Last week, CRM Software Inc. rolled out version 9.2 of Junxure to advisers and made significant updates to its ClientView Live web portal offering.
The new versions will be available to the general public this week. Because of CRM Software's work with the Schwab Intelligent Integration initiative, the new version of Junxure will be able to pull in a limited amount of data points from Schwab's back-office custody systems.
Despite many advisers' frustration with what they tell me to be Schwab's slow pace, I think this integration represents progress, and it's good news for the hundreds of firms and thousands of advisers who have a custodial relationship with Schwab Advisor Services and also use Junxure.
I should note that in addition to being available on a stand-alone basis, Junxure forms the customer relationship management hub for one of three versions of Schwab's new OpenView Gateway platform offerings for RIA firms. The other two versions feature CRM offerings from Salesforce.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp.
All three platforms are under construction, with no definitive timeline for delivery from Schwab.
"A LONG WAY TO GO'
“We have a long way to go when it comes to tapping data that can be brought in from Schwab, but with these integrations, advisers have access to account-level data including profile details, balances, transactions and alerts,” said CRM Software president Greg Friedman, himself an adviser and Junxure user.
In addition, those data can be filtered and sorted within the application and, perhaps more importantly, be used to trigger and assign work flows to a firm's staff.
Although Mr. Friedman said that he is excited about the incorporation of real-time data, he is more impressed by several other new features, such as a business metrics dashboard.
“We have made this as an adviser's landing page by default, meaning it is the first thing they will see when opening Junxure,” he said, adding that this can easily be changed by the adviser. “Think of the data as a set of chart widgets that you can customize and move around.”
Among Mr. Friedman's favorites are the “top 10 clients” chart, which is based on each client's slice of the firm's overall assets under management, and a series of adjustable “goals” charts.
The latter, for example, could be set by principals and viewed on a daily basis to keep a closer eye on progress toward landing additional clients and increasing AUM growth.
The charts themselves are interactive, allowing an adviser to click and drill down to more detail.
Other charts include assets by class, which can be drilled down to show who owns them, as well as assets by investment type, accounts by custodian, assets by custodian, discretionary accounts versus nondiscretionary accounts, and several others.
The data in the charts also can easily be copied into Excel or other applications.
In terms of its ClientView Live offering, CRM Software has done an extensive rewrite and update that allows advisers a far greater ability to customize a firm's portal features.
“You now have complete control over what the client can see,” Mr. Friedman said.
For example, one of the default tabs in a portal is “insurance,” but for those firms that don't handle insurance products or handle this for clients, it can be turned off.
CRM Software doesn't publish Junxure pricing on its website, saying that the cost varies greatly based on the number of licenses needed, as well as additional services and support packages. Visit Junxure.com for more information.
See the online version of this story for links to many additional new features and some adviser commentary on their own expectations of the new version and its Schwab integrations.
In our most recent technology survey, conducted last summer, 21% of the respondents said that they use Junxure, making it the most commonly used CRM application among registered investment adviser readers of
InvestmentNews.
ELMWOOD DATA
Sharing newly available and promising tools with the adviser community is one of the things I enjoy most about this column.
So I'm happy to tell you about a demonstration of Elmwood Data I received in December.
Designed by advisers, Elmwood Data is a relatively low-cost set of data analytics tools now being marketed to advisers.
Among the available tools I think will prove most popular are the $29.95-per-month per-user equity analysis tool and the separate Futures & FX product for $36.95 per month. A bundle of both currently costs $49.95.
I also like the Scenario Analysis Tool, which is designed to allow users to plot possible outcomes based on statistical analyses of a data series movement. Users can define their own input parameters and then find the average outcome one, three, six and 12 months out.
For example, if the S&P 500 moves 10% below its 50-day moving average, you can come up with predictions for the index's average performance one, three, six and 12 months out.
Or let's say the ISM Manufacturing Index falls two standard deviations below trend. The tool can then generate the average expected performance of industrial stocks for the months ahead.
Elmwood has data on 4,500 stocks and major commodities.
Although other products I have written about —
HiddenLevers
and
MacroRisk Analytics, for example — focus more on portfolio-level analysis or overall portfolio risk based on macro factors, Elmwood Data focuses on security-level data analysis.
“We are not going to displace Bloomberg if an adviser already has it, but this is a complementary tool, and one that is certainly more affordable for the average adviser,” said Uday Tennety, the company's marketing director.
For a bit more description see Davis's blog post:
A bit more on Elmwood Data
For more information visit
Elmwood Data online.
Related stories:
Technology helps advisers tap insight on global scale (HiddenLevers Part 1)
A bit more on how the HiddenLevers core model works (HiddenLevers Part 2)
MacroRisk Analytics online app lets you screen stocks for reaction to economic factors
A simple SMA analytics tool for financial advisers (Zephyr)
StatPro rolls out public beta of Revolution portfolio analytics software
Markov Processes Stylus Web, plan-level reporting tool
Zephyr Associates rolls out new product
djanowski@investmentnews.com
