This adviser takes a risk by publishing their technology goals for the new year
This is the time of year when we make promises to ourselves. Eat right. Exercise more. Get organized. Many of us fail to achieve our goals, but I am going to take a risk by publishing my technology resolutions for 2016 to hold myself accountable for truly accomplishing them. Here they are:
1. I will organize my emails. By the end of this month, I will place saved or “to be acted upon” emails into very specific folders. I'm embarrassed to say that, right now, when I need to find an old email, I need to do a key word search.
2. I will permanently delete emails I no longer need on an ongoing basis. If I look in my saved mail, I know I will find flight reservations from four years ago. It's time to clean that up rather than pay for more storage.
3. I will use my CRM software more diligently. My employees are told that “if it's not in the CRM, it doesn't exist.” Yet, I email assignments and keep lists on Excel for myself.
(Related: 5 adviser tech trends that will define 2016)
4. I will clean up the icons on my desktop. They are unorganized and include icons for programs I no longer use. There are also icons that I wish were there. And, yes, I will do this by the end of the month.
5. I will make a decision and actually implement a password saver for myself. I know I've written about this and told everyone else that they need to do it. Yet, I am guilty of having to reset passwords I can't remember. Deadline: end of January.
6. I will change my voicemail greeting and auto-replies once a month. I'm a big believer in not saying the same old thing (“I'm out of the office right now…” or “I'm on vacation and will return…”). I like voicemail greetings like “I'm busy growing your wealth …” or “I'm working on strategies…” For emails, you can do an auto-reply (which is different than “out-of-office” reply) that says something like “I received your email and will get back to you later today” or “I'm about to go into a meeting, so I'll respond in a bit.”
These are good goals and I think I can do them. I'm embarrassed enough to have publicly admitted my shortcomings. I guess I'd better be prepared to be held accountable a year from now. Wish me luck!
Sheryl Rowling is the chief executive of Total Rebalance Expert and principal at Rowling & Associates. She considers herself a non-techie user of technology.
