Leaving a technology showcase for your specific industry knowing that your company is on the leading edge of the three key focuses during the event.

I know I felt great at the conclusion of the CEB Tower Group’s Wealth Management Technology Showcase last month which, rightfully so, put its focus on the significance and demand for goals based advisory tools.  The message throughout the investment industry is the undeniable need for incorporating goals based investing conversations in your firm’s reporting.  During this two day event, subscribers of CEB and wealth management vendors participated in presentations, panels and product demonstrations focused on three main areas: Financial planning, portfolio management, and client reporting.

The takeaways and First Rate’s position…

• While goals based investing and reporting is getting more popular, there were not many examples of any firms that are doing this on a highly scalable basis. The industry is slowly embracing the trend but not in a mass volume way yet.  First Rate has positioned itself in the forefront of this wave with the January release of our Goal Based Reporting engine.
• There is a high value placed on the ability to show progress on a goal base on the original plan. This allows the advisor to show progress and is a great starting point for discussing any adjustments that are needed, such as increasing contributions or decreasing risk. Our reporting focus in Goal-Based Reporting V1 has exactly that. With our first release of OnPoint, First Rate’s flexible reporting tool now offers four unique schedules and graphs that support the conversation of progress to goal.
• Clients are looking for more support and flexibility when it comes to the distribution of information. Portals are becoming more prolific and advisors are looking to use them as differentiation opportunities. The ability to provide more technology channels (online portals, tablets, smartphones) as well as up to date information is driving the progress in this area. And finally, with the extensive options offered by our company for accessing data, we can serve up goal based report pdf reports through ARKON (our newest CRM solution), mobile, and our industry standard Advisor and Advisor Express interfaces, as well as providing extract and real-time calls.

I think you can understand why I was a happy man heading home from this showcase.

Craig Weitz( President )

Craig Wietz, President of First Rate, has been an integral part of the company since 1995. In this role, he oversees all the business lines, the functions that develop and maintain client relationships, as well as strategic planning and the groups responsible for internal operations. Prior to his current role, Wietz was responsible for the Service Bureau business line and has contributed strategic insights in statement processing, third-party data aggregation, model portfolios and benchmark services for First Rate. Connect with Craig via LinkedIn.