The round-the-block lineups that greeted Apple Inc.’s launch of the new iPad last month underline the prevalence of the popular tablet. In the past two years, Apple has sold 55 million iPads, and the device has infiltrated practically every area of life – and business. But the device’s popularity begs the question: how useful is the iPad for financial advisors?
Rob Jones, managing partner at Sudbury, Ont.-based Horizon Partners, which operates under the banner of Toronto-based DundeeWealth Inc., runs his life on his iPad 2. Jones says he may go a whole day without touching a sheet of paper. He began using the device after DundeeWealth rolled out the iPad to 700 advisors across Canada.
“It has replaced our PCs, and it has made it a lot easier to be interactive with clients,” says Jones, who uses his iPad for research, managing client meetings and presentations.
Jones’ client book consists of 80 to 90 high net-worth individuals. Dealing with relatively few clients makes the relationships key. Anything that can make Jones more responsive and able to offer his clients better service is worth the investment.
Jones conducts four or five meetings per day on average, mostly in his office. “When I meet with the client,” he says, “they’ll come into the boardroom and I will have the iPad on.”
The notes prepared for that meeting will be accessible on the tablet, and Jones can take additional notes on the iPad during or immediately after the meeting. Because the iPad is connected to the Internet, Jones can immediately make those notes available to his assistant. This immediacy facilitates accuracy, which is important from a compliance perspective.
Jones’ iPad really comes into its own for client presentations, however. He can run presentations from his iPad, displaying them on a large, flat-panel screen via an Apple TV.
Jones plugs into a back-office system developed by DundeeWealth. Richard McIntyre, executive vice president and head of retail at DundeeWealth, had wanted to use technology as a tool to improve operations and make the client experience more intimate. McIntyre believes the intuitive, touch-and-swipe iPad helps his advisors do that.
“We have financial planning software that we can use on the iPad,” McIntyre says. “You can use a portal that allows a client to go and play around with different types of planning. We can start to help clients in real time. [The iPad] uses the technology to deal with financial health issues that the client didn’t even know they had.”
DundeeWealth’s apps enable Jones to conduct transactions with his clients, even allowing clients to sign documents electronically that have been created during meetings. (DundeeWealth had consulted with the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada regarding the legality of electronic signatures, and found a way to have clients log into a section of the DundeeWealth website and use their own password to sign documents electronically.
DundeeWealth had rolled out its iPad system in blocks of 50 advisors, so that the firm could cope with technical support issues and advisors’ questions. DundeeWealth helped to finance the system by charging advisors a fee.
Although some benefits of the system are subjective – it is hard to quantify the return from impressing clients and being more responsive – there are other, harder benefits. Manual, paper-based systems are prone to error, but conducting everything electronically on the iPad improves accuracy and workflow, McIntyre says, thus reducing costs.
Another big benefit for Jones is the ability to be fully functional and responsive to his clients while outside the office.
The trading system that DundeeWealth has made available on the iPad enables Jones to conduct trades from wherever he is. And the iPad 2 has a built-in camera that Jones uses for videoconferencing with clients via Skype or Apple’s own Facetime.
While Jones was on a ski trip last month with his family, he was able to stay in touch with clients. Says Jones: “I like the ability to be always on.”
You can do all these things with a conventional laptop or an ultrabook such as Apple’s MacBook Air. But the tablet format removes the psychological barrier between you and your client that you get with a clamshell laptop.
For Jones, the ability to consume information more intuitively also is important. Reading the latest reports is far easier with a portrait-oriented device resting on your knee than with a laptop screen perched at a desk.
“I am a middleman between the fund managers and the clients,” Jones says, “so a big part of my day is reading and studying. There’s a ton of stuff that comes in via email that I’m easily able to navigate with the iPad.”
© 2012 Investment Executive. All rights reserved.