FutureAdvisor guarantees timely delivery to their clients via a platform-delivery function. Jon explained that this team manages the client relationship to make sure that all of the clients’ requirements are being fulfilled. FutureAdvisor offers training to advisors of large institutions to ensure that the client can use every module they pay for and understands what each module does.
Ability to prioritize leads to success
FutureAdvisor has a lot of direct product and platform-delivery connectivity, so clients get direct feedback on a specific feature or problem they may be experiencing. Obviously, feedback and communication does not end upon delivery; instead, it essentially becomes a continuous feedback cycle. This cycle is responsible for many of the new initiatives and features on the FutureAdvisor platform.
“We analyze priorities and sort of figure out which ones are common, which [are] aligned with our overall vision and business values, as well as our business objectives.”—Jon
FutureAdvisor has been live for quite some time, and the breadth of clients they have allows them to take advantage of years of dealing with serious firms. This is evident in their approach and the depth of their features.
Effectively developing software
In FutureAdvisor’s case, the evolution of the platform also evolved the software development lifecycle—Jon pointed this out as one of the major strengths. With this approach, they are capable of controlling a predictable timeline of delivery. Every client has different needs; therefore, an agile approach is optimal when feedback is flowing in, and means that changes can be made quickly.
At their quarterly planning cycles, FutureAdvisor develops detailed lists that contain a basic roadmap of planned changes. They then take each list and plan out the specifics of the commitments and timelines for each client.
“We plan out enough buffer in order to react to in-flight feedback from the platform. We do quarterly planning to make sure that we can react to market data [for funnels] and various things that we’re seeing in the market on the platform, to refine the approaches and the setup for predictable delivery, and we roll out to partners in the following quarters. And I think, in this approach, within each of the quarterly planning cycles, we actually do have what is effectively […] three-week releases.”—Jon
Tech toolbox
The main tools of the trade for FutureAdvisor are Amazon (AWS) and Ruby servers for back-end. The front-end consists almost entirely of React. Data integrity is also high on the priorities list. FutureAdvisor does bi-coastal data replication for data recovery and backups. Jon stresses that to make the platform scalable it is essential to have adequate algorithm processing, since the core algorithm is key to horizontal scalability.
A bright future for wealth management
Kameron believes that providing services to more clients per advisor is their main goal. The technology aspect is one hurdle, but the main obstacles is scaling the advisor’s process. One way to do this is to systematize the investment advice that a WealthTech company delivers. In Kameron’s view, the advisors that have the most success are the ones adopting digital advice capabilities as part of their core practice management:
“I think over the next couple of years, wealth managers are really looking to figure out how they can scale their businesses and scale their advisors. And scaling to them has to do with how they can provide their investment advice in the [most] systematic, repeatable, tax-efficient, cost-effective, and compliant way.”—Kameron