Orion recently inked a deal with TD Ameritrade that allows advisors to complete TD's forms within eProfile and send them to the client for an electronic signature using DocuSign. Once the client electronically signs the paperwork, it is forwarded to TD for immediate processing with a copy to the advisor. Since TD has agreed to cover the DocuSign fee for all its paperwork, there is no charge to advisors who custody with the brokerage. Orion hopes to soon offer the same digital signature capabilities through all custodians, but fees may apply if and when the service becomes available.
Salesforce Integration
According to Orion President Eric Clarke, client relationship management is the "hub" of most advisory businesses. Virtually all Orion clients use one of three CRM systems: Salesforce, Redtail or Junxure. Initially, Orion has set out to create a high level of integration with Salesforce.
To accelerate development, Orion chose to initially develop on top of the AppCrown version of Salesforce, one that has already been customized for the financial advisor community. This has allowed Orion to leverage the custom fields, workflows and reports developed by AppCrown and concentrate on building the Orion features into Salesforce. As a result, much of Orion's core functionality is already available within AppCrown Salesforce.
For example, you can access household, client and account information. You can even drill down to individual holdings. You can even run Orion reports from within Salesforce. What you cannot do yet is create trades, rebalance or set up fee billing. These additional functions are expected to be available in December.
What's even more intriguing is Orion's plans for the future. By January 2013, Orion plans to have its own version of Salesforce. This will alleviate the need for its advisors to purchase the AppCrown version. Furthermore, Orion expects to have ALL of its functionality built into Salesforce, so Salesforce will, in effect, be able to function as the Orion app. That would be true integration!
Since Orion partners closely with TD Ameritrade, the firm plans to make the same level of integration available to advisors who prefer to use the soon-to-be-released TD Ameritrade version of Salesforce. Orion is also open to melding with the Schwab version of Salesforce when it goes live, as long as Schwab opens its version to Orion, something the brokerage has not done yet.
Redtail and Junxure Integration
Clarke hopes to offer the same seamless integration within Redtail and Junxure's cloud that Orion now offers through Salesforce, but says it requires cooperation and resources from both firms. At the recent Orion conference, attended by Redtail CEO/CTO Brian McLaughlin, the two companies met to discuss integration initiatives. According to McLaughlin: "Redtail is committed to deeply integrating our application with Orion's." Presumably, deep integration with Junxure will move forward when its cloud version launches next year.
Dropbox Integration
While many firms, including Orion, currently offer "client vaults," Orion is the first firm in the industry that we know of building an integration with Dropbox, a service that offers online storage, file sharing and file synchronization across multiple computing platforms. This means that you can synchronize files in a Dropbox folder and have seamless access to those files from PCs, Macs and mobile devices. The ability to save to Dropbox is built into many iPad, iPhone and Android applications.
Dropbox offers many advantages. The first 2 gigabytes of storage per user are free, so advisors can set up client storage vaults for their clients at no charge. Second, the Dropbox interface is familiar to many clients, so they won't need to learn a new system. In fact, Orion will be able to link to an existing client Dropbox with the client's permission. Third, Dropbox has a notification system alerting users to changes to their Dropbox account. In addition, Dropbox includes an "events" section that keeps track of changes to your Dropbox.
Once the integration is complete, advisors will be able to batch-load Orion reports to client Dropbox folders. They will also be able to use the folders to store other types of client documents. In addition, advisors will be able to securely communicate with clients by posting notes to the Dropbox folders. This same functionality will allow advisors to communicate with Orion via Dropbox.