The replay of that webinar is available here, but this week InvestmentNews published an abbreviated transcript of the webinar. I highlighted the following 10 technology tips to help advisers cut costs and increase revenue:

• Rebalancing software (e.g. iRebal, Tamarac, TRX) to increase trading efficiency
• Account aggregation services like ByAllAccounts and CashEdge
• Desktop search tools
• OCR software for scanned images
• Hosted file synchronization services (Dropbox)
• Google Analytics for website metrics
• Internal Wikis for business processes and procedures
• Multiple LCD monitors
• Judicious email use
• Inbox Zero
• Virtual meeting software

For all the specifics and details of the highlighted tools, read the posted transcript.

You can post your questions about these tools below or provide your experience on how they have worked in your practice.

CagedTweets is another utility that captures and archives comments posted on Twitter. Customers have three options of service depending on the number of Twitter accounts to be archived. Archiving of one account runs $50 and covers 3 years of service (I think), ten accounts runs $100, and firm-wide archiving runs $500.

Unfortunately their website does not have a demonstration of how the service works, nor is a free trial offered to test the service. Yet I have to hand it to the folks behind CagedTweets; they are offering this service through rapid development after being inspired by an April 27 Wall Street Journal article on compliance requirements involving social media.

Still, I’m inclined to endorse LifestremBackup over CagedTweets for two main reasons. First, the former tool features connections to other social media services in addition to Twitter, and second, the service is offered for a very similar price as CagedTweets.

However, according to their website, users who sign up for CagedTweets before the end of July will receive free archiving for all social media applications added to the service.

Check out CagedTweets through this link.

(Hat tip to @jrueckert for mentioning CagedTweets to me)

I’ve written here previously how FINRA and the SEC may determine that any message disseminated through social media services constitutes marketing and/or advertising and at the very least should be archived and retained in a compliance file. If you are a representative regulated under FINRA, you likely need pre-approval from compliance before posting any messages through social media services. SEC-registered advisers should consult with their Chief Compliance Officer before posting messages as well.

Now let’s assume that an adviser decides to use social media to grow the business. Terrific! But what can be done to efficiently archive and retain those messages sent through social media services?

A new service called Lifestream Backup can help reduce the burden of retaining social media content for compliance purposes.

Configuring Lifestream Backup is very straightforward. After activating the service, users only need to enter login credentials for each social media website to be backed up and select appropriate backup preferences. Lifestream Backup then proceeds to backup various types of messages and content posted through supported social media services.

The content that Lifestream Backup saves is stored on the Amazon Web Services network, another “cloud computing” service. In other words, until the backups are saved to a local computer or server, they are subject to loss in the event the service experiences unexplained data loss. So I recommend that users of Lifestream Backup download data saved by the service. Downloading data once per month is likely sufficient, but it may be prudent to perform this task once every week.

Lifestream Backup currently supports eight social media services:  Twitter, Flickr, Photobucket, Google Docs, Wordpress, Delicious, Basecamp, and Zoho. Backup functionality for Facebook, Gmail, and YouTube are expected to be added in the future.

The Lifestream Backup service costs $4.95 per month. This is a very reasonable expense considering the time it would take for an adviser to manually track down and save social media content from various sites to a local compliance file.

In the end, this service (along with previously mentioned Smarsh Twitter archiving) allows regulated advisers to take a proactive stance about meeting compliance requirements when using these rapidly evolving social media services.

In the letter, Lassus writes:

Rest assured, NAPFA is not ignoring the accusations made against our former members, and we will continue to do what is right for our members, for our industry, and for the consumers we all serve. This commitment has guided us for more than 26 years and will continue to guide us well into the future.

See the entire letter by clicking here (PDF at NAPFA.org).

It turns out the Mr. Weitzman is facing very serious charges. Here’s a snip from an InvestmentNews article released today:

Earlier today, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan and the New York office of the FBI said they charged Matthew Weitzman, 43, of Armonk, N.Y., with one count of investment adviser fraud and six counts each of securities fraud and wire fraud.

He also faces charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission over the alleged theft of client funds.

Click here to view the full story at InvestmentNews.

It’s unfortunate to see anyone take advantage of clients, and it’s even worse when the individual in this case once had an affiliation with NAPFA, a group of respected fee-only financial advisers.

