Integrations
Manker says that most data NEXA uses involves simple participant information such as name, date of birth, and zip code.
“The data we require from an advisor is very CRM-centric. So integration with Salesforce is the first one we did right out of the box,” said Manker
Later, NEXA integrated with Orion, and today they are developing integrations with Redtail and others.
“Data coming from us is not something that an individual will get,” said Manker. “We have the raw data feed, but if you pull the raw data out, you’re just going to get lost in the weeds. So [advisors] leverage our visualizations instead of trying to get the data and develop their own. We definitely give them the ability to import data, load various data points that they can then cross-reference for other things.”
Product Management And Software Development
Manker has a technical background. He implements Agile methodology for software development. Product management is mostly based on client requests.
“We’re very flexible to any kind of industry shifts and things that [advisors] need,” said Manker. “Obviously we have a long-term vision that we adhere to and ensure that anything that we’re doing specifically for a client is going to mold into that vision.”
The development team includes a project manager, a couple of developers, and an operations engineer. According to Manker, using a small team enables the company to develop quickly. NEXA releases updates every couple of weeks.
The team uses .Net for software development and SQL Server for its database. They use Microsoft tools for sentiment analysis on comments and for machine learning and natural language processing.
What’s Next For NEXA
NEXA works hard on market acquisition, and they are constantly signing up more firms. The biggest challenge the company observes is the need to educate advisory firms on how surveys can improve their businesses.
“We’re introducing something new to them, even though they’re obviously familiar with surveying—they just don’t fully understand how can it benefit their business,” said Manker.
NEXA also has an advisor-level survey that allows the large teams to get feedback and learn about platform users’ critical needs.
“We started taking advisor-level surveys and matching those with the client-level surveys that we’re doing and deriving analytics and different information for that,” said Manker.
Manker says that a lot of advisory firms want to have a survey in onboarding, so NEXA plans to roll out a new onboarding survey later this year.
Vasyl Soloshchuk is CEO and co-owner at INSART, FinTech engineering company. Vasyl is also the author of WealthTech Club, which conducts research into fortune and startup robo-advisor and wealth management companies in terms of the technology ecosystem.