Tag Archives: Bits & Bytes

FPPad Bits and Bytes for December 7

Posted on December 7, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

Remember to watch today’s FPPad On Air broadcast at 4:15 pm ET with Blane Warrene.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Meet the wealth management firm of the future from Reuters.com

[Technology Tools for Today’s High-Margin Practice is being released in early 2013 as the 10th anniversary of their original book, Virtual Office Tools for a High Margin Practice, nears. It was a privilege to be asked to contribute to the new edition, as I submitted a chapter on collaboration tools financial advisers can use in their business. Pre-order the book on Amazon to lock in the pre-order price.] When David Drucker and Joel Bruckenstein wrote a book about technology innovations for advisers in 2002, many readers were skeptical of their recommendations to use email and create a website.

Junxure Cloud – The Clear Choice for Advisors from Junxure.com

[I will be honest: I think Junxure faces an uphill climb when it releases Junxure Cloud next year. The desktop version has so much in its interface, between notes, tasks, assets, documents, action sequences, etc. that I can’t help but be skeptical how it will translate to a web-based user interface. Junxure provided a sneak preview earlier this year (see: A sneak peek of Junxure Cloud), so take a look and decide for yourself. But give credit to Greg Friedman, the points in this article are valid; there are no overlays like there are in Salesforce, and support is handled internally and not farmed out to a third party. Will those benefits be enough to overcome the daunting interface?] Junxure attended Charles Schwab’s IMPACT® 2012 event, where we announced the spring 2013 release target for Junxure Cloud, our new web-based CRM solution. Attendees were treated to a preview demo, including how Junxure Cloud could help manage workflow, track a firm’s efficiency, and capture client documents and financial data through a wide range of integrations.

Why You Should Consider Online Meetings With Clients from RIACentral.com

[Again and again I counsel advisers that they need to be comfortable using online meeting tools like Skype, FaceTime from Apple, and Google+ Hangouts. Giving your clients options to meet with you remotely, when it is convenient for them, goes a long way in solidifying your working relationship. Here’s a good summary article from RIACentral about four key benefits of meeting online.] Meeting clients online may seem like technological overkill. After all, it’s much easier to just pick up the phone and chat, right? But, in reality, online meetings solve a myriad of practical everyday problems for you.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for November 30

Posted on November 30, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

Remember, today’s FPPad On Air broadcast is at 4:15pm ET when I’ll connect with Right Size Solutions founder Wes Stillman to talk costs of moving to the cloud, how to protect data in the cloud, and how the latest products from Apple and Microsoft will change the financial planner’s office. Visit my Google+ profile after 4pm ET for the On Air link.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

LPL Introduces eSignature to Advisor Tech Platform from Financial-Planning.com

[Schwab touted its pending rollout of eSignature tech to its advisers at this month’s IMPACT conference, but then sheepishly admitted advisers won’t receive it until late 2013. Clearly beating Schwab in its go-to-market strategy, LPL announced the introduction of DocuSign to all of its 12,000+ affiliated reps on Tuesday. Schwab teed this one up for LPL and the rest of their competition.] To streamline document processing, LPL Financial has introduced DocuSign’s eSignature solution for all of its advisors. The San Diego-based company said that it expects that the new technology, introduced Tuesday, will increase efficiency, reduce paperwork and improve both the client and advisor experience when signing and submitting forms to LPL.

Personal Capital Launches Android App from PRNewswire

[First came the iPad app, then iPhone, and now one of the leading online RIA firms by registered users is expanding its mobile compatibility to Android phones. So why don’t you have your own app already?] Personal Capital’s breakthrough financial service – named “one of the most important online banking innovations of all time” – is now available for free on the Android Marketplace to the 50 million US users of Android phones.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for November 16

Posted on November 16, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

Remember, today at 4:15pm Eastern, 1:15pm Pacific I’ll be hosting FPPad On Air with Steven Ryder of True North Networks to discuss disaster recovery and business continuity in the wake of superstorm Sandy. Check Twitter or Google+ for the link this afternoon.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

David Drucker and Joel Bruckenstein Announce Preliminary Agenda for “T3” 2013 Conference in Miami from PRNewswire.com

[One of the industry’s top conferences on technology is approaching quickly. Save the dates of February 11-13 and soak up the Miami sunshine while you absorb technology and practice management ideas. Note that the book Technology Tools for a High-Margin Practice will be published with all new information, including a chapter I wrote on the top collaboration technologies. Do not miss this conference!] David Drucker and Joel Bruckenstein, producers of the 8th Annual “T3” Technology Tools for Today™ Conference to be held at the Hilton Miami Downtown from February 11-13, 2013, today announced the preliminary T3 2013 conference agenda and initial details of their new book, Technology Tools for a High-Margin Practice, due out February 6, 2013.

