Your Silver Bullet

The wirehouse exodus, baby boomer retirement, a uniform standard of care, Godot—things we’re waiting for that never arrive.

At a gathering of the Young Turks of technology at the FPA’s national conference in September, the excitement over integration (yes, integration) was palpable, because it’s finally arrived.

“That ‘killer app’ that everyone wanted and talked about 10 years ago is here,” said Redtail CEO Brian McLaughlin. “And it’s driven by integration.”

Chris Valleley, a senior product manager with TD Ameritrade Institutional, chimed in that advisors are more tech savvy, have higher expectations and are looking for simplification of process (thanks, Apple).

“They want a one-stop-shop for everything,” added Eric Clarke, president of Orion Advisor Services. “And they can now have it. The client won’t know what’s happening behind the scenes, because it will all be private-labeled to the advisor. One change at the client interface level will result in the change being made across all the disparate systems that are talking to one another.”

It’s no longer about the business conforming to technology; quite the opposite. Clarke noted he and the other roundtable participants are members of Your Silver Bullet, a collection of technology companies committed to talking, working and interfacing with one another for the advisor’s and client’s benefit (think ISO).

As its website states, it is not a platform, product, pre-packaged suite of applications or consulting organization, but a “committed community.”