I've written extensively recently about the technological enhancements taking place among the custodians serving independent RIAs, but it is difficult to ignore the fact that a similar technology arms race is taking place within the independent B-D community. As is the case with the custodians, independent B-Ds are providing more intuitive interfaces, greater integration, improved work flows and scalable models that allow their advisors to work more efficiently.

These improvements, if widely adopted, should allow advisors to free up more time in front of existing clients and new prospects instead of toiling with computer software at their desks. Below, I offer up a few examples of how various firms are leveraging technology to help their advisors prosper.

Raymond James
Raymond James recently rolled out the latest enhancement to their Advisor Access technology platform. Advisor Access is the central interaction point for all advisor technology. Interactive menus and search technology allow advisors to instantly locate the relevant information when a client calls. This new platform is device-agnostic. Advisors can access the platform with a PC, a tablet or even a smartphone.

The latest addition, Goal Planning and Monitoring (GPM) is powered by MoneyGuidePro, an industry-leading financial planning application. Patrick O'Connor, senior vice president of wealth management at Raymond James has great respect for MoneyGuidePro (MGP). "We love the genius behind the tool. We think it is very intelligent software." O'Connor and his firm decided to build upon what MGP offers to provide a unique solution to their advisors. "We wanted the flexibility to incorporate our own intellectual property onto the MoneyGuidePro software." And that's exactly what they are doing.

One way that Raymond James incorporates their own intellectual capital into the existing MGP technology is through the proposal-generation process. GPM uses MGP: G3's new risk assessment tool to evaluate client risk tolerance. They do not, however, use MGP's asset allocation models or capital market assumptions.

Instead, advisors can choose to use a wide range of proprietary Raymond James asset allocation models, or they can use their own. GPM maps a client to a model portfolio or a range of portfolios with the appropriate risk/return characteristics for the client. Advisors can then access the Raymond James database to select product that will populate the model. The database includes managed accounts, ETFs, mutual funds, stocks, bonds, UITs, closed-end funds and other products.

The integration process is still ongoing. Soon, advisors will be able to implement plans right from inside GPM, and they will be able to monitor plans for drift, changes in projected plan success and other factors. When GPM is fully built out later this year, advisors will be able to create a plan, build an investment proposal, execute a plan and monitor the plan all from right within GPM. In addition, some MGP client-facing capabilities will be built into the Raymond James client-facing portal so that clients can track their financial plan, as well as their investments, through the portal.

Bob Curtis, CEO of PIEtech, creator of MoneyGuidePro, says that GPM has been an instant success. "We are excited to be part of the Advisor Access platform. I personally attended the Raymond James national conferences this year and was extremely impressed by the enthusiasm shown by advisors for Goal Planning and Monitoring. It is clear that Raymond James and its advisors are committed to providing the highest-quality financial planning experience to their clients."

Securities America
Like Raymond James, Securities America is also putting greater emphasis on planning. A brochure for their Managed Opportunities-NextPhase Retirement Income Distribution Solution points out that the biggest concern of the boomer generation moving toward retirement is their financial health-the threat of outliving their assets and unreliable retirement income. By 2015, there will be more than 45 million U.S. households with people from 51 to 70 years of age, so the market for retirement income solutions is enormous.

Managed Opportunities is the Securities America investment platform powered by Envestnet. It is the advisor's one stop shop for risk profiling, proposal generation, investment policy statements, research tools, investment solutions and reporting. The Securities America Managed Opportunities platform allows advisors to combine separately managed accounts (SMAs) and mutual fund portfolios in one unified managed account (UMA). It was also the first firm to use UMA technology to combine multiple mutual fund wrap portfolios in a single brokerage account, eliminating the need for multiple sets of paperwork and multiple 1099s.