So again, take this opportunity to communicate to your clients about the processes and procedures you have in place to prevent fraud and protect your clients’ interests.

If you were not able to attend the live presentation, click here to register at Advisor Products and view the replay.

Also, you have a little more than 24 hours to register for the upcoming webinar 50 Cost-Saving and Money-Making Ideas in 50 Minutes hosted by InvestmentNews.

Click here to register for the InvesetmentNews webinar.

First, Andrew Gluck at Advisor Products, Inc. has asked me to participate in Friday’s Financial Crisis Webinar Series. The topic is Advisors Using Social Networking Successfully. I will share some of the experiences I’ve had through the use of Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook mediums that have personally resulted in new connections and new business.

Click here to register for the Friday, June 5 webinar Advisors Using Social Networking Successfully.

Second, I’ll be part of a panel hosted by InvestmentNews to offer 50 Cost-Saving and Money-Making Ideas in 50 Minutes. I have a list of my top 10 technologies that I believe financial advisers can use to save money, make money, and sometimes both simultaneously. There should be at least one good tip for every adviser listening to the webinar.

Click here to register for the Tuesday, June 9 webinar 50 Cost-Saving and Money-Making Ideas in 50 Minutes.

Hope to “see” you on the web.

This proposal, just barely three weeks old, seems likely to be rescinded according to this Financial Planning article published by Donna Mitchell.  In it she writes:

Unofficial reports from the SEC, however, now suggest that the regulator is dropping the third-party compliance audit requirement for advisors, according to the Financial Planning Association’s Web site.

To read the full article, click here.

Smarsh continues to impress me as an innovative force and market leader in email archiving and compliance. They recently announced a Smarsh CRM product to help users be more efficient and productive (a post I’ve had in my drafts section ever since my son was born!).

Today I read an article on a new service that may prove to be very useful and timely to the adviser community.

Smarsh has announced a social media (a.k.a.Twitter) message archiving service at a Twitter conference this week.

“This innovation is a logical extension for Smarsh, which has built its business by providing email archiving and compliance solutions for clients in the highly-regulated financial services industry,” said Smarsh founder and CEO Stephen Marsh at 140, a Twitter conference in Mountain View, Calif. that is sponsored in part by Smarsh.

For more information contained in the press release, click here.

As I’ve written here before, Registered Investment Advisers (both SEC and State) as well as FINRA Registered Representatives need to be diligent about archiving messages distributed through social media platforms such as Twitter. I’m very happy to see Smarsh, a technology player in the adviser space, step up to the plate and offer exactly what advisers need.

Related posts

NBA Fines Mark Cuban $25,000 for Twitter Comments; Will the SEC be Next?

Adviser Use of LinkedIn May Violate SEC Rules

Tweets and Blogs from T3 (Tech Tools for Today Conference)

It should be no surprise to financial advisers following the Madoff Ponzi scandal that the SEC recently issued proposed rule changes to custody requirements. The release, IA-2876 (click to view PDF from SEC.gov), addresses custody requirements of client funds and securities and is open for a 60-day comment period through July 28, 2009. Should the proposed rules be adopted, advisers may face additional compliance fees of $8,100 on average.

Surprise Examination Proposal

The SEC proposes that advisers with custody of client assets must undergo an annual surprise examination by an independent public accountant, regardless of whether or not assets are held by a qualified custodian. The premise behind the surprise examination requirement is to provide “another set of eyes” on client assets to prevent fraud and misappropriation of client funds by registered advisers.  Reports of theft and fraud by advisers have plagued the SEC since the Madoff scandal erupted in late 2008. So what does this mean for advisers meeting the custody definition?

Custody Defined

Custody of client funds is a topic that has been discussed before on FPPad.com. See my past posts linked below:

• Webinar to Discuss Risks of Custody and Client Credentials
• The Custody Conundrum at Advisor Perspectives
• Client Login and Custody Issues Covered by Financial Advisor Magazine

I’ll repost the definition of custody here for reference.  Under Rule 206(4)-2, an investment adviser has custody of client funds if it “holds, directly or indirectly, client funds or securities or has any authority to obtain possession of them.”

Advisers that meet the definition of having custody must adhere to additional regulations and requirements described in the rule (see my article The Custody Conundrum in Advisor Perspectives for all the requirements).

