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.