I have this compulsion to say exactly what I think. It's a congenital condition.

My mother was even worse than me. Having no ability to censor herself, she'd say exactly what she was thinking, even if it offended someone. If it were true, she'd say it.

While it may sound cute, it's a heavy burden, this personality trait. I share my mom's penchant to be trenchant, as my wife only an hour ago reminded me, and I am only slightly more diplomatic.

Lest I further digress, here are the major technology trends for 2011, which are likely to offend some but be welcomed by many.

Application programming interfaces (APIs) are revolutionizing advisor apps. This is the most important tech trend affecting advisory firm operations. An API enables client financial plans to be automatically updated with data from your portfolio management software. An API enables your phone system to send recordings of calls to your CRM and store them in client records. An API has turned TD Ameritrade Institutional's back-office clearing system into an app store, opening to technology vendors data on client holdings, cash management and alerts for RIAs.

An API makes data in one app usable in another. It makes it easier to integrate apps because their databases are clearly structured and rational. Generally, they use Web Services Description Language (WSDL), a standard for enabling apps to talk to each other over the Web. I wrote about APIs in April 2007, and they're not new.

What is new is that APIs are being more widely embraced. Web-based apps for portfolio reporting, account aggregation, document management, financial planning, task management, rebalancing and brokerage are opening their database schemas to other apps. Even companies that have some competing apps or a few overlapping features are embracing opening their data to be pushed or pulled into another app.

Creating an API isn't easy because an app must adopt uniform standards and write instructions supporting the API. But it's also not all that difficult. Software development has grown easier, at the same time that a wave of entrepreneurialism is sweeping across former "Third World" nations. Small companies worldwide are developing apps, giving advisors more choices, and monolithic technology providers are not as common.

Across all categories of apps-CRM, analytics, portfolio accounting, account aggregation, document management-there are more firms competing for advisor business. And these hungry new tech companies have everything to gain by opening their databases and writing APIs to enable integrations, dropping barriers to control your data that have existed for years. It is redefining the roles of custodians and broker-dealers, empowering advisors who choose their apps wisely. The effects will start to be seen in 2011 as more meaningful integrations are rolled out.

There will be more specialized apps that do only one thing. The adoption of APIs fosters integrations with specialized apps that do one thing great. Just as the Apple iPhone app store has 350,000 apps, look for tightly focused apps that are basically add-ons to core systems. Proposal generation, VOIP recording, economic forecasting, and other tools not widely used currently but valuable to advisors will flourish.
This is not good news for apps that do more than one thing. An all-in-one app that tries to build a silver bullet by providing CRM, financial planning and performance management will find it difficult to compete with an app that just builds a CRM system.

Making a great CRM isn't easy. Maintaining and servicing apps for financial planning and performance reporting software as well as a CRM is a lot more difficult. How will an all-in-one app keep up with a dedicated app that is continually adding new features in a world in which software programming skills are abundant? It can't.

Enterprise sales of multifunction apps will not be easy either. Enterprises limit the risk inherent in relying on a single vendor by instead using three separate apps for CRM, planning and portfolio accounting. The three apps are made by separate companies but are integrated via Web services.

Toaster ovens are convenient but not great for professional cooks. Look for apps that do more than one thing to see their penetration limited to advisors who can be satisfied using less than the best tool.

Online apps are gathering momentum and desktop apps are getting phased out. The slow march toward embracing Web-based apps and phasing out desktop systems is accelerating. Independent B-Ds are actively promoting online apps because they can monitor their advisors for compliance and exert greater influence (in some cases, control) over their reps. The B-Ds are thus funding development, growth and integration of online apps. That makes these systems more competitive and scalable. But the inherent benefits of online apps are also driving advisors toward them.

Online apps are less costly to maintain: When a desktop app vendor wants to upgrade features or fix a bug, the change must be made on each computer using its apps; when an online app vendor writes an upgrade or fixes a bug, it makes the changes on one computer, a Web server, and all of its users get the update. In addition, it's a lot more complicated to get data in and out of a desktop app into another application than it is to leverage an API in a Web-based app. Integration of Web-based apps is simpler and important to advisors. These factors make online apps less costly to maintain for vendors and advisors.

While RIAs who use desktop software are likely to lag in adoption of online apps because of the dominance of Schwab PortfolioCenter and Advent Axys, the benefits of online apps can delay for only another couple of years the movement of RIAs toward Web-based apps.

Registered reps are getting better platforms than many RIAs. For the first time ever, registered reps are often getting technology that's on a par with or better than platforms used by many RIAs. RIAs always had the distinct advantage of choosing the apps that best matched their advice model and business practices. It was a much more flexible and sophisticated way to practice. Reps were often told which apps they could use.

