Improving advisor productivity is always top of mind in the wealth management industry. It’s a logical focus for wealth management firms looking to attract and retain top talent and increase assets under management. Advisors that have more time to work on growing their book of business, are more likely to be satisfied and they’re bound to be more profitable. According to BCG, “The costs that affluent-focused players incur in producing business are far too high, and they could become even more profitable if they were to increase efficiency.” They go on to state that top performers need 5 fewer assistants than average performers showing the link between efficiency and assets under management.

Wealth management is 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 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.

In terms of technology, there are minor differences between relationship hierarchies for corporate and investment banking and wealth management. The big differentiator is the intent. Corporate and investment banks track multiple hierarchies for the same corporations, such as risk relationships versus legal relationships. This allows bankers to get a holistic view of what makes the most business sense for a client. Wealth management needs a single hierarchy because they focus on single households and extended households. So, how exactly do you make a hierarchy that specifically speaks to the needs of an advisor?

“You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” It’s an old adage in business, and like many it has its limits, but clear, comprehensive data and reporting truly is crucial for advisors and advisory firms looking to maximize their business.

The challenge is that this data might be locked away in multiple systems, or data from one place might be needed to calculate or give context to data in another. NexJ has solved this challenge with its Analytics and Reports, a key component of the Integrated Advisor Desktop solution we have deployed for major firms.

The Best Advisor Experience Starts With a Model

How many business leaders want to talk about technology when all that matters is understanding how it will drive growth, save money, improve operations or address a specific key metric? The answer is likely few to none. And it's a reasonable position to take, after all, why would anyone spend money if they don't believe there is a return on that investment regardless of how innovative the technology? Does understanding the mechanics of how a product works to drive ROI even matter? In most cases, the answer is no. There are times, however, when a technical approach is different enough that not appreciating it might lead to the wrong decision. We have written many blogs recently that address the business benefits of an Integrated Advisor Desktop, from the functional components including a client dashboard, advisor dashboard, customer engagement dashboard to application integration and data integration. What brings the whole thing together though, the engine that drives the value of the functional areas and even the integration, is the model.

Wealth managers are constantly looking for ways to enable greater efficiency and productivity for their advisors.  Providing tools that automate workflows, increase capacity and advance collaboration helps advisors focus on what matters to grow assets under management and improve client satisfaction. Often these tools, such as portfolio management, financial planning or performance reporting for example, are "stand-alone" products which makes it difficult for the advisor to have the full context of their client in one place. An Integrated Advisor Desktop solves this problem. Last week we discussed how application or UI integration, when done properly, can dramatically improve the productivity of your advisors, but that isn't enough, you also need data integration.

Most advisors need to juggle multiple applications, searching for the client or account each time, to properly service a single customer. Advisor productivity and client experience suffer as individual tasks take longer to perform and mistakes are made. Advisors need a consolidated view of their customers with embedded tools and not just links to other applications.

Successful financial advisors have to live in two worlds: They need excellent strategic awareness of their entire book of business and macro-trends in the markets and industry, while at the same time maintaining personal relationships with each of their many clients and translating those macro-trends into meaningful action for unique individuals.

Timely and relevant client engagement has never been more important in the wealth management industry than it is today. The last couple of years have upended expectations for advisors and clients alike. The ability to engage in real-time, highly personalized interactions on topics hyper relevant to clients is now table stakes for advisors and the firms they work for.

Who doesn’t want their team to work faster? And not just faster, but better as well? It’s what we all want. That’s why ‘increasing productivity’ is a key driver behind many a financial firms’ upgrades. It’s also the reason so many vendors promise productivity right from the onset. So, how do you sort out the fluff from the legitimate ones? 

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.

In the anatomy of a financial services organization, software is the circulatory system. It picks up the data in the brain, or database, and delivers it to where it's needed. It connects all the parts of the body together and ensures the body is working well as a single entity.  
 
So, when a system stops receiving support, it affects the health of the entire company. It can become expensive to maintain, difficult to upgrade, or so obsolete it risks pulling the company behind the competition. When people can’t or aren’t using the system, or when the system isn’t able to provide the functionality that’s needed, the organization must replace it. 

From an advisor’s point of view, not all investors are created equal – in addition to the obvious differences in assets, age, employment and lifestyle, different people have different levels of receptivity to the advice and assistance an advisor can provide. At the same time, an investor’s position is not fixed: It changes with time and in response to outside influences. So how can an advisor best tailor the experience they provide to each unique and evolving individual, multiplied by the size of the advisor’s book?