Tag Archives: tamarac

FPPad Bits and Bytes for May 18

Posted on May 18, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

Be sure to see the new video posted to my About page and learn of the ways you can engage content here at FPPad.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Smarsh releases Web Archiving, an automated solution to archive adviser websites from FPPad

[If you have a website, you need some solution to capture and archive all your content for compliance purposes. Printing pages to PDFs doesn’t cut it, especially if your site has embedded video or social media feeds.] New automated tool will help registered professionals eliminate tedious manual processes to meet FINRA and SEC requirements.

Schwab taps Tamarac as its next integration partner from RIABiz.com

[I wrote yesterday of Schwab’s selection of Tamarac to its Intelligent Integration initiative. See Schwab adds Envestnet | Tamarac to its Schwab Intelligent Integration™ initiative. Here’s more detail from Brooke Southall at RIABiz with reaction from Schwab’s Neesha Hathi and Tamarac’s Stuart DePina.] Schwab Advisor Services announced today that it has chosen Tamarac to participate in Schwab Intelligent Integration — sticking with the theme of getting CRM integrations in place first.

Austin Powers Can’t Save Your Startup from Benzinga.com

[Another startup retail financial services provider is MyGDP, founded by Scott Bell. I first connected with Bell via Twitter and have enjoyed getting to know him as the development of MyGDP has matured. Here’s a good feature from Benzinga on the lesson Bell learned pitching MyGDP to investors via a not-so-subtle YouTube video.] The International Man of Mystery might be popular, but he can’t help entrepreneurs promote their startups.

 

Schwab adds Envestnet | Tamarac to its Schwab Intelligent Integration™ initiative

Posted on May 17, 2012 by in Technology

In a press release today, Schwab announced that it has added Tamarac, a division of Envestnet, Inc., to its Schwab Intelligent Integration™ initiative.

About a year and a half ago, Schwab announced its first CRM partners for the initiative (see Junxure, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics Are The First Schwab Intelligent Integration Partners).

Back then, I predicted that Tamarac Advisor would be included in that list, saying:

It seems redundant at first to have included Tamarac Advisor CRM, as it is built on top of Microsoft Dynamics, but in my opinion, Tamarac Advisor CRM is substantially different from MS Dynamics as Tamarac has customized Dynamics’ out-of-the-box functionality to include data and fields relevant to wealth managers and financial advisers.

However, Tamarac was excluded from that first list of providers.

Now, it appears Schwab is compelled to work with Envestnet | Tamarac and officially support it under Schwab Intelligent Integration.

What’s interesting to note is that more than a year after selecting Microsoft Dynamics CRM as an integration partner, Schwab has yet to release a production Dynamics CRM solution to its advisor community.

Currently the company plans to roll out a pilot of Salentica CRM this summer. So with the addition of Envestnet | Tamarac, Schwab at least now has a viable Dynamics CRM offering in the form of Tamarac’s customized Advisor Xi platform.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for April 20

Posted on April 20, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

My first item of note this week is an Operations and Technology Survey currently being hosted by ByAllAccounts. In return for providing your email address and survey responses, you’ll receive an executive summary of the survey results. I think it’s a worthwhile tradeoff.

Click here to take the 5-minute survey.

Now on to this week’s stories of interest:

10 Apps to Keep Your Business Organized from Mashable.com

[He’s a general interest article from tech website Mashable.com with 10 great app suggestions. Kudos to Mobile Assistant for being recommended in tip #9!] We asked a panel of successful young entrepreneurs for the mobile apps that keep them on track in their work and on the go. Here are their favorite suggestions.

Advisors Assistant® Now Offers Integration with Orion Services from i-newswire.com

[Advisors Assistant is a top-five CRM program, according to the 2011 Financial Planning Tech Survey, and is very popular with small firms with revenue under $1 million. With a new integration with Orion, Advisors Assistant users can save clicks when wishing to view portfolio information associated with a client record.] Client Marketing Systems, Inc., parent company of Advisors Assistant®, is pleased to announce a new integration with Orion Advisor Services, LLC, an online service bureau and portfolio management system.

Unlike iCloud, Google’s Rumored Cloud Storage Could Be a Privacy Nightmare from Cult of Mac

[I like this article’s balance between opportunities of Google’s long-awaited file storage service and the potential privacy pitfalls of such a service. Advisers seeking client-friendly file sharing solutions similar to Dropbox and Box will want to take note.] Google could easily amass a good deal of data on users of its expected cloud storage service.

Never mind Tamarac, Envestnet is getting RIAs on board with its own stand-alone software from RIABiz.com

[Envestnet’s purchase of Tamarac, Inc. in February for $54 million certainly boosted the company’s technological capabilities, but they continue to win advisers with its own Vantage offering.] Envestnet took its Silicon Valley- and Trivandrum, India-based technology unit and began to offer it as a standalone service called Envestnet Vantage.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 21

Posted on October 21, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

It’s been a quiet week in tech-related news, with only two stories hitting my screens worthy of Bits and Bytes features. So quickly go through this week’s stories of interest and get a head start on your weekend.

Is Your “Focus Long-Term” Message To Clients Footnoted? from Blueleaf.com

My latest post for Blueleaf questions whether the quarterly performance reports you send clients conflict with the long-term focus you communicate.

