The vast majority of financial advisors surveyed for this year’s Brokerage Report Card are unhappy with the support their firms provide for mobile technology, citing limited remote access to their desktops, mobile devices stripped of certain functions and narrow support for particular devices as the main reasons.

Case in point: the overall rating in the “support for mobile technology and the mobile advisor” category plummeted to 7.6 from 8.1 in 2011; nine of the 11 firms that provide support for mobile technology received lower ratings in the category, with six firms seeing their ratings decrease by half a point or more. In contrast, only two firms saw their ratings increase – and both were by half a point or more.

Although there were varying reasons for the declines at the various firms surveyed, the brokerage that stumbled most in this category was Toronto-based ScotiaMcLeod Inc., whose rating for support for mobile technology dropped to 5.9 from 7.3 in 2011.

A ScotiaMcLeod advisor in British Columbia attributes his discontentment to the firm’s remote access. “Remote access is inconsistent,” he says, adding that he doesn’t know when it will work and when it won’t.

A colleague in Alberta goes so far as to describe ScotiaMcLeod’s technology as a hindrance to his business: “ScotiaMcLeod, potentially, has the worst technology in the business. It cripples productivity.”

Hamish Angus, managing director and head of ScotiaMcLeod, acknowledges that his firm may not be recognized as a leader in technology but points out that the firm is focused on making progress in the area: “You don’t think of ScotiaMcLeod as being No. 1 in technology. But we were the first to bring out a mobile technology solution allowing advisors to access all their client accounts on their BlackBerrys. And we’re adding to that by looking at iPads and Playbooks. We will probably launch those [initiatives] before the year is out.”

In addition, Angus says, ScotiaMcLeod is augmenting its smartphone support by moving beyond BlackBerrys to provide support for Apple Inc.’s iPhones as well.

The theme of supporting various mobile platforms was also on the minds of advisors at Montreal-based National Bank Financial Ltd., a firm that saw its score drop to 7.0 from a weighted average of 7.9 in 2011 for NBF and Winnipeg-based Wellington West Capital Inc., which NBF acquired and fully integrated last year. In particular, NBF advisors complained about being restricted in the mobile devices they are able to use – and even what features they can use on the devices that are allowed.

“The firm only supports BlackBerrys,” says an NBF advisor in Quebec. “There is a lack of variety, and it does not accommodate an advisor’s own technological preferences.”

An NBF advisor in B.C. voiced frustration with restrictions on what mobile devices can be used for: “[We] have to provide [our] own hardware, which then gets security protocols put on it. It’s too invasive and makes [the device] unusable for any other purposes.”

In turn, Martin Lavigne, president of NBF’s wealth-management division, says the firm is willing to pay for devices it considers to be part of an advisor’s workstation, such as a laptop.

“Smartphones and tablets aren’t considered part of [advisors’] workstations, so they will have to pay for them,” Lavigne says, adding that NBF’s goal is to equip its advisors with laptops that have virtual private network access, so working on the road can be similar to working in the office.

Limited access also was a theme brought up by advisors at Toronto-based TD Waterhouse Private Investment Advice, which saw its mobile tech support rating tumble to 6.3 from 7.1 in 2011. Many complained about the firm stripping functions out of advisors’ smartphones.

“It would be much easier for us if we could do more on our mobile devices,” says a TD Waterhouse advisor in Alberta. “You have to buy their corporate BlackBerry, but it has so many functions disabled.”

A TD Waterhouse advisor in Ontario pointed to the specific functions that are disabled on the device: “We still can’t text, and not everyone can use voice mail.”

As a result, Mike Reilly, president and national sales manager with TD Waterhouse, says the firm is extending its reach into the world of text messaging: “We just [approved] an app [that enables you to] text on your BlackBerry within [TD Waterhouse’s advisor] community. We are at the forefront of it, and we are quite heavily involved in making sure what is appropriate to roll out to the sales force is rolled out.”

But despite the prominence of dissatisfaction when it came to mobile technology, there were two firms that stood out. Toronto-based CIBC Wood Gundy and Vancouver-based Odlum Brown Ltd. both saw their ratings in the category increase by the same margin – with the former’s score jumping to 7.8 from 7.2 and the latter’s rising to 8.2 from 7.6 year-over-year – because of the remote access those firms provide.

Says a Wood Gundy advisor in Alberta: “I can take my business with me wherever I go.”

Adds an Odlum Brown advisor in B.C.: “I can work on a remote island while kayaking [because of] our remote access.”IE

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