Tag Archives: OpenView MarketSquare

Tech Alley Tour with John Connor at Schwab IMPACT® 2018

Posted on November 7, 2018 by in Conferences, Technology

From Schwab IMPACT® 2018, I connected with John Connor, Vice President of Digital Advisor Solutions for Schwab Advisor Services to tour the “Tech Alley” section of The Exchange exhibit hall.

Watch the Tech Alley Tour on Youtube: https://youtu.be/V4oW-JO1nv0

We toured seven of the technology providers exhibiting during IMPACT® 2018, including:

IMPACT® 2018 coverage sponsored by Envestnet | Tamarac. Sign up for a demo at http://www.fppad.com/tamarac

Music: Hysterical by Strength to Last, licensed via Soundstripe: https://soundstripe.grsm.io/billwinterberg

Schwab IMPACT 2013 Report: All the technology trends advisors can’t miss

Posted on November 12, 2013 by in Conferences, Technology

Bernie Clark, executive vice president of Schwab Advisor Services, kicks off IMPACT 2013 in Washington, D.C.

Bernie Clark, executive vice president of Schwab Advisor Services, kicks off IMPACT 2013 in Washington, D.C.

Schwab IMPACT 2013 kicked off its pinnacle event in Washington, D.C. this year with a big focus on the technology trends sure to change the financial services industry in the foreseeable future.

Here are the most important technology announcements provided by various members of the executive team inside Schwab Advisor Services.

Project PM2 Coming

Likely the most intriguing announcement from Neesha Hathi, SVP of Advisor Technology Solutions is the preview of a new portfolio management software platform called Project PM2 (“PM Squared”).

Neesha Hathi, senior vice president of Advisor Technology Solutions, shares the latest on Schwab’s technology offerings at IMPACT 2013.

Neesha Hathi, senior vice president of Advisor Technology Solutions, shares the latest on Schwab’s technology offerings at IMPACT 2013.

From a video shown at Schwab IMPACT, the preview of PM2 featured a tile-like interface reminiscent of Windows 8. Project PM2 will offer proactive alerts for events like new account funding, trading reports, and revenue metrics.

PM2 will be a cloud-based solution offering direct integration to Schwab data feeds. Reports and presentations offer dynamic capabilities and will support one-step publishing to a variety of client delivery mechanisms.

PM2 to be Multi-Custodial

In a later interview with Brian Shenson, vice president of Advisor Technology solutions, he said the roadmap for PM2 includes multi-custodial data support as well as the potential integration of account aggregation software.

Shenson added that Schwab Advisor Services already has long-standing relationships with providers like ByAllAccounts and CashEdge from FiServ.

Details on pricing and availability for PM2 were not announced at IMPACT.

Schwab OpenView Mobile

Hathi also announced a current pilot program underway to provide affiliated advisors with a branded mobile app that clients can use to interface with their advisor.

Schwab OpenView Mobile is the official program, and Hathi explained that clients can use the branded app to view real-time account data and review their advisor’s contact information.

Schwab OpenView Mobile will be available for a nominal fee which was not disclosed during the Schwab IMPACT breakout session.

Reinvented Wire Requests; DocuSign Integration in Schwab Alliance

Naureen Hassan, senior vice president, Client Experience, shares the latest on Schwab’s technology offerings at IMPACT 2013.

Naureen Hassan, senior vice president, Client Experience, shares the latest on Schwab’s technology offerings at IMPACT 2013.

Naureen Hassan, SVP of Client Experience revealed that in an average quarter, Schwab manually verifies over 240,000 signatures across a variety of forms. Clearly Schwab recognizes the ability to increase operational efficiency here with the adoption of electronic signature support.

Hassan announced two pending initiatives. First, wire requests will be “completely reinvented,” as advisors can initiate wire requests via Schwab Advisor Center. Upon submission, clients will actually receive alerts on their mobile phone, and then they can log in to a Schwab app and approve the wire request on the spot.

This overhauled wire request process is aimed to combat fraud and theft in the industry due to a significant rise in client spoofing (see: Client spoofing strikes again, RIA loses $290,000 of client funds)

Second, Hassan announced that DocuSign is currently in a pilot program and will soon be completely integrated in the Schwab Alliance system. Details on when DocuSign will be formally introduced for all Schwab advisors were not disclosed.

MoneyGuidePro Now Part of Integrated Office

Brian Shenson, vice president, Advisor Technology Solutions, shares the latest on Schwab’s technology offerings at IMPACT 2013.

Brian Shenson, vice president, Advisor Technology Solutions, shares the latest on Schwab’s technology offerings at IMPACT 2013.

Brian Shenson, VP of Advisor Technology Solutions was the next to take the stage and provide updates on the suite of Schwab OpenView solutions: Gateway, Integrated Office, Workflow Library, and MarketSquare.

Of most relevance is the addition of financial planning software integrations to Schwab OpenView Integrated Office™ platform. The first integration is with PIEtech to integrate MoneyGuide Pro financial planning software. NaviPlan from Zywave was also mentioned as an integration coming soon to Integrated Office.

