Working as a financial advisor can be inefficient—whether it’s rounds of golf to put in face time with clients or wading through reams of paper in the back office. Yet in an increasingly competitive industry these old ways of doing things are changing.
That’s why Los Angeles-based InvestCloud offers cloud-based software for investment managers to help them transition to a digital and more efficient future. “Online banking is pervasive, and yet wealth management information tools are so far behind. Advisors need to up their game rapidly,” says Mark Trousdale, the company’s chief marketing officer.
InvestCloud offers two solutions to help bring advisory firms up to speed. The first is InvestCloud CRM, a highly customizable customer relationship management platform that—among other features—allows advisors to easily record notes about clients, wherever they are. “If I’m having beer or coffee with a client or prospect, I can jot down personal details I learn about them, such as their dog’s name or notes about their needs,” he says. “It feels almost like tweeting.”
The second is InvestCloud Blue, a suite of cloud-based apps that provide a mobile platform for client onboarding, communication, advice and wealth management. The apps give investors an easy and attractive digital experience while maintaining comprehensive client information for advisors, including data on wealth history, allocations, holdings, transactions and analysis.
Both InvestCloud products make it possible for firms to adapt the appearance and user experience to be consistent with their own branding.
About 80 percent of inheritors fire their parents’ wealth managers, often because they consider the digital offerings to be indicative of a stuffy, outdated firm, Trousdale says. InvestCloud’s products are built to be easy to mold, so they evolve to meet the user’s needs and preferences. Trousdale says that’s a critical trait that sets the company apart and will suit advisors who are focused on the future.