H.D. Vest Chooses Advent’s Black Diamond Platform from Marketwire.com

[H.D. Vest, once part of Wells Fargo & Company and now owned by Parthenon Capital Partners, is equipping its 4,800 affiliates with access to on-demand custom performance reporting via Black Diamond. Clearly this is how wealth management and financial planning services will be delivered in the future; online, mobile, and customized. AND if you were a private equity company looking to increase the value of the H.D. Vest purchase, don’t you think streamline portfolio reporting and management is a decent way to do it?]  Advent Software, Inc., a leading provider of software and services for the global investment management industry, recently announced that H.D. Vest Financial Services® (H.D. Vest) has transitioned its performance reporting to Advent’s Black Diamond platform to enhance their Advisors’ ability to communicate portfolio performance during client meetings.

Envestnet | Tamarac(TM) Brings Tamarac University Online from MarketWatch.com

[Today you can learn how to cut an onion online. So why not learn how to rebalance client portfolios at the same time? If you’re an Envestnet | Tamarac user, you’re in luck, as much of their training content (a.k.a. Tamarac University) is now online and available on demand.] Envestnet | Tamarac(TM), a division of Envestnet, Inc., a leading provider of integrated web-based portfolio and client management software for independent advisors and wealth managers, has announced an expansion of its popular Tamarac University program to include an online option for RIAs covering its entire curriculum.

Envestnet Announces Integration With Junxure CRM Software via PRNewswire.com

[In the second release this week, Envestnet will combine “portfolio management with client recordkeeping and workflow management” inside the soon-to-be-released Junxure Cloud. What’s odd to me is that Junxure Cloud likely will have some type of workflow or task management component, yet the Envestnet integration adds in workflow management of its own. Which one will should advisers use?] Envestnet, Inc., a leading provider of technology-enabled wealth management solutions for investment advisors, has announced that it has agreed to integrate with Junxure Cloud, the upcoming web-based client-relations management (CRM) program for financial advisors. The integration is expected to be included with the initial release of Junxure Cloud, expected in the first quarter of 2013.

Advisor Software, Inc. Signs Agreement With Redtail Technology To Integrate goalgamiPro Quick Planning Solution With Redtail CRM from MarketWatch.com

[If you’re going to create a quick plan for a client, the last thing you want to do is perform double entry of a client’s name, address, etc. In this announcement, Redtail will soon partner with Advisor Software allowing users to pass client information to Advisor Software’s goalgamiPro (see: Yes, you can create financial plans in eight minutes).] Advisor Software, Inc., a provider of wealth management solutions for the financial advisor market, has finalized an agreement with Redtail Technology, Inc., a provider of client management solutions for financial professionals, to provide access to ASI’s unique quick planning tools. The strategic partnership will integrate ASI’s direct-to-advisor product goalgamiPro with Redtail’s Client Relationship Management (“CRM”) suite.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for November 9

Posted on November 9, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

What Does Windows 8 Mean for Advisors? from AdvisorOne.com

[I’m clearly biased here. I left Windows for Mac OS in May 2011 and it was the best thing I did. I clearly get more done because I spend less time on intrusive system updates and waiting for programs to finish reporting errors. So my prediction on Windows 8: advisers will avoid it until they have to buy a new desktop or laptop. And what about your custodian’s web-based programs? I bet they’ve not been tested with Internet Explorer 10. Oh, have you seen the Three Sheets video making the rounds on Windows 8 first impressions? see: (some NSFW language) A Drunk Person Tries Windows 8 For the First Time] Early expectations for Windows 8 are that it will not receive as much attention and fanfare as the previous operating system. However, remember that with Windows 7, the initial goal was to quickly erase the memory of Windows Vista.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for November 2

