Today I’m boarding a plane heading to fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada.
It’s not my first time in the “City of Sin”, in fact I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve been, but this trip is different. Tomorrow morning the Gartner Application Strategies & Solutions Summit 2017 #GartnerAPPS begins. These shows are always incredibly insightful.
But this blog is not about the conference. It is about something else Gartner related. Something that will have my chest out a little further than normal as I walk the corridors of the convention center at Caesar’s Palace.
I am very proud still, after all it has only been a week since Gartner published a pair of reports that cited NexJ CRM as a Representative Provider of Wealth Management FOS and MBOSs in the November 2017 reports Banker's Guide to Wealth Management Front-Office Systems and the Banker's Guide to Wealth Management Mid- and Back-Office Systems.
Both reports a detailed look at the reporting functionalities of the products provided by the FOS and MBOS vendors surveyed and the ways they can deliver them. NexJ’s financial services-specific focus, flexible deployment, and complete suite of essential CRM functionality were evaluated.
The thesis of the guide on front-office systems is that financial advisors are looking for 4 principle sets of functionality at their desktop; CRM, Proposal Workflow, Portfolio Management and Financial Planning. We believe NexJ proved to deliver in these areas.
The idea behind the mid and back-office systems report is that there are 4 key functional needs for wealth management. They are; Reporting, Compliance, Order Management and Data Administration. And again we feel NexJ demonstrated its capabilities.
What stood out to me, was the core issue faced by wealth management firms that give rise to the necessity for the software capabilities listed above. Gartner states that “regardless of geographic region, this requires relationship managers to develop a deeper understanding of their clients well beyond what is captured in traditional CRM applications.”
Gartner goes on to say that “if you plan to use the CRM application as the core of a client data hub, it is absolutely critical to understand the capabilities of the vendors that provide integration with other modules.”
Those who know NexJ appreciate that we are not a horizontal CRM vendor. We focus on the financial services vertical market. We believe the degree of expertise directly corresponds to the level of value offered. So we understand and deliver on the functional requirements of our target industry and are pleased with the recognition from Gartner.
Further, those who understand the NexJ value proposition and market differentiation can attest that we separate ourselves from the competition because of our integration-first philosophy. To hear Gartner state that it is absolutely critical to understand the capabilities of the vendors that provide integration with other modules is music to my ears.
If you are at the Gartner Summit, I’d be happy to chat or post a comment below and I will respond.
The reports can be accessed by Gartner clients here Banker’s Guide to Wealth Management Front-Office Systems and Banker’s Guide to Wealth Management Mid- And Back-Office Systems.
