Tag Archives: Socialware

FPPad Bits and Bytes for May 27

Posted on May 27, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

This week’s Bits and Bytes is a big one! There are a few stories carried over from the previous week, as updating this page when traveling exclusively with an iPad is not the easiest thing to do, but a lot of great stories entered the wires this week, too.

And a reminder, Bill will be attending FPA NorCal next week in San Francisco, presenting Cultivating Clients in a Connected World on Wednesday afternoon. If you’ll be there, stop by and introduce yourself!

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Choosing Software That Works for Your Advisory Firm—Part 6: Ensuring New Technology Meets Your Business Goals from AdvisorOne.com

The sixth update in a 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.

Compliance and Connectivity from Financial-Planning.com

Well, well, it seems that Bill’s presentation Cultivating Clients in a Connected World has persuaded Bob Veres to consider adopting social media for purposes other than marketing and search engine optimization. See what he has to say about advisers considering this new communication medium (and follow @bobveres on Twitter).

Smarsh Report Identifies Electronic Communications Compliance Gaps at Smarsh.com

Smarsh, the email and social media archiving solution provider, released results from a survey of compliance professionals regarding the use of electronic communications including social media. In summary, it confirms what you already know: compliance professionals aren’t up to speed on supervising and archiving electronic communication, specifically social media.

Tweet on the Street from NYTimes.com

Morgan Stanley is ready to unleash its 17,800 brokers into popular social media service Twitter (their archive and monitoring solution is Socialware). But nothing they post will be unscripted. Good luck with that, we say.

IPS AdvisorPro® and Redtail Integrate Technology Systems from IPSAdvisorPro.com

IPS AdvisorPro® and Redtail Technology announced the availability of a new data integration between their industry leading technology platforms for financial advisors. The new integration will streamline the preparation of Investment Policy Statements (IPS) by automatically populating IPS AdvisorPro® fields with client information contained in Redtail’s CRM solution.

After tortoise-like beginnings, AssetBook is now on-the-hop in portfolio management software from RIABiz.com

One smaller but fast-emerging portfolio management software firm is AssetBook. Based in McHenry, Md., it has burst onto the portfolio management software scene thanks to a recent marketing push and now has 150 firms using its services.

 

FPPad Bits and Bytes for April 8

Posted on April 8, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

Last week we were finalizing preparation for FPA Retreat 2011. This week’s focus has been preparations for FPA NorCal 2011. As such, the pace of new posts to FPPad has slowed somewhat, but expect them to pick up in the weeks to come.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Keep Calm and Carry On from Financial-Planning.com

Coral Gables, Fla.-based Evensky & Katz Wealth Management survived a three-week long audit from the SEC. Here’s what the Chief Compliance Officer would tell other advisory firms that are preparing for when the auditors come knocking.

Social-media archiving, compliance solutions in focus from InvestmentNews.com

Financial advisers and broker-dealers apparently aren’t sitting on the sidelines waiting for Finra and the SEC to figure out how the financial advisory industry should use social networking.

Choosing Software That Works for Your Advisory Firm-Part 3: Envision from AdvisorOne.com

The third update 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.

Where’s the Beef? from Financial-Planning.com

Inside Information’s Bob Veres solicits advisers on their most and least valuable activities when it comes to the use of portfolio management software.

And part two of an interview AdvisorWebsites.com conducted with Bill on financial adviser technology: Bill Winterberg Talks Technology: Part 2

FPPad Bits and Bytes for March 11

Posted on March 11, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

Bill’s recovery from last week’s illness has been slow, so progress on projects at FPPad headquarters has been incremental this week. Nevertheless, we’ve made sure to scour the industry’s top sources of technology related articles for the financial planning community.

Here are this week’s top stories:

Socialware Joins with LinkedIn to Unlock Social Media for Financial Services from Socialware.com

Socialware, the leader in social media compliance and engagement, today announced an exciting relationship with LinkedIn that will enable financial services organizations and professionals to access the extensive networking, marketing and research capabilities available on LinkedIn while remaining compliant with SEC, FINRA, IROC, FSA and state regulations on electronic communication.

Eavesdropping on the FPA Business Solutions conference: Mobile apps, web-based marketing — and how you can make the most of the connected world from RIABiz.com

Fittingly located near MIT, the FPA Business Solutions 2011 conference had a technology bent in an agenda jam-packed with business and practice management content.

Best Minds Converge in Boston from ByrnesConsulting.com

Mike Byrnes of Byrnes Consulting published six articles and photo reviews of last week’s FPA Business Solutions 2011 Conference. Our favorites are Six Technology Tips From The FPA Conference and Social Media Compliance Is A Gray Area

Giant of the broker-dealer tech world takes aim at Advent at RIABiz.com

(Bill’s note: If you’re a big (>$500m AUM) firm that seeks an elite portfolio management platform, here’s one worth considering.) Vestmark, which provides the technology behind big name companies like LPL Financial and UBS, is taking its time-tested platform directly to RIAs.

