Despite investor losses in the market meltdown, you as an advisor have never been more valued. Clients need your guidance through these difficult times. How do you manage a growing practice when your existing clients need more of your time, and when hiring additional staff may be economically impossible given the decrease in fee income? The theme for 2009 is efficiency.
Greater efficiency comes with the right technology solutions. However, what may work for one practice may not necessarily be best for another. Below are three factors to consider when choosing the appropriate technology platform for your business.
What is your greatest cause of frustration?
What’s one issue in your practice that’s causing the most inefficiency? If you found the right solution to increase your efficiency, how much time and money would it save you? The greatest pain in the practices I visit fall into two categories: a lot of paper and lack of workflow. Paper takes up space (and space equals money – the average advisor spends $3,000 annually to store documents), easily gets lost (a lost document costs $220 to reproduce) and increases your chances of not being able to survive a business crisis. Some of you have taken the first step to store your documents electronically, but you are doing it with your own office equipment. What if your office were destroyed in a fire, flood or man-made disaster?
Workflow relates to the sequence of events that need to be completed in order to finish a particular job. Think about how particular tasks get done in your office. Are there redundant steps that could be eliminated? While there may be many things you can do to increase your efficiency in the office, focus your energy on fixing that one issue that really makes a difference.
Is greater efficiency staring you in the face?
Technology solutions you use today might be capable of doing more than you know. In addition, these solutions may be in the upgrade process, which will further help meet desired outcomes. For example, as more advisors are fee-based, a greater need has emerged for technology platforms that can handle a variety of business transactions. Custodians are moving to more holistic platforms. Be sure to take the time to better understand what’s available.
Time to get help?
The benefits of technology are self-evident, and any number of tech providers can quote all sorts of statistics. Regardless, adoption rates still pose a challenge. To help address this challenge, hire a consultant who can assess the methods in which you currently use technology, make recommendations based on their assessment and help you to act on those recommendations. It’s often the case that “you don’t know what you don’t know” and having an independent third-party expert point to possibilities is extremely beneficial for your business.
Invest some time to learn more about how leveraging technology can help you to enhance your efficiency and grow your business — you’ll be glad you did.
Marc Butler is managing director with iNautix (USA) LLC, an affiliate of Pershing LLC in Jersey City, N.J. He can be reached at mbutler@inautix.com.