With Managed Opportunities, advisors can build their own custom asset allocations, build them from preset overlays or build from an existing model. Currently, there are over 400 models based on various risk groupings. These models represent various products (SMAs, mutual fund wrap, ETF wrap, etc.) as well as different styles (strategic, tactical, absolute return). According to Jeremy Robson, director of advisory services, the platform is very scalable and very efficient. "Advisors can create models and leverage them across their entire client base," he says. When necessary, they can swap out one manager for another easily."
Other advantages of the Managed Opportunities platform include the ability to customize at the account level (specify restricted stocks, set regular income withdrawals, etc.) and the ability to provide ongoing rebalancing for all UMA accounts without any action on the part of the advisor.

NextPhase allows advisors to create and implement a time-segmented retirement distribution strategy through the Managed Opportunities platform. The advisor can build, implement and manage a portfolio segmented into five or six sub-portfolios, each targeted to a different phase of retirement. Each segment is constructed and managed as an individual portfolio based on the clients' risk tolerance and objectives during the applicable five-year period. An optional guaranteed income segment can be included through a guaranteed living benefit or lifetime annuitization if desired.

Although each segment of the portfolio is managed individually, the investments are designed to work together, providing income throughout retirement. The plan can be designed to harvest investments within a segment when it reaches the target value necessary to generate the required income, thereby minimizing unnecessary market exposure.

Cetera
According to Barnaby Grist, executive vice president, wealth management at Cetera Financial Group, advisors are often frustrated by technology tools that look great on paper but disappoint in practice. "The integration does not live up to expectations," he says. Most advisors don't have the technical expertise to diagnose and solve integration issues, and the end result is that the client suffers because advisors do not have the integrated tools they need to best serve the client.

"Cetera is fully committed to providing our advisors with an integrated desktop. We've made a multiyear commitment to deliver this," says Grist. "Every one of our advisors gets our SmartWorks platform at no additional charge." SmartWorks is built on a combination of home-grown tools and best-of-breed third-party applications.

SmartWorks provides advisors with a view of all client assets, including held-away assets. About a year ago, Cetera announced new relationships with Wilshire Associates, Sage Advisory Services and UBS Global Asset Management. These relationships allow Cetera to offer their advisors a new mutual fund/ETF advisory program that can be implemented through SmartWorks. The idea is to make institutional investment services available to retail clients of advisors.

For example, with the Wilshire program, Wilshire experts design strategic asset allocation models based upon various risk tolerances and then select mutual fund managers that they have the highest conviction about to implement the asset allocation. Models can contain up to 17 different asset classes/sub-asset classes, and models are available for accounts starting at $25,000 in assets. These programs provide asset allocation, research and ongoing due diligence. "This program helps advisors spend less time on portfolio construction, monitoring and rebalancing so that they can spend more time connecting with their clients and building their business," says Grist.

Cetera also offers a new xMA Managed Account platform. This platform gives advisors the ability to combine more than 100 investment styles from over 70 institutional portfolio managers. It is more flexible than traditional SMAs because it allows advisors to add a manager or move assets among managers all within a single account. This limits the paperwork involved in opening multiple accounts and it saves time when performing portfolio maintenance tasks.

Both the Mutual Fund/ETF program and the xMA program are powered by technology from FolioDynamics that is built into the Cetera SmartWorks platform. The FolioDynamics platform provides additional benefits that include alerts, a proposal tool, the ability for advisors to build their own models, and deep integration with Pershing, Cetera's clearing firm.

FolioDynamics allows advisors to monitor activity throughout their business by setting tolerance bands for drift by asset type, asset class and security. The advisor can then monitor drift reports to quickly identify accounts that require attention.
Trade-order management tools are built in. Trade restrictions can be set to make sure trading activities are in alignment with client wishes and investment policy statements. Restrictions can be set on buys (don't buy this) and sells. You can also, for example, set cash minimums (don't let cash fall below x% or x dollars).

The platform has extensive alert capabilities, so advisors can be alerted automatically if, for example, cash in an account falls below the specified level. Alerts are menu-driven. Advisors can set alerts based on type, frequency and other criteria. In most cases, alerts can be created by simply using the selections from various dropdown menus.

