In an industry known for its traditional approach, the wealth management sector is now facing a demand for change from today’s clients. The days of relying on pen and paper, word documents, and excel sheets are no longer sufficient. Clients expect accessibility and convenience, such as being able to book appointments outside office hours or signing paperwork while enjoying a round of golf. In a world dominated by connectivity and convenience, people seek the latest digital technologies in all aspects of their lives, including financial advisory services.
Fortunately, the advent of new digital technologies presents an opportunity to not only meet these growing client expectations but also transform the RIA/client relationship entirely. In this blog, we will explore five key ways in which comprehensive and customizable paperless tools can revolutionize how firms engage and interact with their clients.
Increase Client Engagement
If your advisors spend a large percentage of their time manually opening accounts, responding to clients, and sorting through data, they’ll have less time to dedicate to client relationships. Because they’re pressed for time and weighed down by the burden of repetitive tasks, they don’t have the morale or energy to put their best foot forward with the client.
Yet when firms embrace digital transformation, they open up opportunities for stronger client engagement and higher morale across the organization. As productivity increases, engagement between clients and staff increases, too. By investing in innovative technology, the firm will have more time and resources to dedicate to connecting and communicating with clients in new ways.
Improve Client Onboarding
Despite massive technological advances over the past few decades, onboarding is still one of the most time-consuming processes for RIAs. Endless paperwork and the opening and maintaining of accounts leaves plenty of room for error — and when mistakes do happen, the process takes even longer.
By switching to new technologies, firms can drastically speed up processing times,
reduce NIGO submissions and boost client satisfaction. Cloud-based, SEC- and FINRA-compliant solutions are easily integrated with CRMs and other existing infrastructure, helping to catch errors and inconsistencies, auto-populate data, and more. Clients enjoy convenient features like electronic signing, and staff can track account processing in real time from any office.
Increase Client Trust
Not only do paperless wealth management tools help firms stay compliant — they also increase client trust. The reason for this is two-fold:
- Clients want to know that their sensitive financial information is safe, and the latest technology (like government-level data encryption and cloud-based vaults) gives them peace of mind.
- Clients don’t want to spend time waiting around for paperwork to be processed. Prefilling forms and automated workflows streamline the onboarding process, so advisors can focus on giving investment advice clients trust, rather than dealing with the red tape.
Younger generations are even more likely to put their trust in firms using new technology: one study found that 57% of Gen YZ said they would change financial advisors if they weren’t using technology to enhance their services.
Boost Your Reputation
Opening and maintaining new accounts is one of the biggest pain points for advisors, with 37% of advisors reporting that the account opening process is the “most cumbersome part of client interactions.” And while a focus on time-consuming administrative tasks can take away from your firm’s reputation, digital transformation achieves just the opposite.
By breaking down digital silos and streamlining data, digital transformation helps increase your credibility. As advisors have more time to innovate and strategize, clients quickly take note. They’ll appreciate the simplified onboarding process, ease of communication, and regular updates from their RIAs.
Meet Clients’ Digital Demands
Happy clients beget more happy clients. So what makes clients happy in 2022? According to one McKinsey study, it’s all about reimagining client engagement and experience through technology. Today’s clients have new expectations about how they want to be served, and digital services have gone from a “nice-to-have” to a must-have.
In fact, 50% of clients think their wealth managers need to improve their digital capabilities. Fortunately, paperless tools make it easier for RIAs to simultaneously deepen relationships and broaden their client base by automating processes, reducing errors, increasing compliance and empowering new advisors.
Transform Client Relationships with Docupace
As clients demand higher levels of engagement and convenience, firms need to lean on new digital technologies in order to deliver. Docupace offers an innovative suite of paperless tools designed to help RIAs transform how they operate and communicate, helping them increase client engagement, trust and referrals.
Our comprehensive, configurable platform automates client onboarding, streamlines document management, eases advisor transitions, and more. So if you’re ready to increase productivity, grow your business, and improve client relationships, contact Docupace to schedule a demo today.