Advisers Subject to Custody Requirements

I’ve found that some advisers are under the false impression that custody requirements do not apply since they use a qualified custodian such as Schwab Institutional, Fidelity, or Pershing. Using a custodian alone does not avoid custody of client funds. If advisers withdraw advisory and/or management fees directly from client accounts, then the adviser is deemed to have custody of client funds.

Unless advisers are paid via other mechanisms such as credit card payments or by check, they have custody of the funds from which fees are debited. Note that if deducting fees is the only reason custody is triggered, the SEC allows advisers to check No in Item 9 of From ADV Part I.

Cost of Surprise Audits

Buried in the proposal is an analysis of estimated costs incurred by advisers who would be required to retain an independent public accountant to perform the surprise audit. The SEC estimates that over 9,500 registered advisers would pay an average of $8,100 in accounting fees.

Comment Period

If the only reason advisers have custody of funds is to debit management fees, should the SEC exempt them from the surprise examination requirement? Is the withdrawal of advisory fees less likely to be subject to abuse than full withdrawal authority? What do you think?

Advisers have two months to submit comments to the SEC regarding the proposed changes to existing custody requirements. Click here to open the form to submit comments on the SEC website.

In the article, though, Mr. Lawrence said one thing that grabbed my attention. He wrote (my emphasis added):

A common mistake made by some firms is to use a system that saves documents in a PDF instead of a more secure format such as a TIFF. This means documents can be altered after the fact, and the firm risks potentially violating federal regulations. While some scanner manufacturers have addressed this issue with post-imprint symbols and other coding mechanisms to ensure authenticity, there are still lingering doubts about the security of the original documents.

Now hold on for one minute. TIFF files are “more secure” than PDF files?!?

So I reached out to my contacts for some clarification on this statement. I contacted Rick Borstein, Adobe’s Business Development Manager for the legal market and asked him to address the security of the file formats. Mr. Borstein also blogs about the use of Adobe products by lawyers and attorneys at Acrobat for Legal Professionals.

Mr. Borstein replied that the perceived security difference is a “common misconception.”

“A scanned page image in a TIFF or PDF are identical. They are just as hard or just as easy to change,” he added.

Straight from the horse’s mouth (well, straight from Adobe at least).

So advisers, if you’ve been using the PDF file format to save your scanned images into a document management system, rest assured that there is no difference in security between the TIFF format and PDF. Both formats are subject to modification and can be tampered with by someone with the knowledge to circumvent security properties.

To that end, I must emphasize how important it is to consider using document management software that contains audit trails of documents saved (and deleted) in the system. While PDF and TIFF documents and scans can be manipulated and forged, it is much more difficult to crack the internal audit tracking of a capable management system.

Lastly, my exchange with Rick Borstein occurred entirely through Twitter. It’s an awesome resource. Click here to follow me on Twitter. Follow Rick Borstein at @acrolaw.

Related posts:

• Streamline Your Practice in a Recession
• Get the Financial Planning 2008 Software Survey
• Improve Your Paperless Document Searches

Since many of the subscribers and visitors to FPPad.com are CFP® Certificants, I set up a poll to get a sample of how many hours others have spent preparing for the exam. I spent about 200 hours preparing for the July 2008 exam.

Take our poll below (if vieweing in an RSS reader, click here to submit your answer):

Related Posts:

• How Long Does it Take to Complete the CFP® Certification Process?
• CFP Board Proactive Exam Communication
• CFP Board to Increase Transparency, Certificant Communication

I’ve been keeping up as much as I can in the meantime and usually update on Twitter. Follow my most recent tweets or check out the left hand column on FPPad for my messages.

I’ll be back soon (I swear!) with thoughts on CRM, practice management, and other hot topics.

See the NYTimes article here.

Also, see coverage from Roger at The Passionate Planner and Andrew Gluck at Advisor Blog Central.

Let’s face it. Your clients may very likely see this article. Once they do, they’re going to ask you what you are doing to protect their accounts from this kind of fraud.

How Advisers Can Steal Funds

One possible explanation offered by Leiber is that the fraud may have been committed through forged signatures.  Forging client signatures on withdrawal paperwork or bank checks is an unsophisticated, yet simple method to commit theft of client funds.

Nearly all independent financial advisers use third-party custodians such as Charles Schwab or TD Ameritrade to hold client assets. These custodians allow advisers to conduct discretionary trading in client accounts while preventing custody of client funds (with limited exceptions; advisers can have custody of client assets they have the ability to debit management fees from client accounts).

