From Crager’s perspective, all of the latest acquisitions are strategic in nature. He says that “data is the gasoline that fuels the (platform’s) engine,” and Yodlee provides that data. The platform currently contains personal finance information on 20 million investor accounts, and that’s just the beginning. The goal is clearly to encourage all of the end clients of the firms that Envestnet supports to aggregate their data on Yodlee as well. Connecting the data component with the planning and investment strategy tools on the Envestnet platform allows the firm to create a complete financial picture for investors.

Crager says that Yodlee is about more than account aggregation. It is also about data analytics. Third parties have created a “few thousand” apps that are powered by Yodlee data. With the Yodlee API, developers can build personal balance sheets, lending tools and financial wellness tools, to name just a few items.

There is also a tremendous opportunity to learn more about client behavior so advisors can better tailor their offerings to the needs of clients and prospects. In addition, Yodlee data will help Envestnet better understand the markets it serves and better tailor its technology to meet those needs. There are also opportunities to benchmark advisors against their peers to promote better business results.

The Upside acquisition gave Envestnet an inexpensive entrée into the modern digital platform (robo-advisor) space. These capabilities will appeal to RIA firms that want to segment their business, but it will also appeal to, for example, broker-dealers with smaller orphaned accounts.

Many accounts may not be big enough to be attractive to a successful rep, but if they can operate on a low-cost, self-service model, they could be profitable for the broker-dealer. The robo-advisor platform could also prove attractive to banks. Traditionally, banks have focused on their higher-net-worth clients for wealth management services because the cost of servicing smaller accounts can be prohibitive. If these clients can be enticed onto a self-service platform, however, the economics become much more favorable.

Finance Logix filled a critical hole in the Envestnet offering. With its expertise in financial planning on both the advisor and consumer side, Finance Logix can provide the software to satisfy the needs of Envestnet’s broad client base. Crager concedes, however, that Finance Logix may not meet the need of all Envestnet’s clients, so Envestnet continues to integrate with MoneyGuidePro and eMoney. The Envestnet platform also integrates with a number of leading CRM providers.

Looking forward, Crager says Envestnet now has all the strategic pieces necessary to compete effectively in the future. That’s not to say that Envestnet is out of the acquisition game. “We won’t rule out opportunistic acquisitions in the future,” he says.