Technology is playing a key role in helping Canadian advisors meet the demands of modern clients
Getting a new client through the door for that first meeting should be an auspicious moment, however outdated onboarding software often makes the initial meeting slow and frustrating. The opportunity to impress a new client is lost as the advisor has to apologize and blame their tech for letting them down.
According to Harold Reimer, Sales Director, Appway Canada, digitally onboarding clients has proven to be a mediocre customer experience at best. “Client onboarding is a critical phase when advisors have the chance to convert a prospective customer into a client and begin a long-term and trusted relationship,” Reimer says. “Because time and efficiency problems can harm an advisor’s reputation, these issues need to be taken seriously.”
A recent study released by Roubini ThoughtLab, entitled Wealth and Asset Management 2022: The Path to Digital Leadership, revealed increasing numbers of financial services firms plan on adding to the technology-enabled tools they currently provide in the next two years.
“And guess which digital tools the companies plan to roll out first?” says Reimer. “Digital client onboarding. With this insight, it’s clear that digital onboarding is becoming an industry standard that’s essential in every segment of financial services.”
Creating a positive experience during onboarding should be a top priority with all potential clients, however, some individuals do expect more. Reimer believes that advisors need to be prepared to go the extra mile to accommodate their high net worth clients.
“HNWIs have higher expectations, and if they’re not satisfied, they’ll go elsewhere to have their expectations met,” he says. “Users of our application have managed to open complex relations with high net worth individuals less than a day. While market survey numbers paint a gloomy picture of average onboarding times, our customers’ results have stood out impressively.”
Compliance is another area of constant concern for advisors. Wealth management professionals are being forced to carry out more compliance-related tasks than ever before in a variety of areas, including consumer protection, security, transparency, governance and tax, just to name a few.
Those who fail to follow due diligence practices are vulnerable to scrutiny and litigation. The entire advisory process needs to be documented and the investment time horizon, fee set up, and product selection should take place during client onboarding.
Just like the onboarding process itself, technology is playing a key role in helping Canadian advisors navigate the tightening compliance landscape.
“A specialized compliance system helps compliance professionals perform specific work checks and analyze and manage data, but it creates yet another siloed application in the IT landscape,” says Reimer. “This has led to a lot of patchwork and unintegrated processes, which is now causing more complexity and increasing costs.”
Appway has developed two software solutions to help advisors manage the ever evolving compliance landscape. ‘Onboarding for Wealth’ is a software that offers wealth managers a full range of business components to flexibly orchestrate client onboarding. ‘Onboarding for Wealth’ helps advisors engage clients on their terms and provides them with a personalized and convenient experience, while guaranteeing global compliance.
‘Regulatory Reviews for Wealth’ is an easy-to-use solution designed to comply with evolving regulations while embracing innovation. It enables advisors to leverage the latest technology to orchestrate client reviews and obtain a comprehensive overview that supports compliance expertise.
“With the right solution, it’s not just another piece of software, but one that connects the siloed legacy systems, existing data, and new data into a single platform and entry point,” says Reimer. “By connecting these systems, it forms an effective basis for company-wide collaboration.”
