Tag Archives: Mobile

FPPad Bits and Bytes for July 15

Posted on July 15, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

I’m flying with the family to Portland, Oregon tomorrow for business and pleasure. I’ll be speaking to the FPA of Oregon & SW Washington on Wednesday and visiting with a technology provider on Thursday. Outside of those commitments we’ll be touring the natural wonders of Oregon and relishing in the temperate summer weather (in contrast to 14 days of 100+ degree temperatures we’ve experienced here in Dallas!).

[Photo used under Creative Commons from camknows]

Now on to this week’s stories of interest:

Interactive Advisory Software joins the horse race with VC funding, a new look, and new CEO from RIABiz.com

[You’ve probably never heard of IAS unless you’re a user. They ranked far below competing platforms in the 2010 Financial Planning Technology Survey, so will their refresh and new marketing initiatives result in larger adoption by RIAs?] Based out of Atlanta, Ga., Interactive Advisory Software is stepping out of its “hidden gem” history with new investment, a new CEO, and a brand new look.

Fidelity adds trading to WealthCentral Mobile from InvestmentNews.com

[I suspect advisers are not too inclined to submit trades in client accounts from mobile devices. But from a marketing perspective, saying your app supports mobile trading is a nice checkbox in the functionality matrix] Financial advisers on the WealthCentral platform can now add trading to the list of things they can do from their iPhones and later model Android smart phones.

Social Media Archiving Meets the Back Office – a Cloud Computing Solution for Registered Investment Advisors from Arkovi.com

[Anyone heard of WinWeb? It’s new to me, and I have no clue how well they serve the adviser marketplace.] Arkovi and WinWeb Announce Integrated Partnership Bringing CRM, Social Media Archiving and Operations into One Solution for Registered Investments Advisors.

Orion Welcomes Advance Capital from PRNewswire.com

[Orion, the popular web-based portfolio accounting and service bureau, keeps gaining users and assets reconciled through their platform] Orion Advisor Services, LLC, a comprehensive portfolio accounting service bureau, is pleased to welcome new client Advance Capital Management, Inc., a Broker-Dealer and Registered Investment Advisor with almost $2 billion in assets under management including its own proprietary funds. Advance Capital Management joins a rapidly expanding roster of premier investment firms to utilize Orion’s innovative back-office solutions.

Read this month’s column for Morningstar Advisor, Save Time, Reduce Errors with Text Expanders. You might benefit tremendously from using tools like TextExpander and PhraseExpress.

And if you’re convinced your clients aren’t texting, you need to read my post this week for Blueleaf, Your Clients Are Leaving You In The Dust.

Pershing Brings NetX360™ to the Android Market

Posted on May 24, 2011 by in Technology

Pershing LLC continues to expand its mobile offerings to advisers by releasing NetX360™ for the Google Android™ operating system.

We wrote in June 2010 about Pershing’s support of an iPad app for its NetX360 portfolio management platform. The app was finally released to the App Store in December, taking almost six months to complete the final development and review process. Using NetX360 for iPad, advisers can view client portfolio balances, access account statements, submit trades for equities and mutual funds, and more.

This week, Pershing is expanding its support of mobile access to NetX360 with the announcement of an Android-compatible app.

“The availability of NetX360 on mobile devices provides our customers with the ability to utilize all of NetX360’s capabilities no matter where they are, and provides them with the same level of security and encryption as their desktop NetX360 application,” said Suresh Kumar, chief information officer of Pershing, in a company press release.

Click here to read the full press release at PRNewswire.

And click the image below to view NetX360 Mobile in the Android Market

NetX360 Mobile - Android Market

FPPad Bits and Bytes for April 15

Posted on April 15, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

Did you file your tax return yet? We managed to file a few days before the potential government shutdown.

But if you’re still scrambling to complete those last few client returns (or extension filings), here’s a 60-second breakdown of this week’s top stories in financial planning technology so you can get back to your forms.

The inside story of a giant RIA’s move to Tamarac from Advent from RIABiz.com

The thought process behind $2-billion Signature Estate’s move from Advent to Tamarac for its portfolio management technology.

Mobile Apps 101: 10 Must-Have Applications for Every Advisor from Financial-Planning.com

Whether it’s an iPad, Android, BlackBerry or iPhone, just about everyone these days is walking around with a digital appendage to keep themselves constantly in the know and able to communicate with friends, family and business associates around the clock.

