"B-Ds want to be able to query their own database with their own business intelligence metrics," says Pacholski. "DataMart lets a B-D create a database that can be used for queries it wants to conduct."
Coates Analytics, a business intelligence software company owned by PNC Financial, provides a distribution management system that offers prefabricated metrics on mutual funds sales. Using Coates and DataMart shows a B-D which branches or even which reps are selling specific funds.
DataMart went live in April and United Planners, a B-D with about 300 reps, became the first broker-dealer on the system. After a few B-Ds pioneer use of the system, it's likely others will follow and DataMart will usher in a new era of efficiency for independent B-Ds.
And that makes systems like these more attractive.
Editor-at-large Andrew Gluck, a veteran financial writer, owns Advisor Products Inc., a marketing technology company serving 1,800 advisory firms.