As a courtesy, advisers often facilitate withdrawals at the request of clients, meaning that clients will sign withdrawal paperwork that is forwarded to the custodian.  Once receiving the paperwork, custodians will transfer funds according to client instructions.

It’s this withdrawal paperwork that can be forged and submitted to the custodian without the client’s knowledge.

Strengthen Your Anti-Fraud Measures

Fortunately, advisers can implement internal processes to largely prevent fraud by forgery. One adviser acting independently can commit signature forgery with relative ease, but if that adviser’s actions are monitored or confirmed by another individual in the firm, the fraud is considerably harder to commit.

Larger firms benefit from the advantage of back-office staff that are often responsible for the confirmation of all account activity for the firm.  Astute back-office staff that check the details of account activity are likely to identify if a document has been forged.

Confirm Addresses and Payee Information

Specifically, back-office staff should independently confirm the receiving address for all account withdrawals. The registration of the receiving account should have the client’s name, a recognized family member’s name, or trust registration.  If the registration is suspicious, the withdrawal must be scrutinized.

Also, custodial activity should be monitored by staff and all withdrawals need to be verified against appropriate paperwork. If a client has checkwriting privileges on an account, staff often have the ability to view the check’s payee via the custodian’s online account activity review.

The added advantage of verifying check activity is if the client’s checks or account information is compromised (say, through identity theft), the account can be suspended to prevent further withdrawals.

More Work, But Worthwhile

Yes, this may seem like onerous work for a busy firm, but it’s in the firm’s best interest to have high standards to combat internal fraud.  Not only do confirmation processes strengthen trust between the client and the adviser, they can also provide proactive monitoring of the security of a client’s account in the event information is compromised.

Today, Financial Advisor Magazine posted Access To Client Encrypted Log-Ons Presents Quandary on its online content.  Please read it when you have a moment.

I have also answered many questions from advisers on best practices for updating disclosure documents, protecting credentials saved on internal systems, and using aggregation applications, such as ByAllAccounts.  If you need assistance with any of these issues, feel free to post comments here or email me privately at bill [at] fppad [dot] com.

In particular, I’ve been working with several individuals on communicating the risks and responsibilities when it comes to using client login credentials (e.g. login and password) to access captive or held-away accounts.  As client services continue to expand, advisers are aggregating information on held-away accounts to generate reports that include all of a client’s assets, not just those that are held with the adviser’s custodian of choice.

Last week, I participated on a webinar hosted by ByAllAccounts that addressed the issues of custody when adopting this practice.

Today, Advisor Perspectives has published my article titled The Custody Conundrum.  I trust that you will find most of the answers to your questions when it comes to custody and the practice of retaining and using your clients’ account logins.

Thanks to Tim Simons, CFA, CPA, CFP®, CSCP, CIPM of Ashland Compliance Group, LLC and Karla Paxton of ByAllAccounts for their consultation.

Related posts:

• NAPFA Technology Conference Report: Day Three
• Look Under the Hood of ByAllAccounts
• Get the Financial Planning 2008 Software Survey

While Dr. Basu is correct that the industry needs to do better in its service to clients, he lumps CFP® practitioners together with all financial service professionals, whether they be regulated or not.

So in response, CFP Board CEO Kevin Keller published a response to Dr. Basu titled In Defense of the CFP Mark.  Keller clarifies several of Dr. Basu’s misconceptions in his original article and stresses how all advisers must operate with “full accountability and transparency” to clients.

Take a few mintues to read these articles and post comments on FA Magazine’s website.

Update: Now read this post by Dr. David Edward Marcinko at the Medical Executive Post. Dr. Marcinko finishes his comments with this:

And so, why do I shake my fist at Somnath Basu? It’s admittedly with congratulations, and a bit of schadenfreude, because he wrote an article more eloquently than I ever could, and will likely receive much more publicity [good or slings-arrows] for doing so. You know, it’s very true that one is never a prophet in his own tribe. Oh well, Mazel Tov anyway for stating the obvious, Somnath. The financial services industry - and more specifically - the CFP® emperor have no clothes! Duh!

As a benefit to clients, advisers are using client credentials to log in to captive accounts to copy the asset information into portfolio management software (such as PortfolioCenter, Advent, or dbCAMS).

