to streamline the financial plan creation process. The Fox Financial Planning Network already provides pre-built workflow templates for popular CRMs like Redtail and Grendel, but this development marks the first time a workflow system addresses the steps unique to financial planning software. With over 300 adviser members to date, the Fox Financial Planning Network has clearly positioned itself as one of the go-to providers as advisers seek comprehensive workflow systems for their business.] PIEtech, maker of Money Guide Pro (MGP), the leading financial planning software for financial advisors, officially announced today the selection of Fox Financial Planning Network (FFPN) to develop a custom workflow system to enable MGP subscribers to create financial plans more efficiently as well as to drive adoption of recently added valuable features.

This tiny Irvine company built a pro video-conf product for millions — on top of Google Hangouts from VentureBeat.com

[Now Fox Financial Planning Network is a great example of a company that uses video conferencing and webinars to share information and build their profile. So you’ve probably considered using video conferencing yourself for similar activity with clients and prospects, but have yet to find the right platform. Webex and GoToMeeting might be too cumbersome for some clients use, and Google+ Hangouts might just be a little too informal for your tastes.

One new service attempting to bridge the gap is called Business Hangouts, which claims to be the enterprise-friendly app for Google+ Hangouts. Users get all the useful features of Google+ Hangouts video chats, but also a number of add-ons like event registration, email reminders, virtual 3D rooms, and more that are attractive to enterprise users. Paid versions start at just $9 a month for up to 50 attendees, which is a very steep discount from many of the other online video conference services.] Video-conferencing is a massively turbulent space right now. Large incumbents like WebEx and GoToMeeting are fighting smaller, nimbler, and cheaper options like Blue Jeans Network and the company that actually powers Google Hangouts, Vidyo. But an tiny upstart company in Irvine, California just might unseat them all.

Stop asking for referrals and use technology to drive growth from FPPad.com

[Finally, you are well aware how important referrals are in the organic growth of your business. But one industry consultant insists that it’s time advisers stop asking their clients for referrals. Stephen Wershing, president of The Client Driven Practice and author of book Stop Asking For Referrals, recently sat down with me to talk about the things advisers *should* do to create an effective referral strategy, which includes a few technology tips as well.] Asking clients for referrals can be damaging says one expert; use technology instead to drive your business growth.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for June 28

Posted on June 28, 2013 by in Bits & Bytes

2013 is half over. How much have you accomplished towards your technology goals?

2013 is half over. How much have you accomplished towards your technology goals?

And just like that, the first half of 2013 is over.

Remember the technology objectives you had when you entered the year? How have you fared on increasing efficiency and enhancing the service you deliver to clients?

If you’re not as far along as you had hoped, you still have 26 weeks to move ahead!

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

What I Learned from Getting Robbed: Part 2 from Advisortechbuzz.com

[This is the second update from Justin Unton from Commonwealth about the theft of his laptop and mobile devices. As an Apple user, he has several preexisting options for device recovery including updating his Apple ID with stolen device information and attempting to locate devices with the Find My iPhone app. Prey is also a clever app to install on your laptop which will try to contact the owner and send webcam photos of whoever is trying to access the laptop.] As I mentioned in the previous post, after getting robbed I was thankful I’d taken steps to protect the information stored on my electronic devices. Today, I’ll discuss a few specific security measures that served me well (and one that I wish I’d had in place).

RIA technology updates from Schwab Advisor Services’ Tech Talk series from FPPad

[Yes, I’m shamelessly promoting my own coverage of technology updates from Schwab Advisor Services. But let’s face it; you could read the PR-heavy press release, or read my review of the technology updates that matter to your business.] In a move to be more visible and transparent, Schwab Advisor Services launched a periodic series of conference calls called Tech Talk, featuring the latest updates on Schwab’s technology and related services for independent investment advisors.

Erado Announces Addition of Google Plus to Social Media Capturing Suite from Erado.com

[Erado continues to grow under the radar of most advisers, and that’s partly due to their success in cultivating new broker-dealer relationships. Now Erado becomes more attractive after recently adding Google Plus archiving (or Google+ which isn’t so press-release friendly) to their compliance suite.] Erado, the nation’s leading compliance and archiving firm in electronic communication, officially announces the newest addition to their Social Media Capturing suite, Google Plus.

