While many advisors thought that the all-in-one solution would be the creation of a single app, a few efforts at building silver bullets have not met with much success. Invariably, an advisor finds one major component of most all-in-one apps to be wanting.
Ironically, deconstructing the all-in-one app by stitching together an advisor's dream team of apps with Web services is now the clearest path for an advisor to build his own silver bullet.

Meanwhile, the advent of apps focused on performing one task-proposal generation, account aggregation, client portals and income distribution optimization-fosters an advisor's goal of designing the right blend of apps for a practice. Publishing an API that can be used by specialized apps is probably the best way a custodian can support the boom in innovation by these small-tech vendors developing sophisticated new tools that promote efficiency and deeper analytics.

Though the TDAI API creates a framework enabling many software vendors to access its data, TDAI is requiring vendors to fill in a security questionnaire comprised of 2,700 questions requiring yes or no answers.

The questionnaire is based on a standardized system created several years ago by BITS, a Washington, D.C.-based financial services technology organization. As part of a Financial Institution Shared Assessments Program, BITS created a standardized information-gathering approach for financial services providers to use in their information security audits, aiming for a faster, more efficient and less costly way of conducting rigorous and comprehensive security, privacy and business continuity assessments.

It takes an experienced IT professional about 40 hours to complete the security questionnaire. It's not hard to imagine that a small-tech vendor would not have the IT resources to answer the questionnaire or to provide answers to TDAI's satisfaction. So while the API should offer more vendors the ability to access TDAI's back office, the security requirements could limit the number of vendors able to surmount TDAI's hurdles.

Still, Patullo says he expects the release of the API in mid-December to spawn some integration with CRM apps by the time of the TDAI annual conference in early February. "We're managing several CRM relationships and have a couple of dozen different workflows we think advisors will want to leverage," says Patullo.

By embedding in CRM apps workflows specifically suited to TDAI's back-office systems, procedures such as account transfers can be systematized by RIAs.

Patullo says the initial release of the API will provide tech vendors with data on balances, positions and transaction history as well as alerts on activities related to cash management, opening accounts and margin calls.

A second release of the API will provide access to additional data and enable RIAs to push data from the apps they use to TDAI's dashboard for advisors, VEO, creating a two-way loop of streaming data. Thus, a portfolio management application will be able to initiate a trade on VEO, and the advisors will not need to upload a spreadsheet with the trade order or use a Web app to execute the trade.

The Web has forced unprecedented transparency on companies and governments. Google makes it easy for prospects to research your background, Wikileaks has exposed U.S. government secrets, and data about the fees and performance of 401(k)s is now being published on the Web. It will be interesting to see if TDAI's transparency compels other custodians to follow suit and make it easier for advisors to use their preferred suite of applications to move data to and from their custodians.