This allows the adviser to generate a consolidated report for the client featuring all of his/her assets.  In addition, advisers can include the captive account assets in fee calculations if management of those assets is included in the asset advisory agreement with the client.

However, advisers are rightfully concerned that using client credentials to access account information can trigger custody and/or possession of client funds and subject the adviser to increasing compliance with SEC requirements.

In response, the folks over at ByAllAccounts have offered to host a webinar to address the risks and compliance concerns of managing client credentials.  The webinar will feature Karla Paxton of ByAllAccounts, Tim Simons of Ashland Capital Partners, and yours truly!

ByAllAccounts asked me to participate in the webinar in order to provide the perspective of an active adviser and how I manage the risks of using client credentials.

Here is the information on the webinar (sorry for the late notice!):

Wednesday, April 8
2:00 - 3:00PM Eastern Time
Click the image below to open the ByAllAccounts’ website and click the registration link.

Apparently over the weekend, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was fined $25,000 by the NBA for comments he posted on Twitter (from USNews.com).

Can the SEC be far behind by issuing fines to registered advisers using Twitter for failing to comply with regulatory law on the publishing of advertisements?  I posted a few weeks ago about my concern of advisers using LinkedIn’s Recommendations feature when it may violate rules against testimonials.

Now that some precedent has been set, albeit by a completely different body (i.e. the NBA), I suspect that the SEC might not be too far behind in stepping up its enforcement efforts by following the tweets of registered advisers.

My advice to registered advisers: Tweet with extreme caution.

Want to Know More?

Andy Gluck at Advisor Products, Inc. is hosting a webinar this Friday, April 3 featuring Brian Hamburger of Market Counsel to address the compliance issues of using social networking technology, including LinkedIn, Twitter, FaceBook and others.

If you’re interested in learning more about this subject, I highly recommend you register now!  This session has the potential to reach the maximum number of participants allowed.

Register for Friday’s Compliance Issues Posed By Linkedin, Twitter, Blogging, & Social Networking at Advisor Products, Inc.

My wife and I welcomed our new baby boy into the world on March 28, 2009 at 11:23 AM.  Enjoy the photos below:

Until then, you can follow my micro updates on Twitter.

I’m going to open up a topic that has the potential to create a bit of controversy.  Here’s my bold statement:

Investment advisers registered under the SEC who use the “Recommendations” feature of LinkedIn.com may be in violation of Rule 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

I’ve discussed this topic with several members of my local financial planning community, including investment adviser litigation defense attorneys.  More recently the topic has come up in discussions with other professionals I have connected with through Twitter, including Susan Weiner, CFA and Kristen Luke.

Investment Adviser Rules

Let’s start with Rule 206(4)-1(a)(1).  It says the following:

a. It shall constitute a fraudulent, deceptive, or manipulative act, practice, or course of business within the meaning of section 206(4) of the Act for any investment adviser registered or required to be registered under section 203 of the Act, directly or indirectly, to publish, circulate, or distribute any advertisement: (1) Which refers, directly or indirectly, to any testimonial of any kind concerning the investment adviser or concerning any advice, analysis, report or other service rendered by such investment adviser

This rule explicitly prohibits the use of testimonials of any kind, whether they directly or indirectly refer to the investment adviser.  Testimonials cannot be published, directly or indirectly, by registered advisers.

LinkedIn Recommendations

LinkedIn Recommendations allow users of the online social networking website to post recommendations and endorsements that appear on the profile page of other users.  Recommendations are useful for supervisors to provide valuable feedback concerning the performance of an employee, or perhaps business owners to comment on the performance of contractors.

As LinkedIn becomes increasingly ubiquitous in the social networking space, I see more and more investment advisers that have set up profiles on the site.  A LinkedIn profile not only helps advisers connect with other advisers and colleagues, but it can also attract prospects and potential clients searching for a qualified adviser.

But what happens when investment advisers registered with the SEC begin to receive recommendations that are posted to their profile?

Any Testimonial of Any Kind

We’ve plainly seen in IAA of 1940 that testimonials of any kind are strictly prohibited by Rule 206(4)-1(a)(1).  So what is an adviser to do?

I believe the answer is that all State and SEC-registered investment advisers must never allow LinkedIn Recommendations to be posted to a public LinkedIn profile.

