With the rise of digitalization in today’s world, also comes the shift of firms streamlining operations tasks to keep up in this fast paced market. Over the past few years, we have seen an increase in Financial Technology (“FinTech”) companies developing paperless solutions for registered investment adviser (“RIA”) firms to accelerate operational processes and enhance the client experience in key functional areas such as client onboarding, billing, and trading.
Also, as an effect of the pandemic, we saw the quick shift of clients opting to use digital products and services. RIA firms can evolve with the industry changes and keep a competitive edge by adding technology to their operations.
In this post, we will discuss the benefits of adopting digital account open tools that enable both advisors and their clients, to simplify the overall onboarding process in a paperless environment.
From our experience working with RIA firms we understand that the process of opening new accounts is particularly time-consuming if the data is entered manually. Without digital options, advisors are either meeting with clients in-person to fill out extensive paper documents or gathering all the necessary information from the client and the custodian by going back and forth on emails or phone calls. During this manual-driven process, advisors run the risk of data entry errors, which once again can slow down the entire task. Clients may gain a negative view from these types of roadblocks during the onboarding experience as their expectations for a simple process are unmet.
Key Benefits of Digital Account Open Tools
The frustrations associated with entering incorrect information, or data in the wrong places, along with the time-consuming back and forth communication with clients about missing documents or signatures can be eliminated with a digital account open tool.
The key benefits of adopting an account open tool are as follows:
- Convenience of paperless delivery of statements
- Reduce data entry errors
- Seamlessly import data with third-party integrations
- Simplify the process of verifying of the client’s personal information
- Streamline your document collection and signature retrieval process
- Access real-time tracking on account opening progress
Currently, technology solutions offered to the wealth management industry such as contact management systems (“CRM”) and portfolio management software rarely integrate with digital account opening tools. By selecting solutions that integrate with digital account opening tools, RIAs can benefit from the connections between their platforms and custodians, which automate data entry and reduce the risk of data errors, resulting in less errors and double data entry. With less time being spent on collecting and filing information, advisors will be able to shift their focus on higher value client service, resulting in an improved client and advisor relationship.
Digital account open tools, among other innovations, simplify and enhance the user experience for both the advisors within the RIA firm and for the firm’s clients.