Automation: The Key to Wealth Management in the Data Age

Software-as-a-Service, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are disrupting the way we do business, creating new services and business models.

And, whilst the scale of change is comparable to previous technological revolutions such as the industrial revolution, the speed of digital transformation is such that businesses need to act fast to keep up.

Wealth management professionals who still rely on desk calendars, emails, and 40-year-old spreadsheet technology will increasingly struggle to keep up with the demands of their tech-savvy clients.

HNWIs who can bank, shop, and communicate anywhere at any time on any device expect to receive a real-time answers when it comes to the management of their wealth.

The client management in the information age becomes more demanding and challenging without proper IT tool to support it.

Every Wealth manager needs to generate and send reports to the clients, manage relationships with them, set up the meetings or simply do invoicing.

All of that is usually done by archaic tools like desk calendars and emails.

Even a spreadsheet — the most common tool in the wealth management industry is already 40 years old.

Would you drive a 40-years old car?

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Other Sectors Are Raising Expectations

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Society is undergoing a digital transformation. Online retailers like Amazon have changed the way we shop.

Our smartphones have apps that help us navigate traffic, find public transportation or book a taxi.

The Internet of Things (IoT) means our fridges can sense when we are out of milk and automatically order more.

Client expectations of wealth management firms are high too.

Key processes such as account overviews, new account opening and international transfers are cumbersome in comparison with experiences in other industries like retail, movie streaming, and social media.

PwC, for example, found in 2013 that 47% of ultra-high net worth individuals regularly use Facebook.

And, according to Deutsche Bank, “More than 33 percent of all new banking business with customers between the ages of 16 and 39 is conducted fully on the Web.”

Clients in the future have different goals and preferences.

Technology hasn’t altered the fact that every wealth manager needs to generate and send reports and invoices to clients, manage client relationships, and schedule meetings.

What it has done is to take over many of the repetitive manual tasks associated with the job, completing them faster and with more accuracy than their human counterparts (and with no need for breaks).

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Cost-Effective Solutions Can Improve Your Employees’ Daily Work

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For wealth managers who are willing to innovate there are fully automated all-in-one portfolio management systems available on the market now.

These systems use APIs and algorithms to automatically integrate portfolio data from custodian banks and to handle reports, invoicing, compliance checks.

If your employees are frequently engaged in these repetitive tasks they are probably wasting time that could instead be spent on meaningful activities that hold more value.

According to the Synpusle study “Welcome to the Brave New World! AI and Robotics in Wealth Management” the main areas, in which process automatization can help wealth manager are:

1. Client onboarding: often involves a lot of manual data entry, time-consuming prospect creation and account opening (sub)processes, several KYC steps and, according to best-practice research, can potentially be up to 85% automated.
2. Reconciliation of securities: laborious repetitive activity with significant manual component and use of office productivity tools (Excel) side-by-side with large and complex technology platforms; completed pilots show up to 50% effort reduction, as well as much lower error rates.
3. Invoicing: organisations where large numbers of invoices are regularly generated with input from various systems, involving manual work and critical validations, can benefit form RPA to automate at least half of these activities, reduce error and disputed invoice resolutions, and increase timely payments to over 90%.
4. Rate and price uploads: another highly manual operation involving Excel sheets; whether in-house or BPO-performed, it can be streamlined with RPA for considerable savings and error reduction, leaving humans to only handle exceptions.

A Cost-Effective Choice: Asset Management Dashboard

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The small financial outlay needed to transition from the old ways to digitalized working is quickly recouped in the abundance of time saved.

Modern asset management solutions are quick to set up and the web-based ones require no expensive hardware and software purchases.

All-in-one solutions combine portfolio management systems, automation with CRM or digital client portals.

These allow HNWIs to log in and view their portfolio at any time on any device.

These smart solutions offer wealth management professionals the convenience of having one secure, central storage place for all their data.

Plus, they eliminate all those time-consuming ad hoc client requests that interrupt workflow.

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Other Pathways

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An alternative to the all-in-one portfolio management solutions is to use multiple systems to store data, handle reporting, invoicing and data visualization, and scheduling, etc.

However, the need to flip between various systems slows down workflow which in turn drives up the cost.

A non-tech solution would be to hire more staff to manage the growing number of demands from clients for reports and data access and to ensure the rising wave of financial compliance regulations are all correctly adhered to.

This option is expensive, short-sighted, and unlikely to provide you with an edge against competitors who have digitized their business.

Digital transformation is not just the smart choice but the only real option for wealth managers who want their business to survive and flourish.

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Work Smarter With WealthArc

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WealthArc offers a web-based smart solution that makes the transition from manual to automated workflows quick and smooth.

The all-in-one digital asset management platform that was developed is user-friendly, visually appealing, and highly secure.

Because the WealthArc platform was built by a team experienced both in the finance and technology industries, wealth managers find it intuitive to use.

Relieved of the stress and hassle of manually generating reports and invoices they are free to spend time developing themselves and their businesses.

Your clients are able to log in to customized data dashboards where they can quickly gain an overview of their entire portfolio.

The web-based SaaS platform lets them access their data securely at any time from any device.

If you want to see how WealthArc can automate and speed-up your daily work, click here and book a free product demonstration.