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December 01, 2006 at 07:00 PM
You’ve heard it over and over again. Technology is the way of the future; it’s the only way to compete in an ever-changing and fast-paced economy. But how many of you actually have time to delve into the intricacies of all the technological products out there on the market, especially with the vast selection for virtually every purpose you can think of?
It’s hard enough trying to figure out what all the buttons are for on the television’s remote control. Nevertheless, the reality is that you need to know at least a little about this stuff. So we took a look at some of the coolest and most useful products in client management and IT security to narrow it all down for you. Here’s what we found.
How to maximize client relationships
Your clients need effective wealth management and you need to distinguish yourself in a competitive marketplace. EMoney Advisors’s Advisor Platform promises to help you do this. EMoney Advisors asks, “What unique services will you offer your clients to help you stand out of the crowd?” The Advisor Platform is a software-based planning tool that helps you retain and attract clients, increase revenue, increase assets under management and position yourself as your clients’ financial advisor. And it’s all done via the Web, or as CEO Edmund Walters refers to it, “the new telephone.”
Just over five years ago the brainstorming began. Walters looked at the Web and thought, “How can this change my industry? How can this change my business?” So he made a list of his problems. Because he frequently traveled to visit clients, he wasn’t able to access other clients’ records until he got back to the office.
“I had to fix that,” he said. “With aggregation I can tell them in a second,” Walters says. “If they want to know how the trust reads I can go online on the E-Money vault and I can read the document to them over the phone and explain how it works. They were the things that only the Web could provide.”
An advisor himself, Walters knew first-hand what advisors need. He realized that by incorporating the Web with the needs of financial planners he could help modernize what he called an “antiquated industry.” That was five years ago. Today, many advisors are swearing by it.
What sold the case for Ron Carson, President of Carson Wealth Management Group in Omaha, Neb., was to be able to go online and see the estate planning documents in a secure vault. He refers to the Platform as his “back office.”
The Platform gives a Web page for every client and every advisor. Clients can go online and see their net worth, asset allocation, the value of their assets and liabilities, the stock indices and the cash value of their life insurance all with the click of a mouse.
For more information, visit www.emoneyadvisor.com.
How to attain better IT security
In all of its glory and convenience, the Web has its downfalls when it comes to security that even the biggest and brightest computer geeks can’t seem to get their heads around. That is, how to confront the ever-growing issue of IT security?
Pragmatix is one company that has set out to help financial advisors, specifically, attain better IT security. How are they doing this? Well, they do the work for you and claim to give the same level of IT security that the larger wirehouses have.
“Financial planners’ activities and conduct are thoroughly regulated in their role as investment advisors, insurance agents, stock brokers, accountants and attorneys. Therefore, it is critical that the data they handle is secure, confidential and that all compliance regulations regarding electronic documents are met,” says Bill Abram, president of Pragmatix for Senior Investment Advisor.
