Findings From Franklin Templeton’s RIA Technology Report: Elevating The Digital Client Experience

This article was originally published on FutureVault.com.

Amid a massive generational transfer of wealth and the continued rise in the adoption of wealth technologies, wealth management firms, including RIAs, have a real opportunity to deploy technology in meaningful ways that will help them acquire ideal clients, retain clients more efficiently, and importantly, extend their value proposition to clients and family members.

In Franklin Templeton’s recent survey through collaboration with Institutional Investor’s Custom Research Lab, more than 150 RIAs provided rich insight that supports and highlights enthusiasm for the adoption of new wealth technology among investment advisors.

The four statistics below summarize and represent major findings published within the report which are very telling of where the future state of modern wealth management is headed.

FINDING #1

89% of RIAs agree that a high-quality digital client experience is an important competitive differentiator.

This one hits home and is indicative of where the industry is headed. It’s evident that consumer and client demands have shifted significantly for a number of reasons, and that the future of wealth management is led by personalized and value-added digital client experiences that extend value across the household and all areas of clients’ lives.

In our view, the writing on the wall paints a clear picture; it all starts and ends with your clients. The firms and advisors that can provide value and client-centric service to clients and their family members will reap the benefits for generations to come.

FINDING #2

79% of RIAs agree that their firm’s digital infrastructure is increasingly important in hiring and retaining first-rate professional talent.

We continue to witness first-hand how the implementation of best-in-class technology is an increasingly effective way for institutions and firms to attract and retain top talent.

Modern, client-centric, open API infrastructures and platforms provide firms (and their advisors) with a digital infrastructure that ultimately results in capacity and efficiency gains in their practice and significant value being added to clients’ personal lives. Ultimately, what we’re seeing is that when advisors are equipped with the right technology and tools to support their capacity, workflow, and ability to scale, it gives them a good reason to stick around.

FINDING #3

71% of RIAs plan to make a moderate or aggressive investment in client onboarding and account holdings data management technology over the next two years.

Onboarding new clients is an enormous undertaking and represents one of the first opportunities for firms and advisors to demonstrate and provide value to their clients.

This is precisely why creating a seamlessly integrated onboarding process that reduces friction for your clients, that automates the delivery of key information, and that provides access to any critical documentation (supporting document retention policies and more) is table stakes. Good onboarding is all about making it as easy as possible for your clients to do business and continue doing business with your firm.

FINDING #4

85% of RIAs see a critical or moderate need for technology to improve day-to-day client service activities and communication.

Last, but certainly not least, the survey highlighted just how significant the need for technology to steamline day-to-day client servicing and communications activities is.

For most advisors, these areas are so fundamental to their practice, however, not having the right technology solutions in place to streamline and automate the workflow poses significant challenges that make it difficult to properly scale.

Integrations and automation that new modern technologies offer, including digital vault platforms, can further streamline productivity by carrying out and completing everyday tasks such as automatically delivering and filing documents that include monthly statements, account opening documents, tax documents, and more, that otherwise are carried out by advisors themselves of full-time resources.

While workflow automation is a significant piece to this puzzle, isn’t the be all end to all improving client servicing activities and communication. Security and compliance and table stakes in it all to building trust. FutureVault’s Chief Information Security Officer, Nevin Markwart, chimed in on this recently by mentioning the following, “Today’s wealth management firms require solid cybersecurity implementation to grow and prosper. As the essence of a wealth firm’s brand is client trust and confidence, wealth management organizations now rely on formal cybersecurity policies and procedures, with direct executive managerial oversight, to ensure that client data is safe and secure.”

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.