The information the clients are looking at has to give them confidence in their investments. If they can see the results online, rather than looking at a 50-page report that few people understand, the information is more useful and more reassuring, says Paul Markowich, executive vice president of Firstrust Financial Resources in Philadelphia, which is now a part of AXA Advisors LLC.
“We also had to have a platform sophisticated enough to deal with planning corporate benefits,” adds David Fleisher, vice chairman and co-branch manager of Karr Barth Associates, the other half of the AXA Philadelphia office.
Advisors look to a platform-provider’s history to find an appropriate partner, notes James Warren, founder of Compass Wealth Management, which is part of the SEI Advisor Network. “We need technology to bring all of our services together.
“I don’t think we could gain the respect of high-net-worth clients today without good technology,” Warren says.
The question of proper technology is brought back to the issue of time by Rosemary Caligiuri, managing director of Harvest Group Financial in Langhorne, Pa., a division of United Capital.
“If I can give my clients the gift to time, I am doing them a real service,” Caligiuri says. “The client-facing platform is the most important because it is going to be hard to keep a client engaged unless you can show them evidence that they are on track for their goals.”
It took Caligiuri 18 months of due diligence to find the right company to partner with, but finding someone to provide the technology needed for her staff and clients was paramount because it was cost prohibitive for her to do it on her own. And the importance of having the best technology for clients is immeasurable.
“It is more than showing them their portfolio. With technology you can easily show them they are on track for retirement or their children’s education, or whatever their goal is,” she explains. “It also helps them feel confident when times are tough. They may see that the news stinks, but they can see they are okay.”