Envestnet Unveils ‘Intelligence’ Initiative at Advisor Summit

Envestnet executives met with members of the media on Friday morning at its 2013 Advisor Summit in Chicago to discuss the rollout of its new Envestnet Intelligence initiative, the announcement of which came the day before.

“It’s not a product; it’s not a platform,” explained Bill Crager, Envestnet’s president. “It’s completely integrated technology that pulls together resources to provide on-demand information.”

Specifically, the company described the initiative as “an innovative capability for delivering fiduciary-level investment advice. [It] responds to advisors’ need for infrastructure and services to help meet increasingly high standards of client-centered service. [It] incorporates advanced business and advisory analytics; guidance and investments for goal-based asset allocation; overlay services; as well as timely news and analysis,” among other services.

It’s an answer to the ever-increasing need for speed requested by advisors, added Jay Hummel, president and chief operation officer of Cincinnati-based Lenox Wealth Management, who had consulted with Envestnet (ENV) on the initiative.

“If gold falls out of the sky, clients want to know our strategy to deal with it on the same day,” Hummel said. “It used to be a three- or four-day turnaround, but no longer.”

It will also cause Hummel to think differently about how he hires and trains his firm’s staff.