Advisors look for value in their firms’ tech tools

PFSL advisors are required to pay only one fee for a standardized Web portal called Primerica Online, which includes a financial needs analysis tool, Chicago-based Morningstar Inc.’ s Builder Hypothetical portfolio analysis tool, portfolio software tools and a back-office trading system. A new PFSL advisor pays $25 a month for the system, while a senior advisor pays $40 a month for the same package.

“We spread the costs so that new folks pay less,” says Jeff Dumanski, PFSL’s president and chief marketing officer.

Calgary-based Portfolio Strategies Corp. keeps its advisors happy with a similar low-cost arrangement. Because advisors who join the firm are highly established in their practices and most likely have their own software, the firm requires them to pay only $30 a month for access to the Winfund back-office system, provided by Winfund Software Corp. Outside of Winfund, advisors are free to buy whatever additional tools or hardware they need to conduct their business.

“One of the biggest complaints I get from other firms is that advi-sors have to pay a monthly technology fee of $150 to $200 and they don’t use 90% of it,” says Mark Kent, president of Portfolio Strategies. “They see it as a pay cut.”

Portfolio Strategies advisors agree. Says an advisor in Alberta: “Would I like it if we had a company-wide system? Perhaps. But if we did, I’d fear my compensation would be affected. I am happy with it this way.”

Conversely, Markham, Ont.-based Professional Investment Services (Canada) Inc. shows that a firm doesn’t have to keep its technology fees at bargain-basement prices to keep advisors happy; the structure just needs to be flexible. Ken Rousselle, PIS’s president and CEO, estimates the average PIS advisor can pay up to $3,500 a year for software, depending on the tools and features they choose.

PIS advisors are required to purchase only the basic technology bundle at $125 per month, or $1,500 a year, he says.

The basic bundle includes a back-office system provided by Univeris Corp., an asset-allocation tool and webinars. Advisors are not provided with financial planning software or a customer relationship management tool as part of the package.

That said, PIS offers advisors FP Solutions, a financial planning tool provided by CCH Canadian Ltd. at a discounted price ranging from $240 to $1,036 a year, depending on the features they choose.

“We don’t offer a contact management program yet, since none of the ones on the market integrate into our back office,” Rousselle says, adding that plans are in the works to piggyback off a Microsoft Corp. CRM system that PIS’s parent firm is launching in Australia.

Although PIS advisors did not say much about the firm’s technology offerings, they rated the importance of technology tools and advisor desktop at 9.0, a notable jump from 8.2 in 2008. They also ranked their firm’s performance in the category higher this year at 7.5, up from 7.1.

Burlington, Ont.-based Manulife Securities Inc. takes a very different approach, as it offers a “one size fits all” package for which all advisors pay $200 a month, or $2,400 annually. The package includes the Broadridge Dataphile back-office platform, as well as client reporting tool Client Manager Web, which launched earlier this year.

“We offer what I argue to be the best technology on the Street,” says Rick Annaert, Manulife’s president and CEO. He says the online portal gives advisors access to online copies of client statements and key forums on products, as well as a variety of marketing and educational materials.

However, Manulife advisors say the technology they are paying for still isn’t sufficient. Says an advisor in Ontario: “There is a lot we do ourselves. For example, contact management. The Web-based stuff is very insurance-focused.”

Meanwhile, advisors with Toronto-based Assante Corp. aren’t jumping for joy about their firm’s decision to standardize tools across desktops. Currently, Assante advisors spend about $50 a month for back-office technology, which can vary depending on their assets under administration. They also have the choice among six or seven different CRM systems. This will all soon change, however.

@page_break@Come this autumn, Assante plans to roll out Navigator, a multimillion-dollar standardized desktop platform. Some advisors aren’t looking forward to the revamp.

“They have developed a software that no one wants,” says an Assante advisor in British Columbia. “They are trying to get us to use the same software platform and charge us $200 per month to use it.”

But Joe Canavan, Assante’s chairman and CEO, believes advisors will see the benefits of Navigator once they adjust to it: “There can be no sharing of best practices when advisors are using different systems. It will also unite advisors on a single national platform.”

The biggest problem with a standardized system is that advisors may not use or need all the included tools.

Says Chris Reynolds, president of Mississauga-based Investment Planning Counsel: “Only 25% of our advisors use the technology to its full potential.”

IPC advisors pay $169 a month for a standardized bundle that includes a back-office and a CRM system.

“We have started a more aggressive online training program,” says Reynolds, “so that our advisors can get more out of our technology.”

This has resulted in IPC advisors rating their technology an 8.0, a substantive jump from 7.1 in 2008. IE