Upgrading back-office operations

Upgrading back-office operations: This is where “the most opportunity for efficiencies” is found, according to Dario. Leading firms are creating “composite applications” for rebalancing, portfolio management and CRM to integrate a number of systems to solve a business process, he said. For example, advisors can integrate a custodian’s brokerage system with CRM, a forms filing package, document management system and online signature capability. Composite applications can also cover quarterly performance and billing reports, which usually take weeks to produce, collate and mail, Dario said. Firms that integrated custodians' data feeds with portfolio accounting and performance reporting systems and post the reports on a client portal were able to “dramatically reduce” the time involved, he said. Citing (Financial Planning columnist) Joel Bruckenstein and David Drucker’s book Technology Tools for a High Margin Practice, Dario said firms that leveraged CRM and client portals were able to save more than $30,000 a year, while firms who outsourced portfolio management systems saved nearly $100,000 annually.