Although brokerages have invested millions of dollars upgrading their technology in the past year, advisors say their firms have missed the mark on providing user-friendly interfaces and training.
Overall, the advisors surveyed for Investment Executive’s 2009 Brokerage Report Card rated their firms’ technology tools and advi-sor desktops at 7.9, a slight increase from 7.7 in 2008. Advisors, however, think technology is just as important as it ever was, giving it an 8.9 in importance — the same as last year.
Toronto-based Richardson Partners Financial Ltd. led the pack as the firm most plugged into its advisors’ technology needs. Its advisors rated the firm’s technology tools at 9.3 in both performance and importance. “The software is light-years ahead of what I left behind at a bank-owned firm,” says a Richardson Partners advisor in Ontario.
Rave reviews about the firm’s technology should come as no surprise as advisors played a part in the development of the software platforms, says Richardson Partners president and CEO Sue Dabarno: “Often when you build in isolation of the people who use the tools, you build in theory and not in practice.”
One thing Richardson Partners developed in conjunction with its advisors is the ability for advisors to work “anytime, anyplace” using desktop software for mobile platforms. “We’re probably still rated No. 1,” says Dabarno, “in terms of tools that allow the advisor to connect with the office.”
But other firms are catching on. In the past year, Vancouver-based Leede Financial Markets Inc., Winnipeg-based Wellington West Capital Inc.and Toronto-based ScotiaMcLeod Inc. have hopped onto the mobile bandwagon.
Wellington West decided to go mobile following suggestions from its advisor committee. “It’s what they wanted,” says Charlie Spiring, the firm’s chairman and CEO.
ScotiaMcLeod, meanwhile, has made its email and client information platforms for BlackBerrys and other mobile platforms fully secure. “The BlackBerry is going to continue to be a more and more important device,” says Hamish Angus, head of ScotiaMcLeod, “with more and more client information on there.”
Despite these bold moves toward mobility, advisors at ScotiaMcLeod say the firm is way behind on its client-reporting software.
“[The firm] is trying [to improve], but it missed the mark,” says a ScotiaMcLeod advisor in Ontario, in reference to Odyssey Financial Technologies Inc.’s WealthManager, a wealth-management desktop platform for contact management, portfolio management and portfolio reporting that ScotiaMcLeod began to roll out early in 2008. “The new software isn’t doing the job. It does a million things, but it doesn’t do the five things I want it to.”
A colleague on the Prairies adds: “The technology I had at another firm in 1998 was better. The new system has more bugs than the old one, which took 10 years to fix.”
Dissatisfaction with technology tools is the reason why Scotia-McLeod advisors continue to rate their firm lowest in the category, with a score of 5.1 — a minor improvement from last year’s 4.9.
But Angus hopes the firm’s training efforts will alleviate what certain advisors have dubbed “teething problems” with WealthManager. “It has been challenging in this environment to roll out a new platform,” Angus says. “But with the focus on training that we have right now, we’ll get through it.”
In the past three months, ScotiaMcLeod has introduced a web-based training system called iShare, in which advisors can get ongoing remote support for new technology over the phone.
“Through training and other initiatives,” Angus adds, “there are areas in which we could probably see a pickup in the use and the adoption of our existing technology.”
Previously, training at the firm was conducted face to face, with a corporate trainer meeting with advisors individually at their desks, for a total of three visits to each branch. With 877 advisors, ScotiaMcLeod’s inability to train advisors at the same pace could have led to some of the harsh feedback.
On the other hand, Toronto-based BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. won kudos from its 1,380 advisors when it launched Winnipeg-based Emerging Information Systems Inc.’ s NaviPlan platform this past year. Nesbitt received much praise for its technology tools, as advisors rated the firm’s performance in the category at 8.4.
“It’s one of the best in the industry, no question,” says a Nesbitt advisor in Ontario about the firm’s technology platform.
A colleague in the West adds: “We’re the best of them all.”
@page_break@Training is the secret to this success, says Richard Mills, executive vice president, managing director and national sales manager with Nesbitt’s private client division: “You can’t just throw stuff on people’s desktops and expect them intuitively to understand it. We are always concerned about throwing too much at advisors at one time — especially now, when we want them to focus on their clients.”
Training may ease technology transitions, but, sometimes, change is just difficult and time-consuming, says Spiring. Wellington West saw its technology tools rating fall to 7.9 this year from 8.6 in 2008.
A year ago, Wellington West decided to computerize all back-office documents, which required advisors to go through the time-consuming process of electronically inputting their back-office documentation. “At the time, advisors saw it as a make-work project,” says Spiring, an advisor himself. “In the end, it was the right decision and helped us with reallocation of client assets.”
As for giving brokers the flexibility to choose the front office, back office and quotation systems they want on their desktops, Richardson Partners, Wellington West and Leede are the exceptions to the rule; they let their advisors choose — but give them certain parameters.
Otherwise, for most firms, it’s a “one size fits all” approach. “Advisors have to use what we provide,” says Debra Hewson, president and CEO of Vancouver-based Odlum Brown Ltd. “From a compliance point of view, we need to know exactly [what software advisors are using and what clients see.]” IE