All Tied Up

Matthew McGinnis, an analyst with Boston-based Cerulli Associates, says Nuveen’s e-platform is “cutting edge in terms of what fund companies are doing to target and build relationships with advisors using the Web. I think the idea behind the [Nuveen] site is to make Web-based relationships with advisors more of a pull versus a push.” Nuveen’s content on the site “is as good as, or superior to, its peers,” he says, and the relationship management component in the form of an advisor partner is a clever feature that “creates a dialogue between an advisor and Nuveen.”

The e-platform’s content is culled not only from Nuveen’s robust in-house library, but also from the fund company’s partnership with the online information content provider, Horsesmouth. “[Horsesmouth's] data is written by experts who are in the financial industry; [the articles are written] for advisors by advisors, and they tackle a number of different concerns,” Holland says, “like comprehensive wealth management, why fee-based services make sense now, 529 plans, wills, and retirement planning.”

In designing the e-platform, Vince Pelligrini, VP and manager of e-commerce development at Nuveen, says the challenge was to remedy “some of the shortcomings of the traditional wholesaling model” by combining technology and content. “Advisors as a whole are tired of the typical product push and typical office visit with a PowerPoint presentation.”

Nuveen is also willing to tailor content to an individual firm’s needs through the platform’s “e-partner program.” Since advisory firms vary in technology smarts, Nuveen’s e-platform can be customized to fit a firm’s level of sophistication. For instance, Nuveen can weave its technology into an advisory firm’s Intranet site, and for less sophisticated firms, customized services via e-mail, a conference call, or in-person visit can be arranged.