Read this month’s MorningstarAdvisor.com column Avoid E-mail Audit Headaches to determine how technology can prevent last-minute scrambling to assemble e-mail records for examiners.

And finally, read part three of an interview AdvisorWebsites.com conducted with Bill on financial adviser technology:Bill Winterberg Talks Technology: Part 3 (read Part 1 and Part 2)

 

Preview TD AMERITRADE Institutional’s Veo® Mobile App for iPad

Posted on April 8, 2011 by in Technology

Thank you to Andy Gluck and Advisors4Advisors for recording a four minute preview of TD AMERITRADE Institutional’s new Veo® Mobile app for iPad.

Click here if you can’t view the embedded video (opens on YouTube).

FPPad Bits and Bytes for March 18

Posted on March 18, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Pershing keeps ahead in the mobile space with an Android app and mobile trading from RIABiz.com

Pershing is launching an Android version of NetX360 in late April that includes mobile trading capability, adding to its lead in the mobile space over other custodians.

Choosing Software That Works for Your Advisory Firm-Part 1 from AdvisorOne.com

The first in a six-part series by Spenser Segal of ActiFi designed to present best practices to advisors on how to choose, implement and monitor new technology for an advisory firm.

Latest MarketCounsel Acquisition Overlays Operational Expertise with its Leading Compliance Platform from MarketCounsel.com

[Bill’s note: Last week it was FamilyOfficeNetwork that merged with The Efficient Practice, this week the east coast version happened.] MarketCounsel, the leading business and regulatory compliance consulting firm to the country’s preeminent entrepreneurial investment advisors is pleased to announce the acquisition of Beneficial Concepts Group, LLC.

ByAllAccounts’ Survey Reveals Financial Advisors Are Missing Opportunity to Attract HNW Clients from Marketwire.com

ByAllAccounts, Inc., the financial advisors’ choice for account aggregation, today released results from a nationwide survey of financial advisors on fiduciary responsibility.

And if you missed our update earlier this week, be sure to download the “FPA-ActiFi Adviser Technology Reports: Portfolio Management Edition”, free for FPA members (and at $495 for non-members, it’s well worth the price to join FPA)

T3 2011 Conference Live Blog: Junxure CRM

Posted on February 17, 2011 by in General

(Bill’s note: I brought just my iPad and Apple wireless keyboard to T3 and it’s proving to be a very flexible setup for blogging from the event. I’m being pulled in many directions, so I’ll blog when I have a few moments. Here’s the first in my series for T3.)

T3 2011 opened today with pre-conference sessions where vendors and technology companies demonstrated their products. Most vendors used the opportunity to demonstrate their products, talk about what’s new, and answer questions from the audience.

I first attended a split session with Junxure and Redtail CRM. Here are my notes from Junxure’s portion.

Robert DeFrancis, Director of Client Services and Sales for Junxure presented. Since Junxure is installed locally on most advisers’ servers (though it certainly could be installed on a virtual server), DeFrancis stressed the speed of desktop CRM. He pointed out that waiting 10 seconds for an online CRM’s screen to refresh could cost advisers up to 25 minutes a day in lost productivity.

He demonstrated both Junxure Mobile and ClientView Live, pointing out the Mobile runs well on iPads (roughly 10-15% of session attendees have iPads) My opinion is yes, Mobile runs well on iPad, but I find many screens are very overwhelming with a lot of data (e.g. the Junxure action screens).

Documents linked in Junxure can be viewed on iPads, but Junxure Mobile doesn’t export PDFs to iBooks or other apps. Orion updated their iPad app to do this, and I’d like to see Junxure do something similar.

Generally, I found Client View appealing and Junxure has taken care to design an attractive home page once clients log in. But one drawback is that Client View doesn’t yet support embedded video (e.g. YouTube or Vimeo) on the client home page. For advisers using more and more video in their practice, this is a nice value-add.

More notes like this will come over the course of the conference, so please check back at FPPad for more updates.

Fidelity Releases WealthCentral Mobile for iPhone, iPod touch

Posted on February 14, 2011 by in Technology

The race between custodians to support mobile platforms is quickly reaching a blazing pace (see Fidelity, Schwab and TD Ameritrade prep for arms race in mobile technology for advisors at RIABiz.com). Just two weeks ago, TD AMERITRADE Institutional announced it is currently developing a mobile app scheduled to be released this April (according to this Financial Planning article).

