This intrepid (and tired) reporter has been riding the rails and flying the crowded skies over the past few weeks attending conferences, taking part in panels and meeting with many financial advisers about my favorite subject: adviser technology.
Let me offer some highlights of those events that may be most meaningful for you.
In Washington, at a regional TD Ameritrade Institutional conference, I was on a panel that discussed the results of the 2011 RIA Technology Study published by our
IN Adviser Solutions research group. The study found that 82% of advisers rely on technology from their custodians, which are undertaking improvements and upgrades.
SMALL-PICTURE FOCUS
But rather than discuss various big-picture issues, most advisers wanted to focus on the small picture — their own firm — with many asking questions about cloud computing. These ranged from tactical topics such as how to find a provider of secure document storage services to strategic questions, including whether it is safe to give up on-premises services in favor of cloud-based providers.
I reminded the audience that no matter how advisers choose to store data, the vast majority of information thefts and breaches remain inside jobs. A recent report from the Computer Emergency Response Team Ticker:(CERT) Coordination Center, which investigates fraud, found that 82% of the financial services cases that it had handled since 2001 were the result of insider fraud, not an external breach.
I also reminded them that the quality of the encryption, authentication and physical security at data centers that run and store cloud-based applications probably trump anything they can do on their own. What's more, these nondescript facilities are probably less of a target than a financial advisory firm's offices.
Many of my conversations (often the best ones) with advisers between sessions involved ways that they could improve efficiency in just one corner of their business. For example, two advisers asked if I knew of tools that can help run the relatively small, but significant, 401(k) management portion of their businesses.
One said that he had just seen a really impressive demonstration of retirement plan tools from The Advisor Lab (theadvisorlab .com), which include a diagnostic for measuring the health of a plan, something I am now researching for a column (thanks to Alex Murguia and David Frisch for that idea).
The most fulfilling of my on-the-road experiences, and the one closest to home, was the enthusiastic adviser who literally came jogging up to the podium in Brooklyn, N.Y., to ask a question just before I began moderating a panel at the practice management and investments conference of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors.
The jogger simply wanted to thank me for the column I had written about document management provider in-Stream
(InvestmentNews, Oct. 23), and to let me know that he had signed up for the beta version and was anxious to try it out. Too busy making last-minute preparations for the discussion ahead, I unfortunately failed to get his name. (Sir, if you are reading this, send me an e-mail at
[email protected]).
I will be back at my desk over the next few weeks, but I am still eager to hear from you. Please e-mail or call me.
Sharing what I hear about new products, problems and solutions that can make a real difference for advisers is what keeps me going.
Email Davis D. Janowski at [email protected]
