Platform, native to AWS, enhances engagement, efficiency and offers a "dynamic experience", says CEO
An advisor-client platform native to Amazon’s AWS is establishing market share as COVID-19 changes how the industry engages with clients.
Four Eyes Financial was founded with the singular mission of helping investors feel more confident they are investing in the right products that match their risk tolerance and help them meet their financial goals.
The St John, New Brunswick-based company has built a client portal called the Digital Discovery Zone, which works alongside another product, called Risk4, an advisor dashboard that integrates all the data between the advisor, client and head office. The Digital Discovery Zone, however, gets to the heart of pandemic working life and the way advisors are communicating via virtual meetings with real-time data.
Lori Weir, CEO and co-founder told WP that “engagement” is the key theme.
“This is not a static experience,” she said. “This is a dynamic experience between the investor and the advisor. An investor can schedule a meeting inside the Discovery Zone, which could be in-person, although what we’ve found, of course, over the last six months, is that people are preferring a virtual meeting. In this case, the video conference capability embedded in the client portal is built using Amazon Chime.”
From here, both parties can view real-time information around the performance of an account or portfolio, while document sharing and viewing is easy. All the conversations during the video conference can be recorded, transcribed and archived, which is important in ensuring firms are compliant.
Weir said that, through the platform, advisors are able to meet more clients, while access to real-time information means less hours are spent on paperwork and preparation.
She added: “Engagement can happen more frequently, and I think this is a really important point. Often, investor advisor meetings will happen once a year to do an annual review but the discovery zone was really built out of the idea that discovery doesn't happen at a point in time. We strengthen the ability for the advisor to actually truly know their client and, for many advisors, this is a real benefit.”
Four Eyes has a healthy pipeline and is scheduled to service about 400 advisors by December. It is having particular success with independents able to pivot quicker and is currently in discussions with “two large firms”.
The decision to go with AWS was a conscious choice, added Weir, not only for the range of features available but also for the speed with which it implements tech enhancements, which are “coming faster than any firm can build out”.
The onset of COVID-19 has resulted in many advisors re-assessing their tech and virtual offering. Four Eyes aims to exponentially improve the client experience and Weir said AWS does this “seamlessly and beautifully”.
Weir said: “There is something that is liberating for investors to know that they have a way to engage with their advisors beyond crossing the threshold at the office. In some ways, they can do a quick check-in with their advisor and get the same impact, insight and confidence and save themselves some time.”
She added: “Advisors need to be prepared to serve them that way and with the technology that's available today, it becomes more simple to use every day. So, in a lot of cases, being tech savvy isn't required. What's required is the motivation and I think that if nothing else, it comes to being really committed.”
