TriplePlay: Investing in technologies that spark adviser success

Transcription:
[Jeff Benjamin] Hi I’m Jeff Benjamin, senior columnist on InvestmentNews and this is Triple Play, a weekly video series where I ask financial advice industry experts to offer practice management tips for Financial Advisers.

Talking with Shirl Penney at a recent conference, the CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners explained how advisory firms can better use technology. Advisory firms need to become more efficient so advisers themselves can spend more time to spend with clients, that’s where personal financial advice would beat out digital platforms and investment algorithms.

[Shirl Penney] A lot of advisers ask us about what types of technology they should be investing in. And what we like to tell then is that it first starts with first understanding what your primary goals and objectives for the business would be. Whether you are looking to perhaps ultimately sell your business, or to grow with a focus on organic growth, inorganic growth etc., it really starts with understanding what your objectives are and then that will determine where you make investments in technology. So I would say, start with a plan that helps lay out the road-map for your technology investments.

Secondly, you should really have a focus on how do you automate a lot of the core practices within the business. How do you integrate the experience for your staff as well as for your end clients? Do you have a digital strategy? Are you in the mobile device of your client? We find that to be very important in today’s world.

Lastly, we find from a technology perspective, the way that you utilise data to help ultimately drive better outcomes for your clients as well as make better, smarter decisions to enhance the profitability of your business, to enhance enterprise value going forward, we find it critical today that you have a data strategy for you business.

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