Whether its retail, education, medical or banking, the adoption of mobile platforms, particularly tablets, has increased productivity, improved client access and enabled a more effective delivery of services and solutions.
A recent study conducted by Gartner suggests
In terms of mobile adoption, the wealth management industry has lagged. This is not surprising given the stringent regulatory environment, privacy issues and legacy business models that govern the industry.
But, there is clear evidence that change is in sight.
A number of advisory firms, broker-dealers and technology platform providers have announced the development of mobile solutions to meet the growing demand for anytime, anywhere access and next generation practice management tools.
A critical tool for the next generation of advisors is the Unified Wealth Platform. Deploying a Unified Wealth Platform as an end-to-end advisory solution will enable financial planners and wealth advisors shift to mobile. Anytime, anywhere mobile access to this integrated platform will provide advisors with a full array of interactive tools to enhance their practices value, resulting in the delivery of more tailored solutions to clients. For advisory firms still hesitant about making the investment to facilitate mobility, its time to fully consider the benefits to their advisors and clients.
Benefits to the Advisor
Before long, most advisors will consider mobile platform access a necessity for their practices. The competitive and fast-paced nature of the advisory business requires advisors to meet with as many clients and prospects as possible, all the while conducting business very efficiently. Tablet devices are best suited to help advisors accomplish this. In fact, current research shows that nearly half of advisors are already using tablets for business purposes because of the clear benefits that tablets offer compared to laptops.
Tablets facilitate far superior interactive and collaborative conversations between advisors and clients than laptops. The rich and dynamic graphics and intuitive navigation allow for more robust conversations around the advisors Four P process profiling, planning, portfolio construction and proposaling. In addition, the financial and investment planning phase is particularly enhanced by tablet technology, since advisors can use the device to graphically model many different retirement scenarios for clients. These practical and actionable scenarios are based on goals, risk tolerance and market predictions. The ability to easily produce many iterations of advice results in time savings and efficiency, especially compared to the burdensome legacy approach of developing plans and proposals, mailing them to clients, receiving revisions, changing assumptions and inputs and finally, producing revised proposals.
Furthermore, leveraging a mobile approach will likely lead to improved close rates because the face-to-face, interactive engagement will result in proposals that leave clients with a greater understanding of the recommendations. Therefore, advisors will face a reduced likelihood of proposal rejection. Tablets provide a way to improve overall practice management by making CRM tasks, accessing market news as well as receiving and reviewing alerts easier and more efficient.
Benefits to the Investor
Investors working with an advisor who augments their practice with a mobile platform also benefit in several ways. The mobile device encourages the investor to be more interactive with their advisor by providing an easier medium to solicit feedback, when both parties can view modeling scenarios and retirement income calculators simultaneously. Investors are more empowered when they become part of the proposaling process, and not just a bystander.
Investors with self-directed tendencies will expect advisory firms to deliver products and services via a mobile platform offering, or a web browser experience, that works well on a mobile device. This is quickly becoming a requirement as most other financial services are already mobile-accessible, in an effort to meet investors demands for anytime, anywhere access in order to stay abreast of their portfolios performance, monitor volatility, plan budgets and also ensure they are on track with their goals. Mobile apps, like those from Mint.com, have created investor demand for easy and consolidated access to their holistic financial picture, forcing advisor-directed firms to offer similarly attractive tools, solutions and user interfaces.
Thinking to the Future
As a provider of advisory solutions, wealth management firms need to partner with technology providers that can bring their mobile needs to life. The ability to retain advisors, enhance productivity, expand capacity, and improve overall practice efficiency will be largely increased through the use of mobile technology solutions in the near future. Access to a Unified Wealth Platform, delivered via an advisors tablet, will provide advisors with the enhanced practice management and advice delivery solutions needed to win client relationships and assets to manage in todays highly competitive wealth management market.