Posted on November 2, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

Don’t forget to watch today’s broadcast with Bart Wisniowski of AdvisorWesbites.com on Google+. It starts at 4:15pm ET/1:15pm PT. Head over to my Google+ profile and click the “Join Hangout” button at that time.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Smarsh Launches Archiving & Compliance for Yammer from Smarsh.com

[(see Advisers using Yammer can enhance collaboration without sacrificing compliance for a podcast of this story) Yammer is a collaboration tool that provides an interface similar to the Facebook News Feed for your business. I’ve been recommending it in my Transformative Technology presentation to advisers for a year now as a way to supplant stand-up meetings in your office that can disrupt productivity and waste time. Now Smarsh has an archiving solution to capture and retain Yammer activity for both client-related and in-house communication.]  Smarsh®, the managed service leader in secure, innovative and reliable email archiving compliance solutions, today announced the launch of Archiving & Compliance for Yammer. Developed in partnership with Yammer, the hosted solution enables organizations to capture, preserve, search, supervise and produce Yammer files and communications in support of compliance, e-discovery and recordkeeping initiatives.

Schwab and Advent Software forge (historic) agreement — mostly for the good of Black Diamond users for now from RIABiz.com

[It’s nice that Schwab lets us know that an integration with Advent and Black Diamond is coming, but *when* it will actually be available to advisers is still anyone’s guess. If you’ve read our past stories on integrations from Fidelity and TD Ameritrade Institutional, you know that Schwab is playing catch up relative to their competition. So view this announcement as one way the industry’s biggest custodian is trying to fill the gap.] Schwab Advisor Services chose Advent Software as its first major portfolio management software partner for its grand ecosystem of software — Schwab Intelligent Integration.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 26

Posted on October 26, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Fidelity to play midwife to RIAs-in-the-making now that WealthCentral is firmly on its feet from RIABiz.com

[What does a custodian do once they have their “technology part (largely) finished?” According to Mike Durbin, Bob Oros, and David Canter of Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services, the custodian continues to bolt on value-add components to its adviser toolkit, with a nod to expanded practice management, marketing, and valuation and M&A resources.] With nearly all its advisors finally transitioned onto its ambitious new technology platform, WealthCentral, Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services is feeling confident in the foundation it’s provided for advisors, especially the breakaways that have been its bread and butter. Now, the second-largest custodian is ready to offer consulting style services — marketing consultations, strategic planning sessions and M&A facilitating — to help create new RIAs, not just attract breakaways.

Junxure CRM Announces Integration with TD Ameritrade Institutional’s Veo from Junxure.com

[TD Ameritrade Institutional’s Veo® Open Access has been available to third-party vendors since January 2011 (see: TD Ameritrade Institutional’s Veo® Open Access to enhance trading, fee billing, and client on-boarding processes), and currently has over 60 vendors integrated in one from or another. Finally, Junxure CRM is integrated with Veo® Open Access to access client account data held at TD Ameritrade Institutional inside Junxure and manage alerts along with Junxure workflow.] Continuing its reputation as a leader in technology integration for financial advisors, Junxure is excited to offer CRM integration with Veo® Open Access from TD Ameritrade Institutional.

Schwab Performance Technologies Announces Improvements from FA-Mag.com

[Schwab’s OpenView Integrated Office™ offering (say that three times fast!) will now integrate with web-based document management software NetDocuments. It’s a fairly straightforward pairing, as NetDocuments has been closely tied to Salesforce CRM for a number of years now, and because Integrated Office is a Salesforce overlay, dropping in NetDocuments is a no-brainer. According to sources inside Schwab, access to the program is included in the cost of Integrated Office. My last pricing quote from Schwab was $10,000 per year for two seat licenses and up to 150 accounts, which Brian Shenson announced at the T3 Conference earlier this year.

Oh, and PortfolioCenter ™ gets an update on securities management and fee billing modules, plus the PortfolioCenter Hosted product will be rolled out “soon” at a cost of roughly $48/account/year. And I don’t think that price includes any outsource reconciliation services a-la BOSS.] A Charles Schwab & Co. subsidiary that offers technology services for independent financial advisors announced changes today that improve document and portfolio management systems.