MarketSquare Update

If you recall last year, Schwab announced the introduction of Schwab OpenView MarketSqaure, a review website consisting of advisor-submitted feedback on technology vendors and providers.

At this year’s IMPACT conference, Hathi said that over 70 providers have the potential to be listed in OpenView MarketSquare, but only 34 of them have a sufficient number of reviews to be publicly listed in the resource.

Hathi urged advisors in the audience to continue to submit their reviews of tools and services they use so MarketSquare can increase the number of providers present in the website.
34 have reviews.

All photos by Billy Cole/Orange Photography for Charles Schwab. Used with permission.

Schwab Advisor Services’ Neesha Hathi discusses innovation, differentiation, and pending technology rollouts

Posted on June 25, 2013 by in Video Spotlight

After spending several months on the road, spotlight video interviews are back!

Neesha Hathi is senior vice president of Advisor Technology Solutions at Charles Schwab and a member of the senior leadership team for Schwab Advisor Services.

Neesha Hathi is senior vice president of Advisor Technology Solutions at Charles Schwab and a member of the senior leadership team for Schwab Advisor Services.

I recently had the pleasure to sit down and speak with Neesha Hathi, senior vice president of Advisor Technology for Schwab Advisor Services, on a number of topics.

In this seven-minute video, Hathi highlights how Schwab is able to maintain its agility in innovation despite its large size as an organization.

For details on all of Schwab’s recent announcements, see RIA technology updates from Schwab Advisor Services’ Tech Talk series posted here yesterday.

Hathi also explains how Schwab Advisor Services has gathered extensive feedback from their advisors to enhance the web trading platform in use by thousands of firms everyday.

(click here to watch on YouTube)

RIA technology updates from Schwab Advisor Services’ Tech Talk series

Posted on June 24, 2013 by in Software, Technology

Neesha Hathi, Senior Vice President of Schwab Advisor Services

Neesha Hathi, Senior Vice President of Schwab Advisor Services

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.

Here are the most significant updates from the latest conference call held Monday June 24, featuring updates by Schwab Advisor Services Senior Vice President Neesha Hathi and Vice President Brian Shenson.

Schwab Intelligent Integration

Over 700 advisors are using some kind of solution from Schwab Intelligent Integration, which includes Schwab OpenView Gateway and Schwab Integrated Office. The Schwab OpenView Workflow Library (hey, I don’t choose the names for these solutions!!) is not included in the advisor count (see the next item).

The Schwab OpenView Workflow Library resources have been downloaded over 8,000 times with over 1,000 firms benefiting from the information.

New financial planning software integrations were announced, with Zywave’s NaviPro Planning Suite and PIEtech’s MoneyGuidePro to be added soon to Schwab OpenView Gateway. The integrations will allow financial profile and account information to be delivered from the custodial application to the planning software.

OpenView Gateway will also include the Envestnet|Tamarac Advisor Rebalancing® application. Here, too, advisors will be able to access Schwab’s custody data using the rebalancing application to evaluate and generate trade instructions to streamline portfolio rebalancing.

Move Money Directly from CRM

One of the features hinted by Hathi and Shenson is the ability advisors will soon have to initiate Move Money transactions directly from their CRM of choice.

Move Money requests have historically been restricted to the Schwab Advisor Services online custody platform or by placing a phone call to a service team. According to Shenson, Move Money from CRM will first appear in OpenView Gateway for all Salesforce CRM users, currently estimated to be roughly 200 advisory firms today. Soon after, Move Money will be made available to all Schwab OpenView Gateway CRM partners, which includes Junxure, Salentica, and Envestent|Tamarac.

PortfolioCenter Hosted Update

According to Hathi, roughly 40 advisory firms have contracts in place (which I take to mean not completely rolled out as of today) to use PortfolioCenter Hosted in their business.

Black Diamond Integration

Hathi also updated the Schwab OpenView Gateway integration with Black Diamond software from Advent Software, Inc. Black Diamond is in pilot testing with real time custody data, and is expected to reach general availability by the end of July 2013.

Web Trading

In one of the most eagerly anticipated updates, Hathi updated the status of the new web trading platform in Schwab Advisor Center. The new web trading layout will begin to roll out to select advisors in July 2013, with all of Schwab’s advisors using the new functionality by the end of the year. A preview of the layout is below.

A preview of the anticipated updates to the web trading interface from Schwab Advisor Services

A preview of the anticipated updates to the web trading interface from Schwab Advisor Services

OpenView MarketSquare

OpenView MarketSquare has been available to advisors for several months, and nearly 600 reviews are now available covering roughly 80 products used by advisors.

Mobile Initiatives

In response to a question submitted via Twitter, Hathi addressed coming changes in mobile initiatives from Schwab Advisor Services. Coming soon will be the ability for advisors to use the Schwab Advisor Center mobile app to conduct remote deposit of client checks.

Schwab’s retail customers have enjoyed remote deposit from the retail mobile app for well over a year, so finally this functionality is making its way to advisor devices for those who continue to receive checks from their clients.

Finally, Schwab will add functionality to the retail app to allow clients to authorize a wire transfer request submitted by their advisor.