Junxure Cloud’s actions, recurring actions and action sequences (work flows) are already well known, so we won’t spend much time discussing them other than to say the application’s capabilities in this area are both extensive and flexible. The actions list allows users to view all actions, mark them as completed, link items such as documents to them, add related actions to an action and more. The “add action” button can be programmed to display a list of preformatted actions or action sequences for repetitive tasks such as client services, moving money or quarterly report preparation.
The documents section is robust. You can store documents in Junxure Cloud or in a third-party system that integrates with Junxure such as Laserfiche. If you’ve created a folder structure for each client, that is displayed in the documents tab. For example, I might create for each client subfolders for accounts, correspondence, financial planning and taxes. I could then choose to display all documents, or just the ones in a subfolder. I can choose what descriptors I want to display in the grid (file names, types, tags, etc.) and sort or filter by any of them. To the left of each file listed are three command icons that allow me to edit, download or delete a document by clicking on the icon.
The “financials” section can track assets and liabilities, insurance policies, estate planning documents, income/expenses and taxes.
The “opportunities” section is pretty much what you’d expect. It is where you track opportunities to grow your business. The e-mail tab displays a list of all e-mail related to the record with identifiers including date, “to,” “from” and subject. Like all grids, this one can be sorted, filtered and searched.
The dashboard section, which can be reached from the home screen, has great potential. It contains a number of business analytics widgets that display information such as your top clients’ AUM as a percentage of overall AUM; accounts by investment model; top holdings; accounts by objective; managed/discretionary accounts; and overall firm AUM, which tracks your progress to your AUM goal for the year. In most cases, clicking on a widget drills down to a different view or provides additional details.
New And Noteworthy
One new addition to Junxure Cloud is the Client Service Monitor. It allows advisors to create tiers of service and define service models for each. You can set up deliverables periodically that ensure the service levels are met. It could be a phone call update, an in-person meeting, etc. Once set, the monitor automatically launches the work flows necessary to ensure that the services are delivered. There is an alert and reporting system that supports it. This functionality is essentially an enhanced replacement for what was called “deliverables” in a previous version of Junxure.
Junxure Cloud is also doing a good job of automating work flows. To cite just one example, if an alert comes from Schwab that a deposit over a specified dollar limit has been made, that alert can initiate an investment/rebalance work flow in Junxure Cloud.
Junxure Cloud comes with document templates, reporting capabilities and some work-flow templates. For those firms that don’t have the time or expertise to customize these things to their unique needs, Junxure offers consultants who can do the job for you and advise you on best practices for an additional fee.
The old Junxure client portal was somewhat antiquated. Junxure has now partnered with Modestspark to deliver a custom version of its client portal to Junxure Cloud users at a competitive price. I was unable to test it, but I was able to view it, and it looks great. Within Junxure Cloud, there is a “view client portal” button within the client record, so if your client has a question about anything regarding the portal, you can see what the client is seeing.
What We Like
Overall, Junxure Cloud is impressive. The depth and breadth of the information it can store out of the box is vast. In addition, user fields can be added to suit the needs of just about any advisory firm. The ability it gives advisors to build and automate work flows is impressive, as is Junxure’s extensive data management and reporting capabilities. Perhaps Junxure’s greatest advantage over large competitors such as the Microsoft Dynamics CRM and the Salesforce CRM is the company’s extensive knowledge of how independent RIAs operate their businesses, and its ability to tailor its product to meet that need. Yet another is Junxure’s well-deserved reputation for customer service.
A Few Challenges Remain
We’d readily recommend Junxure Cloud today, but there’s room for improvement. Because Junxure is so data-intensive and feature-rich, there is a learning curve. Online help is available. In addition, Junxure is touting its new “eXpert” help feature, accessible from anywhere in the application. My experience with it was mixed.
There is one challenge for Junxure Cloud users: How do you get all the information into the system if you are coming from another CRM application? You can import a good portion of it, but sometimes you are still faced with manual data entry. I hope Junxure and all vendors can automate more data flows in the future.
I loved the look and feel of the “My Dashboard” section, but it left me hungry for more. I’d like to see a much more extensive library of widgets here. I’d also like to be able to integrate widgets from integration partners here so that I can see all my widgets in one place.
Speaking of integrations, they are still a work in progress. Junxure Cloud currently has deep integration with Schwab. A similar deep integration with Orion is coming soon. Envestnet (not Tamarac) supports single sign-on. There are automated daily imports available from NetX360 and Morningstar. Most other daily imports are currently manual. More and deeper integrations are needed. One bright spot on the horizon: Junxure Cloud data will soon flow out to Black Diamond. I’d love to see more real-time, two-way integrations.
The pricing for the software is competitive. The list price is $65 per month, but there are numerous discount offers for $55 per user per month, and further discounts are available for larger volumes. The client portal costs $300 to $700 per month, depending on the size of your firm.
Is Junxure Cloud For You?
If your firm requires comprehensive, powerful CRM software for financial advisors, and if you are willing to devote the necessary resources to training your staff, Junxure Cloud is a fine application, as long as it integrates with your custodian and other key software providers. The application has improved considerably over the last year or two, and all indications are that more improvements are in the pipeline. A 60-day free trial is available here: http://www.junxure.com/products/junxure-cloud/free-trial.