One of the biggest cultural touchstones so far in 2019 has been the Netflix reality show "Tidying Up with Marie Kondo."
It stars Japanese organizing consultant Marie Kondo as she helps families clean up their homes using her KonMari method. Ms. Kondo goes through every item one-by-one to decide which items really "spark joy."
If it doesn't spark joy, it has to go.
It got me thinking — could the same methodology help advisers improve their technology?
As advisers have tried to modernize their practices over the past decade, many have assembled a Frankenstein monster of various third-party technologies and legacy platforms. Firms have picked out a CRM, financial planning software, a portfolio manager and maybe a few other tools for things like reporting, research or marketing, and have bolted them onto whatever system their back-office relies on.
For David Edwards, president of
Heron Wealth, the result looks like a bowl of spaghetti./assets/docs src="/wp-content/uploads2019/03/CI119102319.PNG"
While Mr. Edwards is proud of the efforts he's made integrating the technology and getting it all to work, he still has until problems with onboarding.
"We signed a new client 10 months ago and still don't have the assets on board," he said. "Time and again we are ["not in good order"] according to the custodian."
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Firms that don't spend the time or money integrating everything can have even more trouble. All the technology clutter can also make it difficult to keep track of all the tools the firm uses, and how much it's all costing. More technology means more maintenance costs and more data security points to manage.
Even after all of that, most firms struggle with adoption.
"Most of the tools never get used," said Adam Holt,
Asset-Map CEO.
Advisers may have been thrilled by the possibilities, but never took the time to properly learn how to use the technology, train staff or integrate it with existing workflows. So that expensive new tool now collects dust.
"Just like that cool shirt in the back of the closet that never gets worn and no longer fits," Mr. Holt said.
If your firm is looking to do some spring cleaning of your technology, maybe Ms. Kondo's approach will help.
Start by taking inventory of every single piece of technology the firm uses, just as Ms. Kondo would pull out every piece of clothing from a closet and toss it on the bed.
Then methodically go through each tool, asking, "does it spark joy?"
"The real question that I would encourage anybody who is making those decisions, is to think under what condition is the technology they're looking at truly giving you a competitive edge," said Heeren Pathak, chief technology officer at
Vestmark. "What is truly meaningful and what is not?"
Most firms probably only need three, maybe four core technologies.
Mr. Pathak and Mr. Holt both said firms are finding the most value from CRM, financial planning or another core sales tool, and portfolio management.
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For other tools, firms need to get honest about how much they are being used and how well each integrates with the core systems. Do clients interact with the tool, and if so, what do they think about each one?
"For the things that aren't really core, that aren't going to give you a competitive advantage, look at the overall system that provides you the best flexibility and value and long-term growth," Mr. Pathak said. "Don't worry about this one thing that has this one feature unless that feature really matters. People need to find that right balance."
A piece of technology might be helpful, but maybe there's a more cost-effective solution out there. Or maybe it's time to get rid of the technology all together.
Ms. Kondo's method can help you be better organized, it can reduce costs, improve data security and increase the ROI of your tech.
So take that piece of software you bought back in 1998, thank it for everything it's given you, and kindly say goodbye.
