What to Do When You Outgrow Your Technology

In 1986, when Gene Henssler moved to the small town of Kennesaw, Georgia, to teach at the local university, he had no idea that he’d one day be heading Henssler Financial, a firm with $1.6 billion in assets under management.

But what began as a side gig – a guest spot on a local radio show, followed by his own radio show offering financial planning advice that still airs today – soon became a full-time business that has grown in large part thanks to the local community, says Adam Ledbetter, the firm’s training manager, and its appreciation for Henssler’s “no-nonsense approach to investing and financial planning.”

In return, Henssler has always endeavored to give back to the Kennesaw community, Ledbetter said. As the firm has grown, doing that in a way that stays true to its homegrown roots, yet keeps up with changing regulations and the vast array of investment options available today, called for a solid technology solution.

“For many years, we were able to use our own proprietary software and build it up, as we wanted to trade for our clients and have a system for our own CRM needs,” Ledbetter said. “But then things got to a point where it was clear we needed to find something off-the-shelf that would work for us and where we wouldn’t need to put in the time and cost needed to maintain our own systems. We also wanted a solution that would fit in with our culture and the way we serve clients.”

After searching the marketplace for a solution, the management team decided that Envestnet’s Tamarac would be the best fit for Henssler.

The system was not the easiest to learn and implement, he said, which is why he and a few of his colleagues took their time to thoroughly learn its ins and outs by attending Tamarac University and then bringing in Tamarac experts to train Henssler’s staff. Even after the firm officially implemented all three parts of the Tamarac system (Advisor View, Advisor Rebalancing and Advisor CRM), they continued to maintain data in their former proprietary system, just in case anything untoward were to happen.

Tech Support for Multi-Generational Planning

Once everyone on the team was on board, however, it quickly became clear that Tamarac was the best investment Henssler could have made in terms of efficiency, Ledbetter said, and “allowing us more time to be working on our client relationships and creating new ones.”

Because Henssler Financial has been serving Kennesaw for so many years, the company has generational clients, he said, multiple members of the same family.

(Related: 7 Steps to Attracting Your Clients’ Kids)