Like every other interaction with business these days, customers expect client onboarding and new account opening to be fast, efficient, and easy. Traditionally, onboarding in financial services has been a paper-based process not known for its efficiency. We’ve all had an experience that went something like this: “I need to ask you some questions … 

Siebel was a great product. At least it was when I worked there 10 years ago. But it hasn’t really kept up with the times. What began as an innovative solution to firms’ customer management problems has become outdated. New technology, interaction channels and complex regulatory requirements have changed the way that financial institutions need to operate.  What firms need today is modern and flexible technology to keep up with market changes, and CRM specialized for financial services as @kateleggett of Forrester and I discussed in an American Banker webinar last year.

Toronto, my home town, is a great city. The Economist has ranked it as the best city in the world to live in. I’ve lived elsewhere, other Canadian cities and in the USA, but I keep coming back. That said, it’s not often that Toronto plays host to a conference that I would attend.  In 2017, however, two such events have already been scheduled.

As part of my job, I review a lot of articles about advisor desktops, platforms, and strategies. Rarely do I get to say that someone truly understands the reality of delivering and executing on them. I work with top wealth management firms regularly on their front-office solution road-maps and implementations, and I can tell you that it’s not easy. How do you cater for so much functionality in a usable but cost-effective way? Financial planning, CRM, portfolio and account management, order management, trade execution, statements and reporting, fee management, social media, etc. – it’s a lot. You cannot build all this in-house – you’re not a technology company, software is not your core competency, and it’s not economically viable to sustain. And as much as there will be a clamoring of vendors to tell you otherwise, the truth is that no “one vendor” can provide the right functional coverage to cater for all these needs.

Last time we spoke about the importance of recognizing value immediately through agile implementation methods.  This time we are going to apply that to the domain of computing a lifetime value metric. So what is a customer lifetime value metric – without the algebra please!