LPL Financial updates service center with new tech tools

LPL Financial announced Thursday the firm is revamping its service center and user experience for its network of 17,000 advisers as the broker-dealer undertakes a “major modernization” of its technology.

The firm’s newest tools — including live chat and AI-based interactive voice response — are designed to evolve its service center from what was historically a “generalist call center,” according to LPL managing director Dayton Semerjian.

“This is the beginning of a major customer care, adviser experience transformation and the first piece that we're laying down are these omnichannel capabilities," he said. 

Live chat, call back requests and interactive voice response routing are all new tools to enhance LPL Financial’s ClientWorks platform. Notably, the firm leverages Nice inContact Cloud software for its IVR routing, which voice-directs advisers to the appropriate service professional based on their specific needs, Semerjian said.

Currently, the new tech tools are live for 6,000 advisers, and LPL Financial plans to roll out to the rest of its network through the summer, Semerjian said. “We’re going through specific cohorts of our advisers to ensure that as we onboard a new set of advisers that they feel comfortable with the technology and that appropriate management is in place.”

Moving forward, LPL Financial is expecting to add more enhancements to its service center with the goal of matching the firm’s customer experience with that of organizations outside financial services, Semerjian said.

“Look at Apple, Amazon, Google and even Disney — when we think about customer experience as a goal and design point we want to deliver, we're making sure that we have the best capabilities not necessarily just from inside the industry, but from all industries,” he said.

To that end, Semerjian says his focus will continue to zero in on curating digitally savvy solutions that are scalable.