Schwab tech exec surveys field

Addressing an audience of over 250 advisers during lunch, Dan Skiles, vice president of Technology for Schwab Institutional, discussed the many issues his team has confronted. He spoke at the FPA Business Solutions 2008 yesterday in Chicago. Mr. Skiles said that the technology consultants working for him had learned a lot from the advisers in firms both large and small during their visits around the country this year counseling Schwab affiliates. These include taking the time to periodically examine and assess their internal technology and to determine whether that technology is due for an update. When firms make big technology purchasing decisions many factors should be weighed including who in the firm will be using the new tools, the designated person responsible for implementation, and if employees have adequate training. "We have on many occasions gone into a firm to do an assessment and help them with increasing their efficiency only to have folks tell us that no one knows how to use this expensive new piece of software because there was little or no training," Mr. Skiles said. Another area that comes up repeatedly is quarterly reporting. "There are plenty of good questions to be asked here as well," Mr. Skiles said, "has your firm minimized manual data entry, are you able to produce all of your reports using your portfolio management system, is your firm able to harness the features in the portfolio management system to calculate the firm's fees?"