The Desktop Computing environment includes the standard office suite, including word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and cross-platform document reader applications. These are applications that are generally designed for single users. Files worked on by individuals originate here before being handed off to other users.  As an example of how categories are linked, the asset class is "desktop," the sector is "cross-platform reader" and the implementation is Acrobat Reader.

Communications consists of tools such as e-mail, calendars, voice mail, telephones, Web access and portable devices such as smart phones. These items all have an individual and personal quality about them while still belonging to some sort of network, either inside or outside of the firm. Under the "communications" asset class, a sector would be "e-mail/calendar" applications and an implementation would be Oracle Collaboration Suite.

Knowledge Management refers to systems that organize intellectual property. They are multi-user and network-centric and need to be accessible to the entire organization. The category includes document management, archiving and client relationship management (CRM) solutions. Compliance issues are a particular consideration in this category and may drive archiving requirements. In this asset class, "CRM" would be a sector and Salesforce.com would be an example of an implementation.

The Financial Applications group is where all of the financial data comes together at varying points in the wealth management process. The number of tools used in this group can vary. A small firm, for example, may not require cash flow planning software, tax planning tools or in-house estate planning tools because it relies on strategic partnerships with estate planning attorneys or accountants to handle these areas for clients. Large firms, by contrast, may need all of those tools to be available in-house. In this category, the technology needs of large national firms may be geographical. A firm's merger and acquisition planners, for example, may be based in Chicago, the trust experts may be in New Jersey and the compliance experts may be based in Washington, D.C.  In these cases, the accessibility of certain software tools would vary accordingly.

The fifth and final asset class, Other Tech, generally does not directly affect users. It is an important area, however, and includes anti-virus, anti-spam, backup, disaster recovery, security and encryption technology. These are all very arcane areas of technology to the layman, but they are vital components of a technology plan and represent the last line of defense against potentially disastrous breaches of security. For example, a physical break-in into a wealth management office may cost $25,000 in equipment and cause some delays getting back to business. But if someone breaks into your network and compromises all of your client data, it could be a firm-ending event.

All technology is imperfect-regardless of the claims made in marketing materials. Managing technology is an exercise in the art of compromise. You will always be balancing between strength versus weakness, risk versus reward and costs versus schedules and the "holy grail" of user friendliness.

Once you are familiar with your technology "asset classes" and you are working on implementation, you can create a list  of requirements in each application sector that you can use to create a "test case" for assessing different products. Contact multiple vendors and carry out due diligence in the same way that you would for a money manager. Make sure their product fits your needs, their references check out and that they are affordable and aligned within your business model. Carefully read the proposed contract. You'd be surprised at how one-sided tech contracts can be in the favor of the vendor over the customer. You will often find that if there's a problem with the product there will be a strict limit of liability. Vendor contracts may also have major indemnification clauses that may pose significant risk to your firm.  

Once you have enough information to select a vendor that has proven it can handle your "test case," I recommend one extra step in the process. Require the vendors to successfully complete a pilot project as a condition of the contract. This allows you to move forward with bringing a system online, but also gives you the luxury of canceling the contract if expectations are not met.

Once the pilot project is completed, you can put your system into full production and move on to the "monitoring and maintenance" phase of implementation.

When replacing a system, you should always have certain performance goals in mind, just as you would for an investment portfolio. Examples of these goals, or "success matrix," include shorter turnaround on reports, more accurate accounting, more efficient client relationship management and improved customer service. I once built a system for a large financial services firm that reduced the report publishing cycle from 14 weeks to eight minutes and saved $2 million per year in express shipping.