paperless Archives

FPPad Bits and Bytes for November 4

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Bill Winterberg in Bits & Bytes

Wow, what a packed week at Schwab IMPACT! Still, I took time out of my schedule to assemble this week’s top articles in financial adviser technology (and there are plenty!).

First, if you continue to seek guidance regarding online document storage solutions (like Dropbox, SugarSync, et. al.), read my column in November’s Journal of Financial Planning, Evaluating Online Document Storage.

Then, catch my coverage of IMPACT in these two posts:

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Evolution of Orion from FA-mag.com

[Orion made a series of waves in the technology ocean back in August, which I covered in a series of posts. Here Joel Bruckenstien summarizes how Orion has put some serious pressure on technology providers in the independent adviser market.] Orion Advisor Services LLC is a firm that seemingly flies under the radar of many financial advisors. Orion’s journey from a service bureau start-up to technology innovator has been anything but typical.

Integration Key to Tech Advantage from AdvisorOne.

[You hear this over and over: integrated solutions can offer big time and cost savings. But at least Eric Clarke, president of Orion Advisor Solutions, provides good rules of thumb for advisers seeking new solutions.] Technology is a pervasive part of any industry and one that is constantly changing. One of the keys for advisors to maintain a comprehensive, efficient technology solution is integration.

New Raymond James Social Media Platform Lets Advisors Use LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter from AdvisorOne.com

[Erado and Socialware have been the beneficiaries of several broker-dealer engagements as of late, but here comes Actiance making news with its deal with Raymond James.] Raymond James has just implemented a new social media platform from Actiance that will allow the broker-dealer to use social media sites including LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter while complying with Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) regulations.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for September 23

Posted on September 23, 2011 by Bill Winterberg in Bits & Bytes

It’s the quiet before the storm. There are just a handful of updates this week, as I suspect many of the major technology providers are saving their big stories for October.

But first, you may be failing to deliver services that your clients expect. Find out what that may be in Clients Want Great Service. Does Your Financial Advisory Firm Leave Them Hungry?, my latest post for Blueleaf.

Now on to this week’s stories of interest:

How advisers can really make tech pay off from InvestmentNews.com

[Davis Janowski again ties to uncover what makes larger firms more successful with their technology. The revelations are limited to 1) a “highly customized version of Salesforce.com” with no insight on cost, 2) how easy breakaway brokers have it as they generally don’t need to deal with legacy systems, and 3) the significant leverage portfolio rebalancing software adds.] Financial advisers often equate technology with progress. And while it can be one of the major keys to unlocking profitability, it also can be responsible for strangling and stifling your firm.

12 Steps to Near-Paperless Bliss from AdvisorOne.com

[Bill Good is taking his office mostly paperless, clearing out 40 four-drawer filing cabinets. While the 12 steps outline a suitable capture system, I feel the important discussion of indexing and filing into a true document management system is omitted.] Digitizing paper files and routine processes is so valuable that it has to be at the top of advisors’ lists on ways to be more productive

Video: Technology Trends Affecting Financial Advisors

Posted on November 23, 2010 by Bill Winterberg in Technology

Bill speaks to Investius in a Financial Thought Leaders report on current technology trends and how they affect financial advisors. Be sure to visit Investius.com for other excellent reports in the Financial Thought Leaders series.

[Note: video below is Flash. Click here to view the Quicktime version for iOS devices at Investius.com]

A Lesson in Paperless Documents: Electronic Boarding Passes

Posted on May 27, 2010 by Bill Winterberg in General

Going paperless doesn’t always guarantee success. I almost learned this the hard way when I nearly missed my return flight from Denver last Sunday.

As I checked in for my flight from Denver to DFW, I thought I would be environmentally conscious and use an electronic boarding pass on my iPad. I checked in online with my carrier and easily saved the boarding pass image to my iPad.

When I arrived at the airport, I waited in the security line for about 20 minutes only to find out that TSA was having no success reading electronic boarding passes from my carrier. TSA said I had to get a paper boarding pass and go back through security. Only at 6:30pm on a Sunday evening, the check in counter was closed and the kiosk wouldn’t reprint paper passes for flights departing in 45 minutes or less!

I ended up running down to baggage claim, found an employee, and received a paper boarding pass. I ran back to security, ran to my gate, all the while hearing my name over the airport paging system with the dreaded words “final boarding call…” I made my flight with just 2 minutes to spare.

Harsh Reviews for One Popular Paperless Office Solution

Posted on December 7, 2009 by Bill Winterberg in Software

I try my best to keep up to date on the popular paperless office solutions on the market, particularly on those that are popular in the independent financial services industry. Every once in a while I run across reviews of solutions that are polar opposites of one another.

Here’s one recent example.

December’s Financial Advisor magazine features a write-up of PaperPort Professional v12.0, reviewed by Joel Bruckenstein. In the review he says:

…its ease of use, low cost and robust features make it an attractive option for smaller advisory firms with limited technology and training budgets.

and…

For the price, PaperPort provides a great deal of functionality.

Sounds fairly promising. For $199, advisers can get an entry-level document management and scanning solution that provides some of the basic functionality needed to implement a paperless office. What’s not to like?

One Adviser’s Battle Against Inefficient Workflow

Posted on September 29, 2009 by Bill Winterberg in Efficiency

With increased workload and compressed margins of the last 12 months, financial advisers are looking for ways to maintain excellent client service while streamlining internal processes. One popular area for efficiency gains is the management of internal workflow.

I want to share an article published on IATechForum that highlights Laserfiche’s Avante product. Joseph Salpietro, President and CEO of Xpyria Investment Advisors (why the website domain is yannico.com is beyond me), shares his experience integrating the product into existing firm functions.

While the article features only the Avante solution (Laserfiche is one of the primary forum members), pay attention to the concepts of how the software was used to eliminate paper-pushing in the firm’s processes.

Click here to read Making Work Flow on IATechForum.

Is Scanning to PDF Files Less Secure than TIFFs?

Posted on May 15, 2009 by Bill Winterberg in Practice Management

pdf I recently received my May issue of Financial Advisor magazine and read David Lawrence’s article on document management titled Worth the Investment (click here to view online). This article describes the benefits of implementing an effective and easy-to-use document management system, a.k.a. electronic content management (ECM) system.

In the article, though, Mr. Lawrence said one thing that grabbed my attention. He wrote (my emphasis added):

A common mistake made by some firms is to use a system that saves documents in a PDF instead of a more secure format such as a TIFF. This means documents can be altered after the fact, and the firm risks potentially violating federal regulations. While some scanner manufacturers have addressed this issue with post-imprint symbols and other coding mechanisms to ensure authenticity, there are still lingering doubts about the security of the original documents.

Now hold on for one minute. TIFF files are “more secure” than PDF files?!?

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