Financial advisors surveyed for this year’s Dealers’ Report Card are relying on mobile technology more than ever before to keep them tapped in and productive when they’re away from the office. However, the support that firms provide for this technology appears to be falling short of advisors’ expectations; in many cases, advisors are less impressed with their firms’ mobile offerings than they were a year ago.
The results of this year’s Report Card reveal that advisors are placing a greater value on their firms’ “support for mobile technology and the mobile advisor,” as they gave the category an overall average importance rating of 7.3, up from 6.8 last year.
“It is important that I can access my computer files 24/7,” says an advisor in Ontario with Winnipeg-based Investors Group Inc. “And I always need to have access to my email.”
But when advisors were asked to rate the support they actually receive from their firms on mobile technology, they gave their dealers an overall average performance rating of 6.9, down slightly from 7.0 last year. The weaker rating partly reflects the slow pace at which the dealer channel has embraced mobile technology, some advisors said.
“Other industries are more robust and comprehensive,” says an advisor in Alberta with Toronto-based Assante Wealth Management (Canada) Ltd. “[Dealers] are not providing more than the bare bones.”
And as mobile technology becomes increasingly prominent, some advisors said their firms’ mobile support is falling further behind their expectations. Case in point: four firms saw their ratings in this category drop by at least half a point from last year.
Montreal-based Peak Financial Group, for example, saw its rating for support for mobile technology drop to 7.0 from 7.7 last year. Says a Peak advisor in Quebec: “[They’re] starting to get things offered, but it’s slow. We’ve talked about certain tools that we’d like to have – very useful ones at that – and we don’t have them.”
Robert Frances, Peak’s president and CEO, blames the slow pace of development on the complex nature of the technology: “We are working on a few things in beta, but we haven’t launched them yet; we’re still testing them. They’re very complex platforms.”
Mississauga, Ont.-based Investment Planning Counsel Inc. (IPC) also saw its rating in the mobile support category fall considerably, to 6.0 from 6.8 year-over-year, with IPC advisors indicating that they’re limited in their ability to get things done on their mobile devices.
But, given the increasingly prominent role of mobile technology in advisors’ workflow, IPC is committed to improving its support in this area, says John Novachis, the firm’s executive vice president of corporate development.
“The advisor practice has to be mobile,” he says. “Client demands aren’t going down; they’re going up. And the importance for looking after your clients [in] all aspects, anytime, anywhere, is very important. If we have to make further investment there, we will have no hesitation to do so.”
Some of the top priorities for advisors regarding mobile support include the ability to access their email and back-office system via their mobile device, as well as the flexibility to use the device of their choosing.
Windsor, Ont.-based Sterling Mutuals Inc. earned the highest score in the mobile support category, at 8.4. Sterling Mutuals’ advisors commend the firm for developing a web-based back-office system that functions effectively on any device.
“The platform was recently redone and it’s all tablet-friendly,” says a Sterling Mutuals advisor in Ontario.
Adds a colleague in the same province: “[The platform] is very user-friendly. It was developed in-house, so comments and suggestions can often be enacted quickly.”
Toronto-based HollisWealth Inc. also garnered high ratings for its mobile support. In particular, advisors praise that firm for providing hardware as part of its mobile offerings. Unlike the “bring your own device” policy that most firms have adopted, HollisWealth provides its advisors with iPads that can be used to access the back office and execute trades – features that advisors find convenient.
“We were out quite early with this technology,” says John Bai, HollisWealth’s managing director of wealth-management strategy. “We thought it was very important to be front and centre.”
At the other end of the spectrum, some firms provide little or no support for mobile technology. Calgary-based Portfolio Strategies Corp., for example, takes a hands-off approach as part of its strategy of allowing advisors to operate independently, according to the firm’s executives.
Although some advisors said they probably wouldn’t use mobile technology even if greater support was available, other advisors said even basic capabilities in this area could go a long way.
“I would like an app to get to client portfolios on my tablet,” says a Portfolio Strategies advisor in Alberta. “Something very simple and concise.”
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