[Technology demonstrates its greatest value when it is designed with a laser-focus to solve for strategic business and client needs. It should function as an empowering enabler much more than just being the latest bright, shiny tech tool. When built for ease of use, deep communication, hyper engagement, and automated deployment, technology can help create a personal compact to align advisors with clients and prospects.
To further explore this tech dynamic, the Institute for Innovation Development recently talked with Institute member Leon Morales, managing director of DNA Behavior International — developer of the world’s only all-in-one cloud based “Behavior Tech” platform. He has been working on how this platform can be deployed inside organizations for online behavioral management solutions to Know, Engage and Grow every employee, advisor and client. We discussed how behavioral technology can support the evolving nature and changing value proposition of financial advisors into a more holistic model of advisors serving as client behavioral coaches and mentors.]
Bill Hortz: Your firm has been applying behavioral science research with management leaders and financial advisors for decades now through training and education. Why the need for a technology platform?
Leon Morales: The fact that drives us, from a 2002 Harvard study and our subsequent research, is that 87% of business issues are communication related. We are focused on solving the problem of managing differences between people in real-world business settings. Every interaction is an opportunity to adapt behavior if someone can first understand their natural DNA behavioral style and understand that of others.
DNA Behavior has been the leader in applying behavioral science to business problems since 2001 and started creating tech tools like a mobile app to encourage this process. However, because of our fast-paced world and apps changing continuously, there has been lower adoption of separate technology apps by advisors in the past 5 years. We realized back in 2015 that we needed an integration gateway – a way of integrating behavioral science into the advisor’s business processes - to make them immediately accessible and built into the advisor’s way of doing business.
The goal was to enable an easy way for advisors to customize Behavioral Experiences which drive various forms of human performance acceleration and engagement. Our CEO Hugh Massie and team developed our tech platform to incorporate the behavioral discovery process into an advisor’s practice. With this powerful tech platform, an advisor can navigate differences among people, leverage advisor strengths, and provide actionable solutions for their client challenges. All to better serve and build trust in a more meaningful and effective manner.
Hortz: How did you go about converting behavioral science into a technology?
Morales: Back in 2001 when Hugh Massie created the company, we believed that behavioral tools and information needed to be at the fingertips of advisors and other business leaders. Otherwise reports just sit in desk drawers, in files, and are not easily remembered or used.
We now have, with technology, the capability to empower advisors with validated, practical behavioral insights on clients to create customized personal and relationship experiences in real time. With powerful technology, this behavioral solution is now easily scalable across teams, families, firms and other organizations. So, we made the strategic decision in 2015 to build an ecosystem of behavioral tech platforms that used a “behavior chip” at their core to power these platforms, along with the unique experiences they would create. Now that chip – the behavioral piece of the puzzle – can be plugged into an advisor’s or advisory firm’s systems.
Hortz: How exactly do you validate behavioral insights and then apply them to deliver what you term as “real-time” behavioral management solutions?