I quit using it about 3 years ago, but used it for 3 years.  What kinds of things do you want to be able to do?

You are truly an enigma…

Sorry....  When I went independent 7 years ago, I began using dbCams.  Used it for three years -- it was OK at best, but I was unhappy with their tech support.  We never were able to get it up and fully integrated, and I believe that I and my staff are very tech savvy.  Finally gave up in frustration.

Do you want software that will download client data to prepare reports or are you more interested in client management?  Personally I have given up on an integrated system.  I am using the Bill Good system for client mangement (which I absolutely love) and I'm using Albridge for client reports and integrated information. 

Hope that helps a little more than my late night quick response.

I use a legal pad and investment statements. I don’t want people focused on the minutiae of each little component on a 90 day basis. I qualify my statement by admitting that I don’t do asset-based fee business that requires this type of reporting.

[quote=OldLady]

Sorry…  When I went independent 7 years ago, I began using dbCams.  Used it for three years – it was OK at best, but I was unhappy with their tech support.  We never were able to get it up and fully integrated, and I believe that I and my staff are very tech savvy.  Finally gave up in frustration.

Do you want software that will download client data to prepare reports or are you more interested in client management?  Personally I have given up on an integrated system.  I am using the Bill Good system for client mangement (which I absolutely love) and I'm using Albridge for client reports and integrated information. 

Hope that helps a little more than my late night quick response.

Joe,

I've been using Morningstar's Principia or currently their Morningstar Advisor system for the asset allocation -- not as detailed as Frontier Analytics, but clients really like it, plus most the other folks in town use Frontier, so it gives me a different look.

The dbCams reports are really nice looking, but we could never get the interface to work well, so we were never able to use the reports -- entering everything manually was a pain.

But in the last 3 years, technology and capabilities have changed dramatically, so maybe things work terrifically well now.  I'm delighted with Albridge -- but my needs are pretty simple.  I'd ask dbCams for names of at least 3 users you can contact and talk to about their experiences.  Sorry I'm not a lot of help -- but I was an unhappy camper when I dropped them.

[quote=OldLady]

Sorry…  When I went independent 7 years ago, I began using dbCams.  Used it for three years – it was OK at best, but I was unhappy with their tech support.  We never were able to get it up and fully integrated, and I believe that I and my staff are very tech savvy.  Finally gave up in frustration.

Do you want software that will download client data to prepare reports or are you more interested in client management?  Personally I have given up on an integrated system.  I am using the Bill Good system for client mangement (which I absolutely love) and I'm using Albridge for client reports and integrated information. 

Hope that helps a little more than my late night quick response.

I preface this -- this was 3 1/2 years ago.

The interface to automatically import client holdings, etc.  never would work well enough to count on. Tech support was often non-existent to non-interested.  We typically had to manually input most of the data -- was too much work. 

Thank you.

From what I understand, the reliability of imports often is affected by how well the b/d has produced a quality data stream…

Agreed.  My b/d clears through Bear Stearns and they aren't the most progressive on technology, but I also do a lot of direct business.  It just never worked for us -- Albridge has.