Tag Archives: Bits & Bytes

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 December 3

Posted on December 3, 2010 by in Bits & Bytes

Bits and Bytes was on break last week for the Thanksgiving holiday, so this week you’re getting two week’s worth of technology updates in one.

Here are the stories of interest from the last two weeks:

Technology Survey 2010 from Financial Planning Magazine

This year marks our fourth anniversary, and there is plenty to be excited about. With our growing sample size and a historical record to draw upon, we think we are better positioned than ever to offer readers an analysis of the state of technology within our industry.

Envestnet Launches Industry’s First Advisory Platform to Deliver Comprehensive Support for ‘Unified Managed Household’ at PRNewswire.com

Envestnet today announced the next generation of its industry-leading wealth management platform for advisors, the industry’s first advisory platform with truly integrated analysis, guidance and reporting for the emerging “unified managed household” (UMH) advice model. Advisors employing the UMH model seek to address the client’s entire financial situation through focus on effective deployment of all of the client’s investment assets, not just those managed by the advisor.

eFileCabinet rolls out latest version of SecureDrawer from InvesetmentNews.com

eFileCabinet, Inc., a content management provider (which includes document management), announced availability of version two of its SecureDrawer web-based client portal service.

NetDocuments Gets a Makeover at the NetDocuments SaaS Blog

In the spring of 2011, NetDocuments users will get a new user experience. Without sacrificing any of our industry leading functionality and reliability, we have redesigned the user interface to improve navigation and simplify the management of documents in the cloud.

Shorter Links, Greater Impact at MorningstarAdvisor.com

As you scour the Internet for information on financial planning and wealth management, you often find articles and websites you want to share with clients and colleagues. When you post links to the information on your website, blog, or social network of choice, how do you know how much traffic those links generate?

EISI Upgrades Entire Product Line at FA-Mag.com

EISI, North America’s leading supplier of financial planning software to financial professionals, has announced upgrades to all three of its software packages: NaviPlan Select, Profiles Professional, and Profiles Forecaster.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for November 19

Posted on November 19, 2010 by in Bits & Bytes

Bits and Bytes is taking a break for the Thanksgiving holiday next week, so be sure to return on December 3 for a second helping of the best technology-related articles in financial planning and wealth management.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

MarketCounsel and Arkovi Announce Partnership at Arkovi.com

MarketCounsel, a leading provider of comprehensive business and regulatory consulting services to independent registered investment advisers (RIAs), today announced a partnership with BMRW & Associates, the developer of Arkovi, a leading social media archiving and monitoring tool, to deliver comprehensive social media compliance and archiving solutions exclusively designed for the securities industry through MarketCounsel’s scalable, enterprise-class messaging solution, MailBanc.

A Clean Path at Financial Advisor Magazine

If you have a sophisticated RIA firm accustomed to a high-end Web package, Portfolio Pathway will not interest you quite yet, but many advisors will find the combination of functionality and value appealing.

Editing your Google Docs on the go at Google Mobile Blog

With Google Docs, we’re always trying to make you more productive—and part of that means making it possible for you to get things done from anywhere, at anytime. That’s why we’re excited that the new documents editor now supports editing on your mobile browser.

IPS AdvisorPro®: Asset Allocation Ranges and Much More at IPSAdvisorPro.com

IPS AdvisorPro® users are now able to identify their portfolio allocation parameters in a variety of ways, rather than being limited to specifying a specific percentage for each asset class. The enhancement will provide important flexibility to users so they can now specify high and low allowable portfolio allocation percentages for each asset class—for example, small cap U.S. stocks might range from 5% of the portfolio to 35%.

And finally, our post on What iOS 4.2 for iPad Will Mean for Financial Advisers

Advisers are cautiously adopting the Apple iPad in their practices. Several enhancements in the device’s latest operating system due out soon should diminish their concerns over security and usability.

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.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for November 5

Posted on November 5, 2010 by in Bits & Bytes

In the wake of last week’s Schwab IMPACT conference, we experienced a lull in technology-related news for financial advisors.

So zip through this week’s stories of interest and then get outside and enjoy the fall weather.

Making Technology Work For You from Financial-Planning.com

Smarter use of existing technology, as well as integration of emerging technology, may boost efficiency and profitability for advisors.

And in case you haven’t seen it yet, read  my Practices column in the November Journal of Financial Planning titled Efficiently Monitor Client Cash Flow.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 29

Posted on October 29, 2010 by in Bits & Bytes

Happy Halloween! This week’s edition of Bits and Bytes is full of all treats and no tricks.

Here are this week’s feature stories:

At Schwab IMPACT 2010, Charles Schwab Advisor Services selected the first Intelligent Integration partners. Here’s coverage from the web:

Junxure, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics Are The First Schwab Intelligent Integration Partners from FPPad.com,
Schwab Looks To Integrate Registered Independent Advisers’ Tech Systems from WSJ.com, and
Schwab chooses some giant software partners, apparently with big RIAs in mind from RIABiz.com

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.