Are there any real cases where the State or SEC has fined an adviser or issued a deficiency notice?  I have not heard of any as of the date of this post.

However, I would prefer that the first public reference to such a case not feature my name in it.  As such, I do not permit any recommendations to be posted to my LinkedIn profile. I recommend that registered investment advisers clear their profile of recommendations as well.

If you’re in the local vicinity, I encourage you to sign up for what I hope will be a very informative presentation.

Click here to visit the FPA of Mid-Oregon meeting page.  Cost is just $55 for FPA members, $65 for all others.

Pre-registration (at least 24 hours in advance) is strongly advised for all chapter meetings. To pre-register contact the Chapter Executive Director, Linda Barba at (541) 284-9855. Please leave your name, membership status, sessions attending, and number of guests.

I highlight two webinars to be held on March 6 to help advisers survive the economic crisis.  View this vlog entry on YouTube.

I do blog for fun, but I don’t blog for profit.  Note that there are zero ads from Google or any other type of marketing on FPPad. 

Since it’s a pastime of mine, sometimes blogging takes a back seat to the other priorities that consume my day.  Since I’m deep into staff training, managing trading in volatile markets, and preparing several presentations to advisers on technology and social media, I’m going to highlight some of the more popular FPPad posts that have been drawing a lot of traffic in the event you’ve missed them.

And I’ll return with new content that I have in process soon.

• November CFP® Certification Examination Results Mailed
• How Good is Ken Zahn’s Live Review?
• How You Can Deduct Losses in IRA Accounts
• CRM Review: AdviceAmerica ClientVision
• Create a New Message Shortcut for Outlook
• Tweets and Blogs from T3 (Tech Tools for Today Conference)

Here are some useful links to keep up to date on T3 events.

Blogs

• Technology Tools for Today Conference Blog: http://t3conference.blogspot.com
• VirtualOfficeNews and T3 Community Blog: http://virtualofficenews.blogspot.com (though not updated since 8/1/2008)

Twitter

• Attending and/or Presenting
  • Sam Fawaz, CPA, CFP®: http://www.twitter.com/TheMoneyGeek
  • Brian McLaughlin of Redtail: http://www.twitter.com/redtailtech
  • Joel Bruckenstein: http://www.twitter.com/FinTechie
  • David Drucker: http://twitter.com/ddrucker98
  • Marie Swift: http://twitter.com/marieswift
  • Jim Starcev: http://twitter.com/jstarcev
• T3 Conference Tweet Feed
  • http://www.twitter.com/t3fan

If you have any more people you know are tweeting or blogging from T3, post them in the comments below and I’ll add them to this list.

Related Posts

• Yes, Twitter Can Help Financial Planners
• Get the Buzz on Twitscoop
• Boarding the Twitter Bandwagon

This is my first in-depth review of an application targeted for financial advisers.  Please post your comments on things like image quality, layout, and descriptions to help me improve the review process.

After exchanging several tweets with Bradd Delmuto (@bdelmuto), I attended a demonstration of AdviceAmerica, Inc.’s new ClientVision CRM utility.  Bradd was very helpful in coordinating a live demo with Gary Kinghorn, director of product management for AdviceAmerica.  Gary walked me through many of the features of this new program that I’ll share with you below.

First, some background.  AdviceAmerica has been around since 1999 and financial advisers may recognize the company for its AdvisorVision product, a web-based financial planning software tool now in its 7th major release.  For more on the company’s AdvisorVision offering, read Joel Bruckenstein’s review in the November 2006 edition of Financial Advisor Magazine.

Do Advisers Need Another CRM?

ClientVision is certainly not the first adviser-targeted CRM solution, but it is the first to be tightly integrated into Microsoft’s Outlook 2007.  This is a clever integration strategy by the company.  Since Outlook is so ubiquitous in the PC world, a large number of advisers already use the program for much of their client’s basic information management (see more about Financial Planning’s 2008 software survey), despite its significant shortcomings.  What ClientVision aims to do is enhance the functionality of Outlook by incorporating some smarter CRM-style features that are easy to use.

ClientVision Basics

ClientVision is a web-based CRM product, so all data entered into the system is stored, maintained, and backed up by AdviceAmerica’s network of servers.  However, unlike most popular web-based CRMs, ClientVision isn’t used through a standard web browser.  It is integrated into the Outlook 2007 Contacts utility.

