Julie Littlechild and her team at Absolute Engagement are huge advocates of personalization and helping Advisors take their digital client experience to the next level. At this year’s IMPACT, Julie shared some of her recent thinking around mindset, engagement, and the future of client experiences during her session which was called How Client Mindset is Changing the Client Experience. When it comes to this topic, Julie and her team are undoubtedly at the top of the expert list — if you are not following Julie, you need to be.
Keeping with the theme of personalization, Chris Volpe, Managing Director at Zephyr shared his thoughts at IMPACT regarding how technology is enabling better client relationships by affording firms and advisors the ability to personalize communications at scale, in a way that really matters for clients.
3. Frictionless client onboarding and account opening workflow is a major area of focus. Creating the ultimate onboarding experience, one that is frictionless, easy, and enjoyable for clients, will continue to drive strategic narratives and influence spending in 2023.
From better back- and front-office enrichment and automation to more tightly integrated processes with e-signature capabilities, firms are looking to shape their onboarding process to button up compliance and security concerns, improve professional productivity by saving valuable time, and most importantly, to deliver the best possible client experience.
This was evident in the hundreds of conversations our team had with advisors and back-office teams. One of the (many) areas that really stood out during these conversations was FutureVault’s e-signature automation and capabilities to create a new client Vault and automatically deliver all e-signed onboarding documents directly into specific folder locations in one or many Vaults instantaneously. For the back office and compliance teams, this gives confidence in a secure delivery method of critical documents while meeting document retention requirements. For the front office and advisors, it means less time is spent manually sorting, filing, and sending documents to clients. And for the client, it means that any-and-all signed documents by the client are available and accessible to them in their personal digital vault.
Remember, the initial onboarding experience and account opening process can often pave the way for a long, healthy relationship; the opposite can also be true.
4. Technology enables business outcomes and helps you deliver and improve your value proposition. Over the last several years, we have witnessed the role technology has played and how it has evolved to be cornerstone to wealth management.
What once used to be a nice-to-have has now evolved into a must-have to thrive and survive in today’s landscape.
Your technology stack isn’t just pieces of technology “glued” together in separate areas to achieve individual outcomes. It has become more strategic than that and must be deployed to compliment and elevate your strategic narrative.
Shirl Penny, CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners, delivered a great presentation full of takeaway insights on how (and why) firms absolutely must look to tech-enable their business. Shirl’s presentation really resonated with our team and our philosophies, but what caught my attention on one of his slides was the question he posed at the bottom, “Can you double your number of clients without doubling your headcount?”
In the same presentation, Shirl breaks down four components of WealthTech:
1. Business
2. Investments
3. Consumer
4. Data Analytics
This thought-provoking question and the four components above, imply just how critical technology has become and will continue to become to deliver business outcomes, improve upon strategic decision-making, and be central to the value proposition of your firm in 2023 and beyond.
5. 360 Integration is critical for WealthTech providers. Wealth management firms and advisors are feeling the pressure when it comes to making technology decisions, and rightfully so. It is not only critical, but rather necessary, that integration and Open APIs exist for modern WealthTech firms.
The lack of connectivity and seamless integration is a very prominent challenge across the industry. As firms venture down the path of siloed technology implementations, we continue to see the rise of integration challenges, amongst other significant challenges which include resource allocation, financial risks, loss of productivity, and a poor client experience.
But what’s more of a challenge than the lack of integration between technology providers is the lack of connectivity and integration into operational processes and client workflow.
From back and middle office tools and technology to advisor-facing and client-facing portals, the winning recipe is creating an ecosystem of best-of-breed technologies that create, in the words of AppCrown’s Franklin Tsung, a “Digital Advisor 360 Platform.”
Franklin Tsung also predicts that many advisors will soon be looking at their technology stacks as tech providers consolidate. During an interview at IMPACT, he shares why many independent advisors will be looking at multi-custodial, independent technology that can help them scale in the year ahead, such as online communities, document vaults, portals, and marketing integration that connect seamlessly with CRM systems.
The Institute for Innovation Development is an educational and business development catalyst for growth-oriented financial advisors and financial services firms determined to lead their businesses in an operating environment of accelerating business and cultural change. We operate as a business innovation platform and educational resource with FinTech and financial services firm members to openly share their unique perspectives and activities. The goal is to build awareness and stimulate open thought leadership discussions on new or evolving industry approaches and thinking to facilitate next-generation growth, differentiation and unique community engagement strategies. The institute was launched with the support and foresight of our founding sponsors — Ultimus Fund Solutions, NASDAQ, FLX Networks, Advisorpedia, Pershing, Fidelity, Voya Financial and Charter Financial Publishing (publisher of Financial Advisor and Private Wealth magazines).