There will always be a natural tension between financial advisors and their back office, according to Simon Tomlinson, CEO of Burlington, Ont.-based BlueSun Inc., which provides back office software for financial services companies.

You have the pressure of handling the relationship with your client and having to explain any delays in processing their transaction, Tomlinson says. And you are not necessarily in control of the process once you have submitted that business to the back office.

While you may not be able to process the order yourself, there are ways you can contribute to a more efficient operation.

Try these suggestions to help smooth out your relationship with your back-office system:

> Become comfortable with e-applications
If your back office makes online application services available, you should use them, recommends Ray Adamson, chief customer officer at BlueSun. E-applications help to streamline the ordering process.

For one, you will be less likely to forget to fill out a part of the application. An e-application service will notify you if any information is missing, which prevents the back office from returning it to you.

Second, it avoids the inevitable hassle of a back-office staffer having to decipher your writing, which can add time to processing.

You might be surprised by the amount of time that could be saved if applications were properly filled in from the very beginning of the order. For example, the insurance industry has a 90-day fulfillment cycle for its products, Tomlinson says, which can be a cause for frustration.

If applications had fewer errors or omissions, 30 to 50 days could probably be taken out of that 90-day cycle, Tomlinson suggests.

> Use back-office software to track progress
Before you make a call to your back-office department for updates on your order, consider the effects on efficiency if every advisor were to make that call. Your back-office staffer would spend more time on the phone explaining delays than processing your business.

Instead, Tomlinson suggests, find out if you can track your order’s progress through a back-office web portal. You might be able to find all of the answers you need this way.

> Learn more about your back office
You might assume that responsibility for a delay in processing lies with your back office. But the problem could be with your product provider, according to Adamson.

A better understanding of your back-office system could prevent misdirected frustration. Enquire as to whether your firm, dealer or back-office provider offers training sessions or an education day to help advisors such as you become more acquainted with the inner workings of that department.

The more you understand about your back-office provider, Adamson says, the better you will be able to work with it.