Asset Relationship Management Solutions...
From Planning To Implementation
Do you consider relationships to be an asset to your organization?
They are more than just financial. Your assets are also the relationships you
have both internally and externally.
ARMS is a financial asset management system designed especially for use in financial institutions to reveal the barriers that prevent achievement of your organizations full potential. Used either as a stand-alone product or in combination with other business development processes.
On
this page, you'll find broad strokes on the steps we take to assist
you in getting your ARMS around the challenges preventing success in your organization.
 Defining
the Financial Planning/Asset Wealth Management Business
We work with management, specifically those tasked with
developing and implementing an advice-driven financial asset management system, to develop "stakes in the ground" for the following:
- Service Offering - level and types of planning services required
- Pricing Strategies - fee versus non-fee
- Delivery of Services - centralized versus decentralized delivery
mechanism
- Differentiating the Offering - branding and marketing
- Adoption - barriers to entry, strategy to "get advisors on board,"
and measuring success
- Return on Investment - measuring success of the business proposition
- Migration of Planning Services - integrating planning into the firm's
client relationship management
Determination
of Current Position
Once "stakes in the ground" and an overall
strategic direction have been defined, fiSMART consultants develop and
assess an "as is" asset wealth management model that focuses on the following:
- Current Policies
- Current Processes
- Organizational Design
- Metrics and Reporting Capabilities
- Technology
- Current Financial Support
- Marketing Support
All of the above are analyzed and assessed with consideration
given to the firm's corporate culture, competition, and industry best
practices. Based on this analysis, a recommended strategy is selected,
and appropriate changes to policies, process, organization design, etc.
are developed to support the strategic direction and goals of the firm.
As part of developing the "as is " model, fiSMART conducts surveys and
focus groups with employees in various roles, including those in senior
management, product management, sales management, advisors, and field
support staff.
Policies
Our consultants examine your firm's policies as part
of the identification of current position. These policies include but
may not be limited to the following:
1. Compensation Policies
- advisor payment policies and incentives
2. Pricing Policies
- Fee for planning or complimentary services
- Discounting
3. Practice Management Policies
- Current best sales and client relationship management practices
- advisor training
4. Quality Assurance Policies
- Safeguards in place to ensure service levels
5. Marketing/Client Acquisition Policies
- How advisors are trained to acquire clients
- National versus local advertising
- Branding
6. Distribution Policies
- Centralized versus decentralized model
7. Operational Policies
- Disclosures
- Entitlements
- Home office governance
- Regulatory interpretation and compliance
8. Training Policies
- Existing programs and delivery mechanism
- Credentialing
- Mandatory versus optional
9. Other Policies
Examination
of Current Processes
Our consultants examine your firm's existing processes
as part of the identification of current position.
1. Financial Plan Development Process
- Profiling process and tools
- Plan portability
- Work flow
- Approval process
- Time requirements to complete plans
- Quality standards
- Help desk support
- Updating/reviewing plans
2. Compensation Payment Process
- When and how much advisors are paid
- Incentives for branch management
- Qualifying for incentives
3. Pricing Process
- Collecting and processing the plan fee
- Discounting
- Pricing alternatives
4. Software Usage Process
- User experience
- Level of "advisor delight"
5. Plan Implementation Process
- Identifying sales opportunities
- Product selection
6. Plan Review Processes
7. Financial advisor Practice Management Procedures
- Team versus single practioner
- Roles and responsibilities
- Firm support
- Operational support
8. Branch Management Procedures
- Quality assurance
- Roles of branch managers
- Tools to improve adoption
- Consistency in operations
- Operational support
- Home office governance
9. Financial advisor Training Processes
- Operational training
- Skills based training
- Compliance training
- "Just in time" training
10. Other Procedures
Examine
Organizational Design
Our consultants examine your firm's existing organizational
design as part of the identification of current position.
1. Financial Planning/Wealth Management Department
Structure
- Centralized versus decentralized
- Field support
2. Roles and Responsibilities of Field Personnel
- Training responsibilities
- Client interaction
- Marketing responsibilities
3. Roles and Responsibilities of Home Office Personnel
- Subject matter experts
- Centralized high net worth planning experts
- Help desk support
Examine
Metrics & Reporting Capabilities
Our consultants examine your firm's existing metrics
and reporting capabilities as part of the identification of current
position.
1. Determine if the firm has set financial planning
performance goals
- Asset gathering goals
- Client retention goals
- Planning volume goals
- advisor adoption
- Wallet share
2. Definitions of Success
3. Data Utilization Capabilities
- Data mining
- Reporting to key stakeholders
Technology
Examination
Our consultants examine your firm's financial asset management system / wealth management technology offering as part of the identification
of current position.
1. Financial Planning Software
- Identify the existence of a goal-based financial planning software
application that provides financial advisors the capability of producing
a comprehensive financial plan. The offering should deliver the appropriate
advice to clients ranging from the mass market through the mass affluent
market segments. Depending on the firm's financial planning / wealth
management distribution strategy, recommendations may be made to improve
design and functionality or to replace with a more suitable software.
2. Asset Wealth Management Software
- Document the existence of a cash-flow-based wealth management software
application that provides financial advisors the capability of producing
an in-depth financial plan to deliver the appropriate advice to high-net-worth
clients. An analysis may produce recommendations on improving the
current application or to replace with a more suitable software solution.
3. Business Planning Software
- Business valuation
- Succession planning
- Employee benefit planning
4. Asset Allocation Engine
- Flexibility
- Risk tolerance identification
- MVO
5. Monte Carlo Engine
- Rules
- How it works
- How it should be communicated
6. Imaging and Document Management
7. Electronic Fact Finding Tools
8. Alerting / Contact Management / CRM Application
- Integrated solution versus stand-alone tool
9. Predictive Modeling Tool
- Customer trends
- Product design and success
10. Business Rules Engine
- Automating policy and procedures
11. Quality Assurance Engine
- Automating suitability of client recommendations
12. Workflow Tool
13. Enterprise Database / Integrated Data Warehouse
- One time data entry
- Importing
Examination
of Budgets
Our consultants examine your firm's financial planning
/ wealth management budget as part of the identification of current
position.
1. Appropriation of Funds
- Identify how the funds appropriated to the financial planning /
wealth management department have been spent over the last five years.
Examination
of Marketing
Our consultants examine your firm's financial planning
/ wealth management marketing as part of the identification of current
position.
1. Target Market Segment
- Identify whether the firm has specified a target market segment
for the financial planning / wealth management department. If a target
market segment has been identified, then we document the specific
segment.
Examination
of Corporate Culture
Our consultants examine your firm's financial planning
/ wealth management corporate culture as part of the identification
of current position.
1. Determination of Existing Corporate Culture
2. Identify the Financial Planning / Asset Wealth Management
Department's Culture
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