Wealth Management Technology Musings

@SlideRocket debuts audio recording #sliderocket

(download)

Click here to download:

sliderocket_audio.swf (166 KB)

SlideRocket is fast becoming my favorite tool of 2009 - and has enabled me to change the way I handle presentations. The more I simplify what I put on a slide and use of more visual queues - this app caters to my approach. Now I can directly record audio into my slides - saving me a step of recording the audio elsewhere. In my case - I have the correct gear for recording quality audio and video on hand. However, it is not much of a stretch for any regular presenter to pick themselves up, at minimum, a high quality USB microphone to accommodate this new capability. A frequent option I recommend is the Blue USB microphones.

 

You can continue to embed previously produced audio and video into the slides - however - for cases where you think narration or some other audio-based content would be valuable - this is made quite user-friendly with the new interface add-on. Equally as important were the thought put into syncing the slide content and transitions (both in slide builds and slide to slide builds) to the new audio option. Thus you can visually organize how your slide builds occur in conjunction with newly recorded audio.

 

Kudos SlideRocket to a very cool new feature. Now I only hope to see Keynote import join the already great functionality for importing PowerPoint presentations! Keep it up!

 

 

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Tweet from Keynote during Presentations

Being a Keynote user for my presentations I was thrilled to find this tool. In some scenarios it would be fantastic to update Twitter with bits from a presentation and include a hashtag for folks to follow. Keynote Tweet from Ideo Labs watches for tags in your presentation notes (visible to the speaker) and sends a Tweet and optionally hashtags (like #mypresentation) and an @username of the text found between [Twitter] and [/Twitter]. 

via jonny goldstein from Flickr

I have written before about the excellent versatility in Keynote for presenters and with this widget - you can integrate the social community at large in your public speaking. There are a lot of e-learning folks harnessing cloud technology to reinvigorate conferences and meetings - this provides a simple tool for anyone engaged in public presentations to put their foot in the waters and take it for a spin. You can go back after the fact and search for your hashtags on Twitter. Take not that Twitter does not archive hashtags for very long - so look for your Tweets within a few days of your presentation. If folks were monitoring your hashtags then you will also find the conversation they started based on your posts.

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Evolution of CRM in 2010

A Forrester Blog post by William Band reinforces the point that a successful CRM implementation is where CRM serves as the hub of incoming and outgoing data. 

I have discussed this frequently - and recently presented on the case for embedding (site requires free trial to access slides and replay) your core business processes around a CRM solution. With integration being one of my mantras for any technology platform - CRM is a natural application to place at the center and assemble the remaining tools required to feed, in some form or fashion, around that data store.

An excellent example in financial services is Redtail Technology. Built on a SaaS (software as a service) model, Redtail has engineered a CRM solution catering to wealth management. Additionally, based on the flexibility of a web-based framework - they also have deployed a web services model that enables them to rapidly build out integrations to critical tools wealth managers use. This has helped them establish a portfolio of partners around portfolio reporting, financial planning, forms automation, client education, document imaging and more.

In my opinion, the addition of a workflow automation tool within Redtail is the icing on the cake. This is where I focus on designing workflows to match manual business processes like:

• Handling prospective clients
• Conversion to active clients (client intake)
• Preparing for client review meetings
• Quarterly reporting
• Seminar planning and management
• Fee billing

These processes are ripe opportunities to build out the automated steps that a CRM system can automate. Thus the steps, once added to the workflow tool in Redtail, are integrated into the dashboard (home page view for all users on the team) as prompts to action on individual tasks. As a task is completed - the next workflow step is triggered. All activities are tracked as an audit trail and teams can report on workflow to look for status and potential bottlenecks.

Band's post on the Forrester blog talks about CRM becoming an "ecosystem" and as a hub for integration. Now is the time for business users to get serious about understanding and exploring how integration can benefit their processes - and for service providers to stay focused on evolving their architectures to support these needs.

Building a front office wealth management platform

These are common ground most all wealth management practices have to deal with. As the current state of hosted technology matures (better performance, function and security) we also get the benefit of lower cost of entry to build out these services.

Thus - if we start with a portal technology like (like Microsoft Sharepoint, DotNetNuke, etc.) that can support single sign on efforts to third party applications - we are on our way to assembling a platform.

Examples could be:

• Albridge Wealth Reporting
• Redtail Technology CRM and Imaging
• Money Guide Pro Financial Planning
• Morningstar Advisor Workstation Enterprise Edition
• Laser App forms

A common thread between these tools is they all support single sign on and web services integration. In this example - these specific tools are already integrating with one another. Buy this package of tools - and you have a wealth management suite to connect your portal to. If you use a third-party portal like Advisor Products - you have saved yourself additional effort - as Andrew Gluck's firm already integrates with these products as well. You have outsourced and purchased a wealth management platform that can be branded to your practice with professional client deliverables ready made.

A second example takes into consideration hybrid outfits that have a strong insurance component.

