It’s a common adage in the industry that to be successful as a wealth advisor, it helps to have wealthy clients. And having wealthy clients takes having the right resources and approach to find, attract, service, and nurture relationships with high net worth individuals (HNWI). Historically, that client was (at least) middle-aged, desired in-person meetings with their advisor, and put value in the ‘thud factor’ of a heavy paper portfolio.
The adage holds true, and relationships still matter. But the context has changed:
Your ideal client likely is younger. The concept of wealth has expanded. It’s not just how much money someone has, it’s what it frees them to do. Everyone in the industry is working under somewhat unpredictable fiduciary rules. For your clients, the security of their personally identifiable information (like financial records) is a top of mind concern. Technologies like smartphone apps and robo-advisors have introduced disintermediation, allowing your clients to gather information and watch their portfolios without so much as a phone call with their advisor.
You’re likely very aware that the job of being a successful wealth advisor has gotten a lot more difficult, risky, and competitive. But it’s still very possible to develop lasting, profitable customer relationships. The better news is that you can do that while implementing operational efficiencies. That means you have the opportunity to strengthen the bottom line by earning more and saving more.
That leaves us with the looming question of how. The simple answer is business intelligence (BI). As your client base grows and diversifies, your data grows along with it. By managing it well you achieve greater efficiency and deeper insights. You can build a robust, secure BI solution that will inform more insightful, agile, personal guidance no matter what stage of life or priority your HNWI client may bring to the virtual advisory table.
Turn data analytics into useful business intelligence
The components of a useful BI solution work together like ingredients in a chemistry experiment. Individually, each one has value, but together they create power. These three elements are:
Data mining: Examining and harnessing large databases of client information to generate new, likely deeper insights. Algorithms: Processes or sets of rules that to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer, to solve a class of problems. Predicative analytics: Using your historical data and powerful algorithms to identify the likelihood of future outcomes.
Each one requires sophisticated technologies, but once in place, they work together to create deeper and more accessible insights that can improve client service, guide operational transformation, and produce sweeping business intelligence.
What BI will do for you
We’ve written before about the fact that the wealth advisory industry has lagged in many others with regard to technology adoption. For organizations in most industries, a prevailing BI ‘mindset’ has driven them to invest in technologies that can create process efficiencies and enable smarter business decisions. For wealth advisors, adoption means these benefits and more. Because today’s BI solutions are dynamic, it means you have access to real-time data updates.
And that means that you are as fast as your client’s online portfolio, as informed as the robo-advisor, but as personalized and relational as only you can be. The benefits of investing in a BI partner with the right skills, experience and tools span your entire organization:
Make Smarter Choices:
When you are given the data to better understand your everyday processes, you can understand what weaknesses your firm has and fix those weaknesses. By fixing weaknesses in firms and shorten processes you will also cut costs. BI allows you to work smarter not harder.
Improve Operational Efficiencies:
Improve your operations by eliminating the need for your employees to view many different data sets and check many different software applications to reach conclusions and incorporate predictive analytics. By reducing the time your employees are taking on mundane tasks, you will reduce costs, create a better organizational culture and improve efficiency.
Reduce Business Risks:
When data is scattered, more mistakes are made in every facet of your organization. If your team is only looking at one aspect of the overall picture, how can they make the best decision to be successful for your clients? Allow your team to view the whole picture by consolidating data and providing better resources to view that data. With dynamic reporting providing a wider view of your data, you can determine areas that may be disrupting budgets and reduce business risks.
Develop Better Customer Relationships:
Your clients demand personalized service. With BI, you can capture your client’s data to show them an all-encompassing view of their portfolio in real-time. You will also help your clients make smart decisions with more intelligent predictive analytics.
Market changes, new technologies, and information glut can be overwhelming, but they don’t have to be. In fact, with the right solutions and support, they are competitive advantages. There’s never been a smarter time to transform your data into BI. You’ll run with more process efficiencies, know more, mitigate risks more effectively, advise with more confidence, and build the kind of relationships that the new HNWI clients expect from a wealth advisor they’ll rely on for decades to come.