To enter ClientVision’s interface, users must first open an existing contact record in Outlook.

Then the ”CV” icon in the toolbar can be clicked to retrieve the contact information stored over the Internet from the ClientVision system.  This opens the ClientVision Personal Information screen where much of the same contact details are displayed, although ClientVision supports more data than Outlook’s main window.  For example, ClientVision accepts the client’s date of birth, employment status, Social Security Number, tax filing status, and also equivalent spouse or co-client information.

How are the contact details kept in sync between Outlook Contacts and ClientVision?  Good question.  ClientVision supports both a manual and an automatic synchronization routine.  At any time data can be manually synced between the programs, or users can specify an automatic synchronization in any increment of minutes.

What I didn’t verify is which system takes precedence for data.  I suspect ClientVision data takes precedence, so if a client phone number changes, it should be updated in ClientVision and then synchronized to Outlook Contacts, not the other way around.

ClientVision Financials

ClientVision menu holds a whole host of items that expand the functionality of the program

Buttons are defined to display data such as risk assessments, liabilities, expenses, goals, income, assets, and life insurance.

The asset information is particularly useful as it can be used to quickly display the client’s security holdings and show stock and mutual fund details.

New positions can be added directly from the assets window or through one of the supported custodian interfaces through ClientVision’s “data adapters” to avoid manual entry.  There are around 5 such adapters with popular custodians/data aggregators including Pershing, Albridge, and DST FANMail.  While useful for quick snapshots of asset information, advisers are likely to continue to use separate Portfolio Management Software systems to maintain detailed cost basis and investment return information, so I don’t imagine ClientVision will take the place of other PMS systems anytime soon.

Activity History

Probably the most useful feature enhanced by ClientVision is the ability to log activity history for a client.  Activity history can be used to record information regarding activities such as phone calls, meetings, emails, etc.  Emails are easily saved to a client’s record by using the ”Send to CV” icon in the Outlook toolbar.

Other client activity information can be added directly within the activity view.

In addition to activity history, ClientVision also supports electronic document storage.  Most standard file types are supported and are easily uploaded to ClientVision.  Uploaded documents are identified by predefined categories of Will, Financial Plan, Insurance Policy, Trust Document, Power of Attorney, Account Application, Beneficiary Designation, Tax Document, or Other.

Currently there is no defined storage limit to documents uploaded to ClientVision, but I imagine as more users begin to use the storage feature with large files, AdviceAmerica may revisit its policies on storage limits in the future.

Miscellaneous Features

ClientVision also integrates with the Outlook Tasks interface, so it provides a way to view all tasks associated with a client and also view to whom the tasks are assigned.  Outlook task categories can be used to replicate some of this functionality, but anyone that has tried to standardize category naming conventions in a practice knows this is a difficult proposition.  Note that current functionality stops at simple tasks and does not extend to workflow management, so if an adviser’s new client intake process consists of 14 separate tasks, they must all be entered manually in ClientVision.  Still, ClientVision’s interface makes task management much more, well, manageable.

ClientVision also offers an array of built-in client reports.  These reports include Portfolio Holdings, Cash Flow, Current Asset Mix, Financial Overview, and Net Worth.  Client-formatted reports can also be generated by the system.

Lastly, as the program is web-based, ClientVision offers access to all data contained in the system through the use of a web browser.  Advisers can securely access any information stored within ClientVision by signing in to the program over the Internet.

Cost

Pricing for ClientVision is very straightforward.  At the time of this post’s publication, AdviceAmerica charges $399 per year for the standalone application (note: users must also have Outlook 2007 installed).  Advisers who currently use AdviceAmerica’s AdvisorVision can purchase the ClientVision upgrade for $199 per year.

Feature Requests

ClientVision certainly expands the existing Outlook Contacts functionality into a more CRM-like application.  But there are several features not currently present that may leave advisers wanting more.

First, an integrated client appointment and calendar interface would be extremely useful.  Many adviser offices currently use the Outlook Calendar to schedule client meetings, staff meetings, and professional events since it can be easily shared among all staff through the Microsoft Exchange platform.  ClientVision could enhance the use of the calendar by showing all upcoming meetings specific to each client over the next, say, 12 months, and keep those meetings synchronized with the main shared calendar.

