Your firm is committed to helping clients fulfill their financial dreams and providing a strong strategy to help them get there.

As a wealth management company, there are many moving parts that provide the foundation that your firm needs to build and execute a strong strategy for your clients to meet their goals. This foundation typically starts with the data, but going the extra mile also requires your firm to have a strong focus on giving an unparalleled client experience. The journey is as valuable as the destination.

When aligned with the long-term strategy of your front-office, your back-office plays a huge part to make all of this possible.

It’s no wonder, then, that back-offices comprise a major part of financial institution spending. In fact, recent studies show that as of 2020, many firms report that operations costs comprise up to 40% of their annual spending.

If the majority of back office costs is attributed to outdated, manual processes, it’s time to consider making a change. With the right technology and experts, a modernized back-office can help your firm save significant sums of money.

Here are three great ways to get started:

#1: Establish A Unified Front

While 2020 has been a year of unprecedented change, there has never been a more opportune moment to pause, reflect, and renew. Such global upheaval makes for an ideal time to challenge your perspective and chart a powerful path forward for your team.

The first shift is ideological.

Successful adaptation starts with revising the outlook on your firm’s structure. Go beyond traditional viewpoints of partitioned “front” and “back” offices. Thinking in silos leaves your firm at a competitive disadvantage (especially when your clients expect a world-class experience from all touch-points).

Whether your team is working remotely or in a shared space, think holistically. In the digital era, everything (and everyone) is more visible than ever. The back-office has become front-facing.

By leaning on the experts and proven processes, wealth management firms can now become a more unified collective. Investing in innovative performance technology, processes, and experts not only provides greater consistency, it streamlines your firm’s internal operations and enhances your clients’ overall experience. It’s a win-win.

What does your current tech stack look like? It’s important for your firm to evaluate the value of your current tech stack and see if it is in alignment with the overall needs and goals of your firm.

#2: Employ An End-to-End Workflow

If your team is stuck working with outdated performance systems and manual data processes, you’re losing valuable time and money (not to mention putting the integrity of your data at risk).

Back-offices must rise to the challenge of maintaining a staff that knows what to do and when to do it (while keeping performance in-house). Teams lacking an economy of scale will struggle to provide the specialized, cyclical knowledge they need to succeed.

Knowledge is power, and an end-to-end workflow will ensure your staff is always in sync.

That kind of success starts with a robust and streamlined back office support team. As the foundation of your team’s performance strategy, outsourcing to a team of experts with proven processes and a powerful data calculation system will sync every department in your firm while facilitating and relieving your resources to focus on client relationship growth.

Better yet, a reliable performance solution enables you to spend less time managing, analyzing, or correcting your data and more time cultivating client relationships. The more your client list expands, the more essential your firm’s reporting process becomes.

A proven back office support team that provides a seamless workflow promotes efficiency and supports the long-term strategy of your firm by connecting the goals and responsibilities for both the front and back office teams.

#3: Manage Your Risk

You’re already well acquainted with the importance of compliance. It’s essential to the longevity of your business.

But does your firm have the best systems in place to protect your firm and your clients? And are they optimized to help you stay focused on building and retaining client relationships, rather than regulations?

In order to monitor large sets of accounts and data, you need reliable regulatory surveillance and built-in processes that meet the evolving regulations of the industry. Not just manual systems—automated ones. Proven data processes that align with industry needs builds trust and transparency whether its GIPS in the US or GDPR in the EU.

You firms’ goal — whether by outsourcing or insourcing a back office support staff — should be to fortify its security while streamlining the processes. Work smarter, not harder!

How Do You Get There?

Streamlining your back-office presents an exciting opportunity to increase efficiency, reduce spending, and promote the continued prosperity of both your firm and your clients.

At First Rate, we recognize that a firm’s front-office success is dependent on their back-office’s efficiency.

Learn how a back office team of performance experts can power your business and help you achieve your goals for efficiency and support the long-term growth strategy of your front office teams.

Learn More!