And just this morning, Fidelity Investments and National Financial Services released their WealthCentral Mobile app in the Apple App Store. While the app is compatible with iPhone and iPod touch, it does not take advantage of the iPad’s larger display, and instead runs on the iPad as a scaled-up iPhone app.

Click here to view WealthCentral Mobile on the iTunes website.


From the provided screen shots, WealthCentral Mobile appears to be for adviser use only and does not provide access by clients of advisers who custody with Fidelity. Adviser options include a list of client account, client contact information, alerts within the WealthCentral platform, and delayed stock quotes for individual equity positions.

We don’t yet have a demo account for WealthCentral Mobile, so if you’re an adviser with an active WealthCentral account and have downloaded the app, we’d love to hear your feedback. Feel free to leave a comment below or e-mail Bill at bill [at] fppad [dot] com.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for February 11

Posted on February 11, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

We’re taking today off (psst: it’s Bill’s birthday!), but before we go, here are this week’s stories of interest in financial planning technology:

Navigating the CRM labyrinth from InvesetmentNews.com

It’s obvious from my recent conversations with advisers that customer relationship management software still causes plenty of confusion.

Socialware Secures $3 Million in Funding at Marketwire.com

Socialware, the leader in social media compliance and engagement, today announced that it has secured $3 million in additional funding from existing investors, including FLOODGATE, G-51 Capital and Silverton Partners.

Fidelity® Unveils New Technology Strategy to Meet Rapidly Evolving Needs of Advisors and Investors at Fidelity.com

National Financial®, a Fidelity Investments® company and the nation’s 2nd largest provider of clearing services to broker-dealers1, today unveiled a comprehensive new technology strategy that will focus on making significantly larger investments in key areas its broker-dealer clients have indicated would best support their overall growth and efficiency objectives.

And Bill’s column Hop on the Mobile Bandwagon at MorningstarAdvisor.com

Orion’s MobileAdvisor provides another reason to embrace mobile computing.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for January 14

Posted on January 14, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

We were on the road for the first half of this week attending Laserfiche Empower 2011 in Los Angeles. While we took extensive notes over the 2 1/2 day event, we haven’t had the time to review and summarize them for posting (or post anything else for that matter!).

So check back in a week or two for our thoughts on Laserfiche’s potential to increase its presence in financial services.

Meanwhile, here are this week’s stories of interest:

Fidelity, Schwab and TD Ameritrade prep for arms race in mobile technology for advisors from RIABiz

In the next few months, Fidelity Investments and TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. will launch mobile apps for advisors that deliver functionality from their respective technology platforms, WealthCentral and Veo, according to the companies.

Advisor Tested: iPad proves ideal for advisors on-the-go; the surprise is the effect on clients from RIABiz

Tech Enables Convenient Client Connections, my January column at Morningstar Advisor

Growing advisory firms need easy tools they can use to collaborate with busy clients in real time when an in-person meeting is not possible or practical. Here are four screen-sharing tools that advisors should consider adding to their technology toolkit to enhance client service.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for January 7

Posted on January 7, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

2011 is off to a roaring start, and this week’s Bits and Bytes captures that fact.

Included are two stories on Orion Advisor Services’ new mobile app for advisors and their clients, two stories on TD AMERITRADE Institutional’s API for their Veo technology platform, and one article on a web-based tool to facilitate new Form ADV Part 2 regulatory filings.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Orion Advisor Services Launches App For Mobile Platforms from FPPad.com

In a continuation of 2010’s trend towards mobile device adoption, Orion Advisor Services, LLC of Omaha, Neb. announced today that it released applications for the Android and Apple iOS platforms.

and How Orion Advisor Services became a mobile device pioneer and how competitors plan to react from RIABiz.com

Eric Clarke of Orion Advisor Services is  making accessibility by mobile means a big strategic priority with the development of an Orion app for Droids, iPads and the like.

A Game Changer from Financial Advisor Magazine

TD Ameritrade becomes the first major custodian to open its database so it can integrate with virtually any software firm supporting RIAs.

TD Ameritrade Institutional reporting progress on its open API initiative from InvestmentNews.com

Third-party vendors are anxious to integrate with Veo, TD Ameritrade Institutional’s trading and account management platform and be able to securely exchange data.

ADV Help from Financial Advisor Magazine

This new Web-based platform helps RIAs easily update their regulatory reports.