“We integrate Salesforce across every point of our business, from operational to managerial,” Graham says. ”The platform is an enabling factor that helps bionic advisors to be more attuned to their client.”
The Financial Services Cloud brings portfolio management, prospecting, data management, aggregation and practice scheduling tools onto a single interface with a high degree of automation.
Mulchay says that Salesforce was inspired by interfaces designed by Google and Intuit -- those inspirations come through in the user experience with pop-over scheduling and messaging windows and interactive pie charts that could ease information entry and readability.
“We want the information to be proactive, so advisors can use this information to grow their business assets,” Mulchay says. “A lot of this information is captured in a new and exciting way.”
The Financial Services Cloud allows advisors to view clients by household, enabling a broader view of a family’s finances and expanding opportunities to prospect for new clients. By setting "client life goals," advisors are able to create goals-based financial plans for their clients’ families or extended network.
Because the tool allows advisors to move between views of their entire book of business and dashboards showing a comprehensive picture of individual client’s demographics and finances, the Financial Services Cloud may also aid firms in recruiting and training new talent, Mulchay says.
“The industry needs to recruit new talent, and new talent needs new tools,” Mulchay says. “Even baby boomers are frustrated by old-school technology that doesn’t deliver the right experience. Advisors are demanding proper, up-to-date digital tools.”
The platform launches with a list of integrations including account aggregation from Athene Group and Envestnet/Yodlee, document management through DocuSign and eSignLive, data aggregation through Informatica and MuleSoft, portfolio management through Orion, rebalancing through Advisor Software, prospecting through Ideo and WealthEngine, and security and compliance through CipherCloud, Blue Coat and Smarsh.
SalesForce has priced the new platform at $150 per user per month.