Advisors can choose to rebalance by security or by asset class at the account level, but there is currently no household rebalancing or tax-sensitive rebalancing capabilities built into Cetera SmartWorks. You can, however, sort by cost basis so advisors can easily identify gains or losses for harvesting when necessary.

Commonwealth
Commonwealth Financial Network continues to build upon the success of their flagship Client360° technology offering. The Web-based platform integrates portfolio management, cross-household performance reporting and contact management for a dynamic, holistic view of the client relationship.

According to Darren Tedesco, managing principal of innovation and strategy at Commonwealth, one new enhancement the firm just rolled out is the improved trading platform, Client360° Trading. Previously, advisors entered their trades through National Financial's StreetScape trading interface, but apparently some Commonwealth advisors felt that the StreetScape interface did not offer sufficient flexibility. One limitation Tedesco cited was that StreetScape limited advisors to 10 trades at a time. He also noted that in the previous configuration, if an advisor wanted to see a mutual fund and an ETF across all clients at the same time, the advisor had to create multiple tickers and navigate multiple screens. In addition, Tedesco said that until recently StreetScape only supported the Internet Explorer browser.

Now, advisors can enter trades from right within Client360°. Trades will be sent straight through to Commonwealth or to its clearing firm, National Financial Services LLS (NFS). The new trading system is more flexible. Real-time positions and balances are available. Advisors can buy or sell positions across entire households. Trades can be created with fewer clicks, with fewer limitations. Trades can be created for non-brokerage accounts and sent through to the appropriate company. In addition, advisors can create and hold discretionary orders to be sent later in the day.

By the time you read this, additional trading functionality will have been added. Through model management, advisors will be able to make a change to a model and have it reflected across all accounts that are tied to the model. So, for example, if an advisor has 10,000 accounts tied to a model, and if the advisor sells one ETF and buys another in the model, those trades will be executed across all 10,000 accounts. These new trading tools should greatly enhance the ability of Commonwealth scale without adding any overhead.

"In order for Client360° to remain the most sophisticated and comprehensive total client management system in the financial services industry, it needs to contain tools that enhance a practice's overall efficiency and organization via the power of integration-and our new Client360° trading engine does just that," says Tedesco.

Advisor Group
The Advisor Group, part of the SunAmerica Financial Group, is comprised of three broker-dealers: FSC Securities Corporation, Royal Alliance and SagePoint Financial. Their Web-based VISION 2020 advisor portal offers a single sign-on, and it is device agnostic. Earlier this year, the firm rolled out Salesforce.com's customer relationship management software and incorporated it into the Advisor Group portal. According to David Ballard, senior vice president and chief information officer at the Advisor Group, his firm prepopulates Salesforce with all client and account information. This information can then be used to perform other tasks from within the portal.

For example, the Advisor Group makes preapproved Forefield documents available to advisors. Using Salesforce, these documents can be distributed to clients and prospects through various channels. These include traditional ones such as snail mail and e-mail or more modern technologies such as social media. When using social media, the system captures and archives all necessary details for compliance purposes.

Advisors also have access to Morningstar Workstation. As is the case with other applications, client data and account data is prepopulated so advisors can spend time performing productive tasks instead of re-keying data manually.

Like most large broker-dealers, the Advisor Group makes LaserApp available to advisors so that forms can be prepopulated. It then makes two types of e-signature technology available to advisors, when possible. One technology is a signature pad that captures a virtual client signature. The other is a digital authentication method that does not require a signature pad. DocuPace document management software is integrated into the portal. This software captures, stores and indexes all back-office paperwork so that the advisor and the back office have access to the same set of documents.

