LPL Financial taps Slack for adviser communications

The partnership builds on the broker-dealer's goal to transform its legacy technology into modern tools for advisers

LPL Financial announced Tuesday it partnered with the business messaging app Slack as its next communication platform to be rolled out to the firm’s 17,000 financial advisers.

With no end in sight to remote work environments, the partnership is an effort to speed up correspondence for advisory firms via a channel-based messaging platform that works on any interface from desktop to mobile, according to the announcement.

LPL will introduce Slack to its advisers throughout its Focus 2020 event this week, according to a company spokesperson. Following the introduction, the firm will then onboard advisers to the tool in waves.

Slack will only be available for advisers to communicate with others within their office, not with investor clientele, the spokesperson confirmed.

“Teams are working remotely more than ever,” said Burt White, LPL Financial managing director and chief investment officer in a statement. “Slack is an ideal solution to bring teams together in this virtual environment, making it seamless to operate in support of their clients, while increasing the digital capabilities that will be the driving force of the advisor practice of the future.”

In June, LPL Financial announced that the firm is revamping its service center and user experience for its network of advisers as the broker-dealer undertakes a “major modernization” of its technology, according to LPL managing director Dayton Semerjian.

Most recently, the firm introduced live chat, call back requests and interactive voice response routing as all new tools to enhance LPL Financial’s ClientWorks platform.