Cambridge Launches eSignature Program and New Website for Independent Financial Advisors and Their Clients from HearldOnline.com

[Woah, Cambridge just laid the smack-down on most major custodians. For the longest time, custodians have alluded to the use of esignature technology like DocuSign to facilitate a truly end-to-end paperless process for most forms. Evidently, Cambridge is now offering just that to its reps, all free of charge (or at least, rolled up in Cambridge’s cut of GDC).] Cambridge Investment Research, Inc. (Cambridge) announced it is launching a new eSignature program for use with clients by its independent financial advisors. Partnering with DocuSign, Cambridge is rolling out an electronic signature option compatible with most desktop and mobile devices used by rep-advisors and their clients.

Invesco Unveils Mobile Access to Investment Insights, Product Information and Business Building Ideas with New App for iPad from Invesco.com

[In a trend among investment managers, Invesco now offers an iPad app advisers and investors can use to access news, commentary, product information, and videos. You could access all that from Invesco’s website, but why would you want to when you can curl up on the sofa and browse the app in your downtime? By the way, this app is very well executed. No fluff here. See the demo video below.] Invesco, a leading investment manager, announced today the launch of a free iPad® app, available from the App Store(SM), that will provide on-the-go access for financial intermediaries and investors to essential investing resources.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 19

Posted on October 19, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

I enjoyed attending my first Tiburon CEO Summit earlier this week, and now am trying to catch up and a big backlog of videos and content to process.

In the meantime, here are this week’s best stories in financial planning technology:

HD Video Production Now Available Throughout North America from Wealth Management Marketing

[You’ve no doubt noticed much of the new video content here at FPPad. My YouTube channel is close to 7,000 total views and continues to grow. So it’s about time you consider adding video content for your own firm. My good friend Kristen Luke, owner of Wealth Management Marketing, now offers professional video production services throughout the country. Special discount to FPPad subscribers: if you use discount code VIDFP12, you’ll get $200 off your first 30 second video, $400 off a 60 second video and $600 off a 90 second video. Discount applies to the first video only, expiration 3/31/13.] Wealth Management Marketing introduces professionally produced HD videos optimized for TV, web and mobile viewing.

Addepar’s Software for the Super-Rich from BusinessWeek.com

[The generally secretive Addepar opens up a bit to the reporters at BusinessWeek (it’s ok Addepar, RIABiz and I understand…), but the few details disclosed sound a lot like what Orion Advisor Services and Private Client Resources currently do. Read for yourself.] Joe Lonsdale is also running a new company called Addepar that’s attempting to modernize the software that ultrawealthy families and foundations use to manage their billions. “I work 110-hour weeks,” he says. “I’m always investing and building things at the same time.”

FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 12

Posted on October 12, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

Whew, I’ve been on the road almost the entire week. I still have two videos to edit from FPA Experience, plus a number of blog posts that are unfinished, but I’m still making time to cultivate the best news in financial planning technology from around the web.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Be sure to catch this month’s Morningstar Advisor column, Outsourcing Alternative Asset Aggregation and More

Total Rebalance Expert Integrates with Orion Advisor Services from PRNewswire.com

[Orion clients already had a portfolio reblanacer tool built in to the software, but it’s not nearly robust as a product like Total Rebalance Expert (TRX). TRX has a number of features that self-described “compulsive perfectionist CPA” Sheryl Rowling says can help a firm manage complex strategies and situations when it comes to rebalancing portfolios (see: Total Rebalance Expert CEO Sheryl Rowling on how rebalancing software saves advisers $325,000 per year).] Total Rebalance Expert (TRX) and Orion Advisor Services, LLC, announced today the availability of data integration between the two leading technology platforms for financial advisors. The new integration will enable advisors to automatically bring over Orion portfolio data into TRX to streamline and simplify the rebalancing process.

Informa Investment Solutions acquires Zephyr Associates from PRNewswire.com

[Zephyr has an interesting product portfolio including StyleADVISOR, a historical backtesting a risk analytics tool, and AllocationADVISOR, a forward-looking portfolio simulator. Joel Bruckenstien reviewed StyleADVISOR in August for Financial Planning (see: Software Helps Money Managers Detect Patterns)] Informa Investment Solutions (IIS), a division of Informa plc and a leading supplier of software and solutions for the investment industry, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Zephyr Associates, Inc. (Zephyr). Zephyr will continue to operate as a business unit within IIS.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 5

Posted on October 5, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

Yes, it’s October already. How are you faring on your new technology initiatives for 2012?