Convenience or security: You can’t have both when it comes to Wi-Fi from TechRepublic.com

[Frequent Bits & Bytes readers might be tired of hearing about the risks of using public WiFi networks. For a refresher specific to you as a financial adviser, go read Why advisers can’t trust their clients anymore and How to secure mobile devices against “WiFi honeypots” here at FPPad. In this TechRepublic.com article, author Michael Kassner interviews an information security professional about how the risks of using public WiFi and what tools and programs to have in place to protect against hacking. But again, everything in the TechRepublic article has been covered for you in the two posts I provided as a refresher.] Open Wi-Fi networks can be a godsend when you need them. Michael P. Kassner interviews a network-security expert who explains why bad guys like them even more.

Twitter analytics helps financial advisers boost social media ROI

Posted on June 14, 2013 by in Online Marketing, Social Media

Twitter analytics lets financial advisers calculate their social media ROI

Twitter analytics lets financial advisers determine their social media ROI

Twitter analytics is the next greatest thing in financial adviser social media ROI.

As a financial adviser, you read a ton of articles and hear from industry consultants (myself included!) how important social media can be to your business and how you should be using it to communicate with your audience.

But when you post something, how do you know if that message was actually effective in reaching people?

Introducing Twitter Analytics

Twitter, part of the top four social media sites (along with Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+), just rolled out a new tool you can use to view your own analytics.

Twitter Analytics is free and can reveal nearly everything you ever wanted to know about the “reach,” or generated traffic, of your tweets.

Not only can you view analytics about your tweets, you can also gain insight on trends in your followers as well as demographics of the people who follow you.

Twitter Analytics in Two Minutes

I created the screencast below to show you how to access Twitter Analytics for your account and navigate among the data offered.

Enjoy!

My 10 Questions interview with the Journal of Financial Planning

Posted on February 6, 2013 by in Technology

Bill Winterberg 10 Questions

Ten questions highlights Dropbox, Google+ Hangouts, Windows 8 and more

Each month the Journal of Financial Planning interviews “noteworthy people” for its 10 Questions feature.

I had the honor and privilege of being the featured guest in February’s issue.

Carly Schulaka, Managing Editor for the Journal of Financial Planning, lined up a great list of questions, including conversations around file sharing services like Dropbox, whether financial planners should upgrade to Windows 8, broadcasting content over the Internet, and how inStream Solutions is poised to change the way financial plans are created.

Be sure to head on over to the Journal of Financial Planning and read 10 Questions with Bill Winterberg (PDF).

Also, I supplemented the 10 Questions feature with a video interview covering Pinterest and QR codes. See that video at How financial advisers can use Pinterest and QR codes

FPPad Bits and Bytes for December 7

Posted on December 7, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

Remember to watch today’s FPPad On Air broadcast at 4:15 pm ET with Blane Warrene.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Meet the wealth management firm of the future from Reuters.com

[Technology Tools for Today’s High-Margin Practice is being released in early 2013 as the 10th anniversary of their original book, Virtual Office Tools for a High Margin Practice, nears. It was a privilege to be asked to contribute to the new edition, as I submitted a chapter on collaboration tools financial advisers can use in their business. Pre-order the book on Amazon to lock in the pre-order price.] When David Drucker and Joel Bruckenstein wrote a book about technology innovations for advisers in 2002, many readers were skeptical of their recommendations to use email and create a website.

Junxure Cloud – The Clear Choice for Advisors from Junxure.com

[I will be honest: I think Junxure faces an uphill climb when it releases Junxure Cloud next year. The desktop version has so much in its interface, between notes, tasks, assets, documents, action sequences, etc. that I can’t help but be skeptical how it will translate to a web-based user interface. Junxure provided a sneak preview earlier this year (see: A sneak peek of Junxure Cloud), so take a look and decide for yourself. But give credit to Greg Friedman, the points in this article are valid; there are no overlays like there are in Salesforce, and support is handled internally and not farmed out to a third party. Will those benefits be enough to overcome the daunting interface?] Junxure attended Charles Schwab’s IMPACT® 2012 event, where we announced the spring 2013 release target for Junxure Cloud, our new web-based CRM solution. Attendees were treated to a preview demo, including how Junxure Cloud could help manage workflow, track a firm’s efficiency, and capture client documents and financial data through a wide range of integrations.

Why You Should Consider Online Meetings With Clients from RIACentral.com

[Again and again I counsel advisers that they need to be comfortable using online meeting tools like Skype, FaceTime from Apple, and Google+ Hangouts. Giving your clients options to meet with you remotely, when it is convenient for them, goes a long way in solidifying your working relationship. Here’s a good summary article from RIACentral about four key benefits of meeting online.] Meeting clients online may seem like technological overkill. After all, it’s much easier to just pick up the phone and chat, right? But, in reality, online meetings solve a myriad of practical everyday problems for you.