Next, ClientVision does not provide the ability to search through the client activity history entered into the system.  Adding a search tool would greatly enhance usability, both from a relationship management and a compliance perspective.  Advisers often need to retrieve notes from an archived phone conversation or client meeting for compliance purposes.  Other times its important to quickly identify quality touch-point information, such as which universities the client’s children attend or the client’s favorite domestic microbrewery.

Finally, as mentioned earlier, ClientVision does not offer robust workflow definition and monitoring.  Workflow management is present in much more expensive applications (e.g. Triggered Action Sequences in Junxure), but it is often overkill for a sole practitioner or small office to go through the process of defining and maintaining workflow processes.  Mileage varies considerably in the use of workflow, so think about this as it applies to your office environment.

Summary

ClientVision is a slick web-based utility that adds CRM functionality to the existing framework of Outlook 2007.  If you’re like most advisers out there with considerable contact information already stored in Outlook, ClientVision provides an inexpensive way to segue into several more advanced ways to improve relationship management without having to learn a completely new interface.

ClientVision isn’t as robust as other CRM tools with document management and workflow processing, but for the price, advisers are hard-pressed to find other programs that offer such easy navigation through client data.  Also, adding those other features means advisers progress significantly up the cost scale for more powerful applications.

ClientVision Demo

Gary Kinghorn just posted an eight-minute screencast to YouTube that I’m including below. If you’re reading this in an RSS reader or by email subscription, click here to go to YouTube.

Related Posts:

• Streamline Your Practice in a Recession
• Get the Financial Planning 2008 Software Survey
• Has Laborious Client Data Entry Met Its Match?

PC World: Facebook Owns Your Business Data
CNN: Expert: Social networkers risk ‘losing control’ of privacy
AP: Facebook backtracks on terms of use after protests

There’s a lesson in this story for financial advisers.  Yes, you can prevent client backlash by polling them ahead of implementing new policies.  This principle also applies to vendors to the financial services industry.

Case in point: dbCAMS and its recent rollout of Morningstar compatibility changes.  Without warning, Morningstar released an upgrade to dbCAMS that altered the system font used for all records displayed on the screen.

Here’s what the screen looked like before the change:

And here’s what the same screen looked like after the change:

The new font is intended to match the display of Morningstar’s Principia line of products.  Needless to say, users of dbCAMS were upset. Many found the font very difficult to read (its spacing is very tight), and some hated it altogether.  Disgruntled customers let dbCAMS customer support know how they felt about the “improvement.”

Within a few days, Morningstar released a new update for dbCAMS that added the option for users to select between the Default (Principia-style) or Legacy font to be displayed in all of the grids.

All of this could have easily been prevented by a simple poll of active users.  Something like

Dear Bill,

We are considering implementing changes to the font used to display information in the dbCAMS grid layout.  Please visit the following website to view the proposed screen layouts and place your vote on which one you like the most.

Your feedback is important to us as we continue to incorporate enhancements to dbCAMS and integrate it with Morningstar’s product line.

Sincerely,

The dbCAMS team

Now isn’t that a nice piece of customer communication?  The letter empowers users to preview the proposed changes and give feedback on what they like the best.  Before rolling out any new surprises, Morningstar could have proactively identified changes that would be well-received versus those that could incite backlash.

Interested in polling your clients?  The leader in simple online polling is SurveyMonkey.  You can also try PollDaddy for polls that can be embedded directly on your website.

Related Posts:

• Is the FPA Ready for Taleb? (features an embedded PollDaddy poll)
• What are Morningstar’s Plans for dbCAMS?
• Morningstar Announces FCSI Acquisition

Coming to the conference? You won’t be able to miss me: I’ll be making many of the speaker introductions and other announcements.  Catch me during breaks and say hello! 

On with today’s post.

I’m a technology guy and not really a marketing guy, so allow me to refer an excellent blogger on marketing strategies for independent financial planners and investment advisers that frequent FPPad.com

Go visit Kristen Luke’s blog and add her RSS feed to your reader.  Don’t have a reader?  Use Google Reader, or you can always subscribe to email updates for most content, including Kristen’s.

The most recent post covers how best to use $3,000 in a marketing plan to increase your center of influence, generate referrals, and ultimately grow your business.

Read it here: http://kristenluke.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/the-3000-marketing-plan/