If you didn’t attend FPA Experience last week, you still can get a great recap of my Transformative Technology You Can Implement Today presentation from this WealthManagement.com update, From FPA 2012: Transformative Technology That Doesn’t Cost a Dime, and Financial Planning magazine’s story, What’s the Most Important Tech Tool for Advisors?

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Schwab and Salentica Announce Launch of Integration for Independent Investment Advisors from Schwab Advisor Services

[Here’s the history on Salentica’s integration with Schwab: in May 2012, they entered a beta testing, transitioned to a pilot phase in August (see FPPad Bits and Bytes for August 3), and is finally in production to advisers using Salentica’s Advisor Desk. How many advisers can that represent? In the 2011 Financial Planning magazine software survey, 4% of 3200 respondents, or roughly 120, said they use Microsoft Dynamics for CRM. So some smaller percentage of that 120 are probably using Salentica. My guess is it’s less than two dozen.] Schwab Intelligent Technologies and Salentica Inc. announced today that Salentica Advisor Desk™ with Schwab OpenView Gateway™ is available to independent investment advisors after a successful pilot. Advisors who use Salentica Advisor Desk as their client relationship management (CRM) solution can now view real-time information on their clients’ financial holdings within their CRM.

Smarsh Launches Archiving & Compliance for Salesforce Chatter on Salesforce.com’s AppExchange from Smarsh.com

[Smarsh is building off its summer success of releasing Web Archiving (see: Smarsh president Stephen Marsh addresses Pinterest and compliance), and now the archiving vendor captures messages sent through the enterprise communication platform Chatter from Salesforce.] Smarsh®, the managed service leader in secure, innovative and reliable email archiving compliance solutions, today announced it has launched Archiving & Compliance for Chatter on Salesforce.com’s AppExchange, the world’s most popular cloud marketplace for social apps for business. Archiving & Compliance for Chatter enables organizations to capture, preserve, search, supervise and produce organizations’ Chatter files and communications in support of compliance, recordkeeping and e-discovery initiatives.

Fox and Redtail partner on work flow from InvestmentNews.com

[Back in 2011 I reviewed the latest refresh of Redtail CRM for Morningstar (see: A Popular CRM Gets an Upgrade), and at that time the CRM supported basic step-by-step workflow definitions. In it’s latest partnership, Redtail users can now open PDF files of workflow designs published by Fox Financial Planning Network directly within the CRM. As to pricing, the top tier purchase is around $6,000 and includes full training sessions, workflow system, resource center and coaching, with a nominal monthly access fee thereafter. I’ve seen discounts available for AICPA PFP section members, so ask if you’re affiliated.] Fox Financial Planning Network and Redtail Technology Inc. this week plan to announce a technology integration that allows for “one-click” deployment of FFPN’s comprehensive “client service delivery work flows” onto Redtail’s popular customer relationship management platform.

 

FPPad Bits and Bytes for September 28

Posted on September 28, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

I’ve been on the road the entire week, but still stopped to build a list of best tech-related stories in the financial planning industry for you.

And don’t forget; if you’re attending FPA Experience this weekend, I’m presenting Transformative Technology You Can Implement Today on Sunday 9/30 at 11:15am in room 217 B-C on the Concourse Level of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. See you there!

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Putnam Launches Financial Advisor Blog from FA-Mag.com

[Kudos for the fund company for investing in the creation of technology content for advisers. The blog is largely made up of short 1-minute video walkthroughs, primarily showing off simple things to do on an iPad. One noteworthy video is the one on Dropbox; I’m surprised the video doesn’t include a disclaimer about checking with compliance before using Dropbox (or any similar app) to store files containing client information (see Dropbox for Financial Advisers: Is it Safe? Secure?).] Putnam Investments, which was recently voted to have the best website in the asset management industry for financial advisors by Kasina, is expanding its social media presence with a blog launched today to communicate with advisors.