And finally, this month’s technology column from Morningstar Advisor, New Trends in Tech at T3.

 

 

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 December 10

Posted on December 10, 2010 by in Bits & Bytes

Illness has infiltrated FPPad headquarters, preventing us from doing much of anything work-related. Nevertheless, we still gathered some of the best technology-related stories for advisors from around the Internet for you in one, consolidated post.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

2010’s Best Tech for Advisors at MorningstarAdvisor.com

In an annual tradition at Morningstar Advisor, December’s column reviews the best technology of the past year for financial advisors and recognizes three truly exceptional products or services.

Laserfiche Announces Salesforce.com Integration for Financial Advisors at Laserfiche.com

Laserfiche today announced the availability of a prepackaged integration with salesforce.com designed specifically for Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs). By integrating Laserfiche enterprise content management (ECM) with their CRM systems, RIAs improve client service, enhance employee efficiency and facilitate compliance.

Socialware Named as Top Tech Company to Watch from Marketwire.com

Socialware, the leader in social media compliance, today announced it has been selected by Bank Technology News as one of the Top Ten Technology Companies to Watch. The company was recognized for its technology, which is helping more than 55 financial brands engage in social media through its Socialware Compass solution, which allows companies to tailor and enforce their social media policy, moderate employee posts and tweets, and archive social data, enabling compliant, secure social media usage.

Advent Software is squandering its market leadership by keeping focus on Axys, according to a hedge fund analyst’s report from RIABiz.com

Advent Software is losing its leading position in portfolio management systems in large part because of its strategy of milking an old, cash cow product just as a growing number of competitors pump out web-based solutions that more readily integrate with complementary applications, make conversions and upgrades easier and often cost less, according to a report by a small investment company owned by a former hedge fund analyst.

Independent Broker/Dealers Warming Up To Social Media

Posted on June 18, 2010 by in Compliance

Like it or not, social media in financial services has been a recurring topic in the industry this year. The big question for FINRA-regulated registered representatives and SEC-regulated investment advisers is how to engage in social media activities without violating compliance rules (even after FINRA released its guidance on using social networking websites).

In the first significant step in the broker/dealer environment, Cambridge Investment Research announced that it plans to support their representatives’ use of social media by adopting compliance and monitoring software from Socialware.

Click here to read the announcement from Financial Planning Magazine online.

FPPad subscribers have read about Austin, Tx. based Socialware before and their tools that help advisers and representatives satisfy compliance requirements when using social media websites.

The fact that Cambridge is stepping up to the plate and giving the tentative green light to its reps means more and more financial professionals will be able to manage social media profiles to engage in conversations with clients and prospects.

Smarsh, Socialware Partner to Command Social Media Compliance Market

Posted on May 4, 2010 by in Compliance

I’d like to be able to say that I saw this coming, but that’s not entirely the case.

Today, Smarsh, Inc. the leading email archive solution provider to financial advisers, and Socialware, a provider of social media archive and policy enforcement tools, announced a partnership to combine their respective technologies to provide one solution for messaging and social media governance and compliance.

Click here to view the press release on Smarsh’s website.

I’ve written about both Smarsh and Socialware before, and while each company’s products could help advisers comply with regulatory requirements when using social media, neither offered an all-in-one solution. Smarsh dominates the archiving market, but lacks coverage in the social media space. Socialware commands the social media space, but doesn’t specialize in compliant archiving.

So I view the partnership as a very promising relationship in support of an all-in-one social media compliance solution to satisfy FINRA and SEC regulatory requirements.

I hope to be able to check out the offering in the future and report back on its capabilities (either here or in my other media outlets).

Socialware Launches Social Media Archive Service, Rebrands Website

Posted on March 23, 2010 by in Compliance, Technology

I’ve made several mentions on FPPad about Socialware, an emerging provider of social media archive and policy enforcement tools, but I’ve yet to include a full feature of their services.

Today, Socialware announced several new initiatives to better serve the market of individuals and small and medium businesses (SMBs). The full announcement can be viewed on the Socialware blog.

What do these changes mean to advisers?

Read More…

Get a Summary of FINRA’s Social Networking Webinar from Socialware

Posted on February 3, 2010 by in Compliance

Earlier today, FINRA held a webinar titled Compliance Considerations for Social Networking Sites. I had a schedule conflict, otherwise I definitely would have attended.

Thankfully, Chad Bockius of Socialware posted a summary of the webinar content plus the Twitter stream he generated during the event.

Click here to read Chad’s summary.