MyFinancialAdvice Founders Launch Social Media Site for Advisors from AdvisorOne.com

[Ron and Kevin are good friends and are putting together a social media toolkit to help convert traffic from social websites into live advice sessions (likely administrated through the MyFinancialAdvice.com platform).] The founders of MyFinancialAdvice.com, a site designed to enable financial planners to offer advice online to middle-income Americans, launched on Oct. 12 OnlineAdvisorCentral.com, which is designed to promote use of social media by advisors.

And in other news, though it’s not related to the benefits or value-add of any technology, interest in Mark Spangler’s connection with Tamarac, Inc. has caused some buzz, so make sure you read the good update from RIABiz on the subject, Tamarac CEO: Mark Spangler’s big trouble with the feds won’t harm Tamarac.

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.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for November 12

Posted on November 12, 2010 by in Bits & Bytes

We had all-day working sessions with clients from Monday through Wednesday, but that didn’t stop us from collecting this week’s stories of interest:

Eight software vendors give insider accounts of their IMPACT 2010 booth experiences from RIABiz.com

Non-stop booth traffic — including visits from giant RIAs — suggests advisors came to Boston in a code-buying mood

Pershing believes its case for NetX360 as the Apple equivalent for advisors is solid from RIABiz.com

Fifteen months after launching what’s arguably the most ambitious technology platform in the market, Pershing’s NetX360 has lured 96% of the company’s 110,000 users to adopt the new technology.

For Intelligent Integration, X Marks The Spot, this month’s technology column at Morningstar Advisor.

Schwab Intelligent Integration Selection Contest Winner

Posted on October 28, 2010 by in General

True to form, you can’t win if you don’t play.

We received seven entries into our Guess Schwab’s Intelligent Integration Partners, Win Free Coffee! contest. With two correct selections each (Junxure and Salesforce), Tim Welsh and “Joe” received two points and had their names entered into a hat.

I debated about allowing points for selecting Tamarac Advisor CRM; while it’s built on Microsoft Dynamics CRM, I’m willing to bet that  Tamarac’s customization of Dynamics makes it different enough that Schwab may not embrace it under their Intelligent Integration ecosystem. Our prediction: in the long run, Tamarac will succeed without needing Schwab’s Intelligent Integration partnership, and Schwab will serve advisers well with the three other CRM systems, so nobody really loses. Ultimately, no points were awarded for selecting Tamarac Advisor CRM.

On with the contest winner. Our impartial name-selector (my son Daniel) picked:

“Joe”

So Joe, check your e-mail to confirm your mailing address. You’ll be receiving your Starbucks gift card shortly!

And thank you to all of you who took a few seconds to add in your guesses. Look to FPPad in the future for some more fun, interactive speculation on the future of adviser technology.

Junxure, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics Are The First Schwab Intelligent Integration Partners

Posted on October 27, 2010 by in Technology

Thanks to our sources on the ground (John Stone of Revenue Architects and Tim Welsh of Nexus Strategy) at Schwab IMPACT 2010, we now know the first Intelligent Integration partners announced by the company this morning.

Executive Vice President and Charles Schwab Advisor Services leader Bernie Clark announced the first CRM partners selected. They are:

UPDATE, 10:19AM EDT: Read Schwab’s press release from Marketwatch.com. And an odd observation; if Schwab is integrating with three CRMs, do they really need to partner with LaserApp to facilitate account form-filling? Why not integrate form-filling directly with the new Intelligent Integration partners? I suppose, though, that by supporting LaserApp, more CRM systems (e.g. Redtail, Goldmine, etc.) can be used to complete Schwab account applications, which helps everybody, but still supports a fractured, non-integrated ecosystem.

Last week we predicted Junxure, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, and Tamarac Advisor CRM would be among the selections. It seems redundant at first to have included Tamarac Advisor CRM, as it is built on top of Microsoft Dynamics, but in my opinion, Tamarac Advisor CRM is substantially different from MS Dynamics as Tamarac has customized Dynamics’ out-of-the-box functionality to include data and fields relevant to wealth managers and financial advisers.

Now for the next important question: Who won our free coffee giveaway for guessing the correct partners? There are several people who responded correctly with two of the three partners, so tonight we’ll have an official hat-drawing from those names and reveal the winner tomorrow (the impartial name-remover from the hat is at day care right now).

Another Choice Among Microsoft Dynamics CRM Customizations

Posted on September 7, 2010 by in Software

Keeping up with all the flavors and variants of CRM is a daunting task. One iteration that I don’t have much experience with just yet is Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Tamarac Advisor is built on Microsoft Dynamics, but other than that, choices are limited for advisers interested in leveraging the software giant’s CRM application.

Lauren Carlson, a CRM Market Analyst for Software Advice, brought one more Dynamics customization to my attention. Look for it in her article titled Microsoft Dynamics CRM Industry Solutions: Our 15 Favorites at SoftwareAdvice.com.

If you know of or are using other Dynamics customizations, leave a comment and let me know.

Rebalancing Software Update in Financial Planning Magazine

Posted on July 29, 2010 by in Compliance, Software

Yes, FPPad has been very quiet for the month of July. We’re working hard behind the scenes managing consulting projects for clients, caring for my 16-month-old son, and authoring contributions to trade magazines and journals.

On the authoring front, I want to share a column I wrote for the August issue of Financial Planning magazine. Titled Better Balance, I highlight the trend of increased use of rebalancing software programs, but also address how these programs help with a firm’s fiduciary obligation to treat all clients fairly and equitably.

Click here to read Better Balance at Financial-Planning.com.

I hope you enjoy the column, and feel free to leave feedback in the comments below.