Fidelity arms its RIAs for battle with white-glove brands from RIABiz.com

Fidelity WealthCentral for Family Offices integrates portfolio reporting and trading and allows a view of holdings including alternative assets. Services such as trust, partnership accounting, private foundation services and general ledger export services are included. Most important: it can provide an ultra-affluent client with a dedicated relationship management team and investment analyst/trader.

ByAllAccounts’ Survey Reveals the Top Reasons Financial Advisors Would Consider New Portfolio Management System from Marketwire.com

ByAllAccounts, Inc., the financial advisors’ choice for account aggregation, today announced survey results that show financial advisors are generally loyal to their portfolio management systems of record. Nearly 70 percent of survey respondents are somewhat or extremely unlikely to switch from their current system to a new one in 2011.

And finally, my blog post for October, Convert Business Card Info in a Snap, at MorningstarAdvisor.com

While attending a huge conference such as FPA Denver 2010 has many advantages, one minor drawback of connecting with so many new people is processing the large stack of business cards collected after returning home from the event.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 22

Posted on October 22, 2010 by in Bits & Bytes

My inbox was light on industry alerts this week. Black Diamond’s announcement of its BlueSky app for iPad really was the only item of significance. I suppose other vendors and technology providers are saving their news for next week’s Schwab IMPACT 2010 conference (and take a moment to enter our Intelligent Integration announcement contest).

Here are this week’s Bits and Bytes feature stories:

Black Diamond releases BlueSky Mobile for the iPad from RIABiz.com

Black Diamond Performance Reporting is making its portfolio accounting system fully functional on Apple’s iPad tablet computer. The Jacksonville, Fla.,-based company is making BlueSky available on the handheld device as of today. The official launch will be in November.

Tamarac Adds Advisor View to Its Integrated Portfolio Management Suite from PRNewswire.com

Tamarac Inc., a leading provider of integrated portfolio management software and services, today announced the expansion of its integrated performance reporting offering with the release of Advisor View, a dynamic performance reporting application.

Advisers: Be careful out there in cyberspace from InvestmentNews.com

The online security landscape is changing in fundamental ways. Many financial advisers are unaware of these changes, and that makes it all that more critical to defend against them.

MarketScope Advisor Launches on Pershing Platform from PRNewswire.com

Standard & Poor’s Equity Research Services announced today that Pershing LLC, a BNY Mellon company, has fully integrated S&P’s MarketScope Advisor (MSA) into its NetX360 platform, providing more than 99,000 investment professionals with immediate and direct access to the latest multi-asset class research from S&P.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 15

Posted on October 15, 2010 by in Bits & Bytes

It was another short week for me, as I returned from FPA Denver 2010 Tuesday night and had  just two days working in the office. Nevertheless, this week’s Bits and Bytes features some of the best stories I encountered over the week. Enjoy!

First up, get our consolidated recap of the Financial Planning Association’s national conference, FPA Denver 2010:

FPA Denver 2010 Live Blog: Day 1 Recap
FPA Denver 2010 Live Blog: Day 2 Recap
FPA Denver 2010 Live Blog: Day 3 Recap
FPA Denver 2010 Live Blog: Day 4 Recap

Fidelity’s WealthCentral is solid and smart but still has seams from RIABiz.com

For a young technology system, Fidelity’s WealthCentral has a lot of bragging rights. But it still needs to prove itself to a world of financial advisors— including its own RIA clients.

Advisers optimistic about technology’s direction from InvestmentNews.com

Without a doubt, 2010 is a far better time to start an advisory business than at any point in the last 30 years, according to the participants in InvestmentNews’ technology round table.

Financial Firms Take to Facebook, Tweeting from TheStreet.com

After considerable foot-dragging and regulatory confusion, asset management firms are finally exploring and exploiting the world of social media.

And to wrap up, my October technology column at Morningstar Advisor, Your Back Office Gets Social.

See you next week (as long as I don’t get selected to a jury on Monday!)

FPPad Bits and Bytes for September 24

Posted on September 24, 2010 by in Bits & Bytes

FPPad goes on vacation today and won’t return until Monday, October 4. So enjoy this week’s Bits and Bytes; it’ll have to tide you over for two weeks!

Ameritas Investment Corp. Selects Smarsh for Email Archiving and Compliance Services from Businesswire.com

Smarsh®, the managed service leader in innovative, secure and reliable email archiving and compliance solutions, announced today that Ameritas Investment Corp. (AIC) has migrated to the Smarsh hosted email archiving and compliance platform

Fidelity® to Integrate Black Diamond Performance Reportingtm within Its Open Technology Platform for Independent Advisors from BusinessWeek.com

Fidelity Investments®, a leading provider of custody and clearing services to registered investment advisors (RIAs), today announced that it has expanded advisors’ access to third-party solutions within Fidelity WealthCentral® by establishing a strategic relationship with Black Diamond Performance Reporting(TM) to integrate its BlueSky portfolio management and reporting platform.

Moxy 7.0 trade order management now available from Advent from InvestmentNews.com

Advent Software Inc. yesterday announced availability of Moxy 7.0, the latest version of the trade order management system that’s so popular with registered investment advisory firms. All told, the software is used by 850 financial services firms around the world.