Few technologies have as much potential to be transformative when it comes to improving operational efficiency at advisory firms as document management.
Yet surprisingly, there aren't that many companies chasing the brass ring. In InvestmentNews' first annual online survey of technology usage and satisfaction last year, 47.8% of the 859 advisers who re-sponded said that they didn't have a document management system in place.
By contrast, just 15.4% reported not having a customer relationship management system.
Given the level of regulatory scrutiny in the industry and what may be on the horizon in terms of more audits or harder questions, however, it behooves advisers at least to begin to look at a modernized document management plan.
That said, I was intrigued recently by the additional progress and approach being taken by document management vendor Laserfiche with its Avante offering. (I will explore the latest offerings from several document management vendors in future columns, so stay tuned.)
What particularly caught my attention was a Laserfiche white paper, “Trend Report: The Rise of the Composite Applications Among RIAs and Broker-Dealers.”
It isn't a deep dive into document management. Instead, it is more of a rudimentary overview of how several different firms, including a couple of registered investment advisers, an asset management firm, a large trust company and a broker-dealer, have used Laserfiche as a central piece of their own platforms and how it works with other tech components.
Most helpful for advisers with no document management are the three infographics put together by fixed-income-management firm Asset Dedication LLC, Piedmont Trust Co., and advisory and accounting firm Rehmann Financial that outline how their own systems interact with Laserfiche.
For those unfamiliar with Laserfiche, it serves many sectors, including financial services, health care and government.
Avante, aimed at firms with fewer than 100 employees, has replaced IntuitionPro, which I first wrote about in 2007. Rio is the firm's offering for enterprises, or those with more than 100 em-ployees. The base annual license price for Avante is $500 per user.
Thanks to the wide-open nature of the document management market for advisers, as well as the company's open architecture and affordable price, Laserfiche is getting traction with advisers.
Sure, the four major custodians have continued their efforts to build out big overarching tech platforms, and document management has been a part of that. But Laserfiche and other third-party companies have continued their individual efforts.
By working with other third-party players — form-filling software from Laser App, for example — as well as a menagerie of progressive RIA firms, independent broker-dealers, value-added resellers and consultants, Laserfiche has been fostering the development of multivendor ecosystems.
Tech geek-speakers call these “composite applications,” which allow advisers to tackle multiple processes using a system that integrates its Laserfiche Avante product with other third-party apps.
For example, using Avante, RIAs and independent broker-dealers can process new-account openings, produce and archive quarterly reports, provide an audit trail of compliance approvals and organize their records management.
"INTEGRATIVE MIDDLEWARE'
They call it “integrative middleware” because of how it links multiple apps, including five common CRM systems and six portfolio management apps.
And Laserfiche continues to expand the capabilities of Avante.
A year ago, it added a free iPhone app to its Avante mix, as well as a free iPad module two months ago, thus taking the app mobile.
Rather than just an iPhone app transferred to a larger screen, the Laserfiche iPad app taps the power of the latest version of the device.
For example, reading side-by-side documents on the superclear high-resolution Retina display found in the latest version of the iPad is a practical reality.
Advisers working out in the field with clients or prospects will find it easier, too, thanks to the improved camera found in the latest version of the iPad, of which the Laserfiche app can take advantage.
It is now possible to complete the account-opening process and file paperwork during an offsite meeting.
An old problem was the need to transmit or mail a high-resolution photocopy of a client's driver's license using secure means. The latest versions of the iPhone and iPad provide a high-enough resolution image, and combined with the Laserfiche in-transit SSL encryption provided by its app, the copy can be directly transmitted to the home office from the device.
ENCRYPTED ACCESS
The app then provides direct encrypted access to advisers' Laserfiche repositories, allowing them to search, browse, view, modify and even create new documents.
And an adviser can create and upload electronic documents, as well.
Advisers also can customize and set up their own views of their Laserfiche repositories through the app.
There is even a social media integration available for Avante from reseller Cities Digital. Its MagniPost product is a social media compliance and archiving solution that provides built-in pre-review, archiving and analytics features for Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter content.
The cost is $100 per month for administrative users, or $20 per month for standard users.
Visit the
Laserfiche Avante pages online for additional information including links to their whitepapers.
Please also go to
InvestmentNews.com/2012advisertech to participate in this year's tech survey.
djanowski@investmentnews.com Twitter: @ddjanowski
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