Mutual fund prospectus delivery will be automated for the first time. Currently, advisors must deliver a prospectus and secure a receipt from the client. This can be time consuming, hence costly. Under the new system, LPL will automatically deliver the prospectus to the client, freeing up more time for the advisor.
LPL is also making some significant changes behind the scenes. The firm is adding a third production backup center to complement the ones it currently has in San Diego and Charlotte, N.C. In addition, LPL advisor support employees will be upgraded to a Seibel CRM system that is superior to the current application. Dwyer expects this upgrade, once deployed, to yield service enhancements and productivity gains.
LPL Affiliates
The LPL Affiliates-Mutual Service Corp., Waterstone Financial Group and Associated Securities Group-warrant their own discussion because these firms were previously owned by Pacific Life. As a result, the advisors operating through these affiliates have a distinct operating culture and a distinct technology platform they've used for years.
According to Derek Bruton, CEO at LPL Affiliated Broker/Dealers: "We have made a commitment to the affiliate technology platform because many of our advisors prefer it. Our affiliates have cleared through Pershing for years, and many prefer to stay with what they already know and like. We will not force them to change." Bruton also says that many of the advisors in the affiliated channels use Albridge for portfolio management and consolidation. Because the reps are comfortable with Albridge and that is where their data has always resided, LPL will be expanding the affiliate relationship with Albridge in 2008 to strengthen the data aggregation that currently exists.
Specifically, LPL will be integrating NextExchangePro, Pershing's brokerage platform, with BranchNet, the LPL front end. This will allow reps to access LPL advisory accounts as well as Pershing accounts through a single secure sign-on. When the upgrade is completed, advisors will also be able to access research and LPL service capabilities through a single interface. In addition, the data from LPL Advisory and from Pershing will feed into Albridge, so advisors will be able to view a single consolidated view of the client's accounts through Albridge.
Raymond James
2007 was an active year for Raymond James on the technology front. For financial planning, the firm rolled out SunGard PlanningStation to all financial advisor desktops. To help with fixed-income analytics, the firm began offering in-depth reporting and views of fixed-income holdings. The Orchestria e-mail review system was implemented for better e-mail monitoring and review.
In addition, Raymond James started the rollout of Microsoft CRM, which integrates the back office and account inquiry. Today, right from within the CRM application, advisors can access activities, tasks, notes and meetings. They can also assign tasks to other parties. In addition, advisors can access account information at either the individual or household level.
Josh Bohlander, a senior manager of technology product management at Raymond James, says: "One of our goals is to make CRM [client relationship management] software the hub for any client-based application. We don't want advisors to have to jump from one application to another. We don't want them to have to re-enter data." For Raymond James advisors, the CRM application is going to serve as the dashboard, or the hub, of their technological interactions.
In 2008, Raymond James will upgrade to the highly anticipated version 4.0 of Microsoft CRM, which will allow the firm to extend the capabilities of the CRM system in a number of important ways. Perhaps the single most compelling improvement over the current system will be the much more robust work-flow capabilities that version 4.0 provides. Raymond James will use the new infrastructure to automate the initiation of work flows, as well as automate the tracking of them.
For example, when 4.0 is deployed, if an advisor re-characterizes a prospect in the CRM system as a client, the software will automatically launch a "new client work flow." This can be customized to the individual advisor's office. It might also be able to provide the client with account applications, transfer forms, a contract, disclosure materials, etc. Another step might be to follow up with the new client to make sure all the forms are signed and received back by the advisor. This may be followed by a welcome letter. An assistant would have to check with the back office to make sure all the paperwork was processed, and then alert the advisor so trades could be placed. These work flows can have multiple steps assigned to multiple employees. Some steps can be created on a fixed time line; others will be contingent on a previous step being completed.