The Institute for Innovation Development has documented our stance that the greatest challenge for advisors today is dealing with a rapidly accelerating rate of business change — an operating environment that we haven’t been previously trained in or been equipped to handle. Technologies driven by FinTech companies are quickly rising to the challenge and providing much needed support, especially in the area of becoming a digital firm.
There are explosive gains available right now in operational efficiency, productivity and enhanced profits by shifting traditional practices and legacy systems towards a digital infrastructure. Digitizing enables you to streamline client on-boarding; administrative and compliance workflows; and automates the way front-to-back offices operate, communicate and generate new business. The process of digitizing everything allows for the fluid, efficient control of your company’s data and client information and the increased ability to analyze and glean more insights about your business and your clients.
Being a digital firm is the only way to have the business management and innovation agility to learn quickly, experiment with your customers and pivot your business models to move on new opportunities and truly compete in our new operating environment of accelerating change. It will equip you with the new level of business flexibility that is mandatory for survival, let alone competitive advantage.
To better understand and explore this important issue and how to best engage with digital FinTech solutions, we decided to talk to Institute member Michael Pinsker, founder and chairman of Docupace Technologies — a financial technology company that has created a cloud-based digital operations platform with data driven client onboarding, unified workflow and document management automation capabilities. Our goal is to better understand how to implement a digital transformation for your firm.
Bill Hortz: We keep hearing about the crucial need for financial firms to go through a process of digital transformation. What is truly meant by that and why is it so scary sounding?
Michael Pinsker: When we talk about digital transformation, we are speaking generally about any business process that uses digital technology instead of paper. Opportunities for digital optimization exist across all offices and departments within a firm — anywhere from client onboarding to recruiting to basic document handling that is part of any operation of a wealth management firm. When one looks at the issue of digital transformation, there are many factors that go into figuring out what is right for a given organization.
The scary part of it is just that — transformation. That is because transformation means change and change is difficult; especially when you go from existing paper driven processes to a new way of doing business. It means policies and procedures will change, the technology will be new, people will have to adapt to different ways of handling tasks.
But what I can tell you from extensive experience is that people can manage and embrace change when they are fully aware of and see the scale of benefits for doing so. Educating everyone in advance of the explosive gains in efficiency and competitiveness for the firm can drive wide-scale adoption for that change. Bottom-line reality is, when people realize it is essential, they understand the benefits to themselves and the company, change is very doable and less scary.
Hortz: What do you recommend is the most important mindset or approach needed to start this transformation process?
Pinsker: At Docupace, we always advise our clients to start with the questions about the goals of what you are trying to accomplish. There is a lot that can be done and the transformation process is a journey. It takes time, but if you have your organizational goals outlined and keep them front and center, it will allow you to ask the right questions, to focus on the right things and achieve the best outcome possible.