• EBIX Smart Office(CRM, workflow and carrier data)
• Paper Clip Document Management (imaging with carrier submission tools)
• Money Guide Pro Financial Planning
• Morningstar Advisor Workstation (Office Edition to download investment data replacing Albridge)
• Vital Sales Suite and Winflex Web (carrier analysis, research and illustrations)
• Quik forms

This package of tools preserves the spirit of the integrated suite but also captures the modern insurance workflow. Again, these tools integrate with one another and support a single sign on platform environment.

While assembling these products involves conversions, training and implementation - the cost of entry has gone down dramatically as these vendors have matured and enhanced the flexibility and feature sets they offer. It is a good time to invest in initiatives that provide efficiency and productivity gains in a relatively short time window - as well as adding competitive edge and client retention to your practice.

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Interesting View of Computer Usage

Wakoopa.com is an interesting way to monitor your computer usage. While it is constructed as a social tool for networking with other users based on your platform and applications - I find myself using it to track how and what I use on my machines. Additionally - I am beginning to fold it into my work with clients as part of assessments on business process.

This graph is an example window of time tracking use by time on applications in categories such as Internet, Office, Utilities, Multimedia, etc.

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Mac and Windows Syncing Saga Continued

One of the more challenging issues with all of our emerging technology is staying in sync. If you are walking around with a Blackberry or iPhone, have a laptop for travel and perhaps a desktop PC in your home office - how do you keep them all up to date?

There are numerous ways to tackle this, and unfortunately, no single definitive answer. However, there is hope as we will review a couple of approaches with the technology tools often discussed on this site (and include Mac users as well!).

Mac OS X Tools I Can't Live Without

These types of lists usually have some common ground, and then they divert based on the type of work and nature of your computer usage. In my case, I work in financial services as a technologist.

OS X has come a long way since I started using it in 1999 - and now I find that I can use nearly every tool natively on the Mac - including the majority of the financial applications I list on this site. One exception is Morningstar - though Java drive - still requires Internet Explorer and I jump into VMWare Fusion to accommodate that in Windows 7 (installed on the Mac).

Here I am focusing on the business tools that enhance my productivity.

Business Tools:

• Arkovi.com - In private beta for another week or so - provides social media archiving with a business bent. My Twitter archiving is free.
• Dropbox - cross-platform file syncing to access files across multiple computers and from multiple locations
  
• Evernote - never lose any snippet of information you need to save. I store audio, video, pdf's, emails and other chunks of text in it - and it syncs and is accessible from the web, my Blackberry and multiple computers.
  
• Skitch - screenshots on the Mac with lots of controls. Useful for documenting process, capturing errors when you need help and more. Connects with Flickr, Mobile Me and your local photo files.
  
• Spanning Sync - synchronizes Google contacts and calendar with my local Address Book and iCal. Since I sync from my Blackberry to Google - all three stay in unison and organized.
  
• Keynote - from Apple's iWork. The presentation application for Mac. It opens Power Points and also can save its output as Power Point (and PDF). However - it provides amazing presenter tools for those using dual monitors that Power Point does not. Integrated with iPhoto, iTunes and iMovie and very easy to use.
  
• Tweet Deck - for those with a social media bent - update Facebook and Twitter from your Mac and monitor the streams of those you follow.
  
• Time Machine- constantly backs up every bit and byte on my Mac to an external drive. Serves as a nice companion to the online backup via Carbonite. Gives me peace of mind having two backups in two different locations.

Twitter Humor - and some truth to it!

Just some weekend Twitter humor - and a bit of a reality check.

Putting the Kindle to Work

When Amazon’s Kindle arrived last year it first seemed like bleeding edge, then a novelty. Being an early adopter, I put my toes in the water and started using one. It solved some issues for me, being a frequent traveler. Rather than choosing one book, I could have all the books I was currently reading “fit” into my shoulder bag and come along on the trip.

Much like the iPod and Apple’s iTunes Store – the Kindle shops from Amazon.com and can buy books, magazines, blogs and other digital media. It supports Audible, MP3’s and a few other unprotected media formats. Also like the iPod, it is a fairly closed architecture in that it supports some open standards – but is tied to its manufacturer and most value comes from the manufacturer’s store. While I am not a DRM fan as I believe business models have shown that non-DRM media can make money – I also believe it is opening new markets like the iPod did and am willing to be patient as the business model expands.

From a wealth management perspective, I also started thinking about how I could use this device in the workplace, with advisors and staff.

TakeControl Books for Mac Users

I have been a long time reader of TidBits - a web site dedicated to dispersing and distilling Apple-related news for many years. In recent years the TidBits team also launched TakeControl Books. These are full length eBooks in PDF format (no DRM) covering a variety of topics.

Most recently I purchased a Garage Band book from the site for use in the musical side of my life (music studio and local performances). However, covering the Mac as it pertains to financial services on this site and also recently upgrading to Snow Leopard - I wanted to point out some new releases in the last few weeks.

Upgrading to Snow Leopard and Exploring & Customizing Snow Leopard are excellent places for Mac users to start - both new and seasoned veterans of the Apple platform. 

Download a free sample of the Upgrading to Snow Leopard book, which includes a table of contents and sample chapter material.