We were lucky enough to sit down with April Rudin, Founder and President of The Rudin Group, Aawad Aamir, Analyst with Celent, and Andrew Cant, VP of Financial Services Solutions at NexJ Systems, about what truly improves the advisor experience. Throughout our conversation, we discussed the future of advisor efficiency, the current state of next best action, and how firms can implement tools to help advisors be at the top of their game.

Needless to say, the pandemic has upended the advisor / client relationship like no other event in our lifetimes. How, where and why financial advisors engage with their clients looks very, very different than it did pre-COVID. From Zoom meetings to virtual events to AI-driven online dashboards, clients have become accustomed to a very different way of working with their advisors … and frankly expecting much more.

Think about the volume of data you have at your fingertips. Investment research. Macroeconomic reports. “Social signals” from your clients. Now, how well do you feel you are able to bring all that data together, real time, to the benefit of your clients? Daunting, isn’t it?

“Money in motion.” It’s a phrase many advisors are familiar with. However, to capture that money is easier said than done.

Not only must advisors be clued into money in motion events, such as a client getting married (or divorced), having a child, inheriting money, selling a business, or changing careers or getting promoted, but they must be able to access that intelligence in real time with actionable ways to capitalize on the opportunities presented.

Wealth managers have talked about “personalization” and “client-centricity” for years. But is that actually how clients feel about the service they receive, or does it sound to them like more marketing speak?

Artificial intelligence (AI) in wealth management is no longer a cutting-edge technology. Many firms now claim to leverage AI within their CRM systems. However, despite its broad adoption, the targeted application of AI toward very specific advisor needs remains a lofty, unrealized goal for too many wealth managers. In other words, AI needs to be practical and solve specific problems for it to drive efficiency and enhance the client experience.

The wealth management industry has undergone a tremendous level of change in the past two years, driven by COVID-related forces, changing consumer expectations, and technological advances. The customer relationship management (CRM) market for wealth management is fighting to stay abreast of these trends and deliver the kinds of useful insights and time-saving efficiency advisors need to succeed. 

CRM is a bit of a catch-all term these days. Originally, meant as a way of centralizing all of your relationship interactions with your client. As technology and the industry advanced so did the buzzwords and trends. Add the evolution of vertical industry-specific CRM and you have an umbrella of terms and features that obscures what a CRM, let alone a CRM built for Wealth Management is. So, what exactly makes a Wealth Management focused CRM? 

In July, Celent awarded NexJ the highest Advanced Technology score among all the wealth management CRM platforms they evaluated for their 2021 report. This was not the first time NexJ has been acknowledged for its superior technology – Aite-Novarica Group also recently recognized NexJ as best in class.  We are grateful for this acknowledgment, which further explains why leading wealth mangers including UBS, Wells Fargo, and RBC selected NexJ to be the core of their advisor desktop.   

Communication is key when it comes to building a relationship between wealth managers and clients, but how do you keep a consistent approach?

Customer expectations have changed across businesses and sectors, with customers now expecting the same kind of engagement from financial institutions that they do with other products or services. More and more wealth management firms are beginning to recognize that the ability to understand a customer better, based upon an understanding of individual likes and dislikes, enables them to offer solutions tailor-made for specific needs. This leads to product differentiation, deeper client engagement and, ultimately, customer loyalty.

Wealth management is all about trust. It is about giving an advisor control of your financial health and security and depending upon that advisor to make or recommend decisions that help you meet your financial goals. When we, as CRM vendors, focus on features that give our products an edge, we always focus on how specific features can help advisors build more trust. This is what makes relationship hierarchies so important.