The Advisor Group offers a wealth management fee-based platform powered by Envestnet. The platform offers model portfolios constructed by institutional-grade money managers, separately managed accounts, unified managed accounts and advisor-managed portfolios that are customized to client objectives and risk tolerances. Additional features include a risk tolerance assessment tool, portfolio analytic tools, extensive research capabilities and a proposal system.

ING Financial Partners
ING Financial Group recently rolled out their SmartWorks 2.0 platform to their approximately 2,400 advisors. The similarity between the ING SmartWorks and the previously discussed Cetera SmartWorks is not coincidental. When ING sold a number of broker-dealer units some years ago, they retained the rights to use the SmartWorks technology then in use.

Since that time, as discussed earlier, Cetera has incorporated additional capabilities and applications into their platform. In the case of ING Financial Partners, they set out to build a new version of SmartWorks for their advisors, which they have named SmartWorks 2.0. Ashish Kale, the architect of the original SmartWorks platform, assumed the role of architect and director of information technology at ING, and he has created SmartWorks 2.0 on the Salesforce.com platform.

According to Karl Lindberg, CEO and president of ING Financial Partners, "SmartWorks 2.0 goes beyond anything we've done before. It gives advisors a full picture of what is going on in their business. It goes beyond aggregation, providing custom workflows." Building on Salesforce, he adds, "got us out of the software business."

Steve Tarca, the director of technology practice management at ING, says that SmartWorks represents a change in their approach to technology. "There was a time when we let reps do whatever they wanted to in terms of technology," he says. Reps wanted flexibility, but when they tried to get technology to work the way they wanted it to, they ran into trouble. "With SmartWorks 2.0, we can provide the flexibility that advisors need while at the same time providing efficiencies by leveraging the resources of ING."

Although ING advisors are required to pay a $125 affiliation fee, which covers the cost of SmartWorks 2.0, they get a great deal for their money. In addition to a fully functional, integrated, customized Salesforce CRM system, they also have the use of third-party applications that are deeply integrated into SmartWorks 2.0. These include MoneyGuidePro for financial planning, Forefield, Morningstar snapshots, Albridge data feeds and much more. Some applications, such as the full version of Morningstar Workstation and Albridge performance reporting are available for a modest additional monthly fee.

As is the case with Raymond James, ING integrates deeply with MoneyGuidePro's asset allocation section. Through MoneyGuidePro, advisors can assess a client's risk tolerance and arrive at an asset allocation model. Advisors can then choose to use Morningstar analyst picks or funds selected by experts at ING to implement the asset allocation model. As part of the proposal generation process, SmartWorks can generate a detailed Morningstar snapshot of every holding in a client's current portfolio as well as every proposed holding in the recommended portfolio.

Since SmartWorks 2.0 is Salesforce based, it provides extensive support in the area of client servicing, sales and marketing, practice management (calendaring, task management, etc.) and operational processing (automated account openings, the ability to connect with the ING back office, etc.).

One of the functions of CRM that is often overlooked and underappreciated by advisors is the ability to perform analytics. Salesforce excels at this. Using the application, you can mine for data. You can look across your business to see which clients are increasing or decreasing assets, which are referring you the most business and where new opportunities reside.

Alert capabilities are extensive. The ING "Good Morning Alerts" can inform advisors of new accounts opened, deposits, withdrawals, life insurance premiums that have not been paid and much more. Armed with this data, advisors can be proactive in their dealings with their clients.

Through partners MoneyGuidePro and Albridge, client-facing access is available to the end client.

What Next?
Independent broker-dealers are competing on the technology front as never before, and the competition shows no signs of letting up. Although IBDs still can be differentiated to some extent by product, today there is much more of an emphasis on technology, intellectual capital and practice management tools.

One thing all of the firms we spoke to seem to agree upon is that advances in technology and workflows can lead to greater growth and greater profitability. All are trying to lift the technology burden and remove inefficiencies so that advisors can be more productive and better serve their clients. If they are right, independent B-Ds, advisors and their clients should all benefit from the improvements that these firms have made.