Now, while some B-Ds continue to dictate which apps reps can use, they are giving reps more choices and, more important, the choices are integrated with each other. Plus, not only are reps getting systems they can use with their clients, but B-Ds are building integrated intranets that allow an advisor to see a dashboard of his daily business activities and metrics.

Stitching together a platform with multiple apps integrated via Web services requires planning, technology expertise and training. While most B-Ds have resources for creating such a platform, RIAs are less able to build integrated systems and gain adoption of new technology. Consequently, reps are getting technology promoting efficiency and offering more features more than many RIAs.

For B-Ds, business conditions are better than they have been in years. If FINRA ends up as the self-regulatory organization for RIAs, key advantages RIAs have over reps will narrow. Independent B-Ds would find it easier to recruit advisors from wirehouses and may be in for a reversal of their long-slumping fortunes.

An independent registered rep who has been thinking of moving to an RIA-only practice is likely to be less eager to make the move, particularly if she's getting good technology from her B-D. Meanwhile, the cost and hassle of maintaining an RIA-likely to worsen as a new regulatory regime is imposed-could force some RIAs to conclude that affiliating with a B-D is simpler and less costly.

VOIP phone systems are being adopted in advisor offices. At conferences I spoke at a year ago, I would ask advisors in the audience if they were using Voice-Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) phone systems. About 2% or 3% of those in the audience would raise their hands. Now when I ask the question, 5% or 10% raise their hands. The benefits of VOIP are becoming better known, but most firms have only just started to find ways VOIP can cut costs and provide more features.

My company has ten phone lines and 13 full-time employees. After we switched to VOIP, our phone bill was cut from $800 monthly to $400, and we got a bonanza of new features.

With VOIP, your phone dashboard is on the Web. So you can check voice mail over the Web and all messages can be e-mailed to you. When you leave the office, you can forward calls to your cell phone or a home phone. Everyone thinks they're calling your office when you're at your beach condo.

Sophisticated users can use their computers as their phones. The software interface for dialing and using the phone is called a "softphone." The softphone allows you to drag and drop calls to transfer them to other extensions. You can also text message co-workers and create a "conference room" for multiparty calls.

Managers can be set up to monitor calls of subordinates without their knowing, which can be great for training employees and ensuring your staff delivers good customer service. Implementing this feature in my firm has made a big difference because I can listen in on conversations, which keeps personal calls to a minimum and ensure staff provides excellent service (and that customers treat your staff fairly).

In addition, you can record calls and integrate a VOIP system with your CRM. In my company, caller ID identifies all of our clients when they call; their calls are recorded and automatically put in each client's folder in our CRM. For advisors, such a system is great for customer service as well as compliance.

One caveat: Transitioning to VOIP can be a nightmare. Call quality may be poor and you could get frustrated fast. You also need to choose between hosting a system yourself (for more sophisticated firms) and using a hosting system, and you want to be sure your call quality is not degraded because of too many bounces across Internet servers before reaching your service provider. Consider hiring a knowledgeable consultant to help with implementation. A $1,000 consulting fee can save you a lot of time and aggravation.

Search engine optimization, local listings and social media. I'm lumping these three items together because they're related. They're forms of content marketing. Content marketing is when you post content-articles, links, tweets, comments-useful to your target clients. Search engines scan and index all the content on the Internet, which establishes your search engine rankings.

Everybody you're networked with and how they're related are factors in your search engine rankings. For example, if a lot of doctors comment on and tweet links to your blog about asset protection trusts regularly, your name is likely to appear in searches about "asset protection for doctors."

Another important factor in your search engine rankings is your local profile. Having a significant local profile is a great way to get new prospects. While in the early days of the Internet it seemed unlikely that consumers would look for a financial advisor on the Web, search engines are used by everyone all the time now. It's a way of validating that you are who you say you are.

If a search of your name results in a long list of links to articles, tweets and Webinars about asset protection for doctors, it validates that you're a specialist in that topic. It doesn't mean you'll be hired by a doctor seeking asset protection, but it puts you in the running.

The same principles can be applied to local searches. Doing it correctly literally puts your firm on the map in searches for local financial advisors. For example, if someone searches "financial advisors, Jericho, N.Y.," a list of local firms appears in the results alongside a map of your local area. You want your firm to be one of the pushpins displayed on the local listings map.

Start by verifying your place of business with Google Places and other search engines. Then think of local businesses and allied professionals that might want to link to your site because they work in related businesses.

Right now, few advisors are optimizing for search engines or for local listings, but that's going to change this year. An opportunity does exist now for advisors to use search engines more effectively, but the competition for leads this way is going to heat up in the next year.

Editor-at-large Andrew Gluck, a veteran financial writer, owns Advisor Products Inc., a marketing technology company serving 1,800 advisory firms.