Mobility a growing factor

Unlike in previous Report Cards, in which surveyed advisors rated their firms solely on the “technology tools and advisor desktop” they were offered, advisors surveyed this year also rated their firms in the new category of “support for mobile technology and mobile advisors.”

Overall, advisors ranked the former category higher in importance, at 8.9, than mobility, at 7.7. However, comments indicate that the two categories must work in tandem for a firm’s overall technology offering to be a winner.

As an advisor in British Columbia with Calgary-based Leede Financial Markets Inc. puts it: “[Mobile technology] isn’t as important as desktop support, but at least I can do my business from the golf course.”

Management is doing what it can to help advisors work on the go. Toronto-based Richardson GMP Ltd. , which had received one of the highest ratings in the technology tools category in the past two years, received similar praise for its mobile technology.

“I run 40% of my business off my BlackBerry, so it’s very important,” says a Richardson GMP advisor in B.C. “I can even do trades on [the handheld device].”

Ed-ward Jones‘ Mississauga, Ont.-based Canadian division is another firm that has received praise for its technology tools, and it recently launched a mobile platform it hopes its advisors will find satisfactory. Says Gary Reamey, the firm’s principal and head: “If advisors are out of the office and they want to check their computers on their [mobile devices], they can turn these on and link in; they mirror their computers.”

Mobility has become especially important for advisors these days as more of them are seeking a better work/life balance, says Charlie Spiring, chairman and CEO of Winnipeg-based Wellington West Capital Inc. : “We are moving toward more portability of the workstation. So, you can be anywhere, anytime, and be able to work. It’s great for productivity.”

To assist advisors on the go, Wellington West has developed an in-house desk assistant, available 24 hours a day, to respond to technical issues advisors might have. Those efforts have paid off: the firm’s advisors rated their technology tools and advisor desktop at 8.4, a half-point increase from 7.9 in 2010.

Meanwhile, Toronto-based CIBC Wood Gundy and ScotiaMcLeod Inc. are both focusing on creating a solid foundation of technology tools as well as extending those to mobile devices.

Wood Gundy advisors rated their firm a full point higher this year in the technology tools category at 7.8, up from 6.8 in 2010 — the biggest jump in the category within the survey — thanks to Laval, Que.-based Croesus Finansoft Inc.’s Version 7, which has replaced Wood Gundy’s in-house portfolio software.

Firms can no longer afford to lag in technology, which is why Wood Gundy went with a third party, says Monique Gravel, the firm’s head and managing director: “From old-school advisors to the most tech-savvy, there is zero tolerance for technology downtime. And zero tolerance for not having it at your fingertips.”

Wood Gundy will roll out a mobile option of the V7 software this summer. The firm also has made its quotation software, Thomson ONE, available on a mobile platform.

ScotiaMcLeod, which has long drawn the ire of its advisors for its technology offerings, is in the midst of rectifying that situation by launching a pilot program in which new technology is slowly being added to advisors’ desktops and mobile devices.

“We are now overinvesting in technology,” says Hamish Angus, head of ScotiaMcLeod. “Over the past year, there has been a number of areas in which advisors have seen improvements.”

Advisors are slowly taking notice of the new technology and have rated the firm at 5.6 in the category, an increase from 5.0 in 2010. Says a ScotiaMcLeod advisor in New Brunswick: “[The technology is] not great. But, to [the firm’s] credit, they are spending money on it.” IE