How Integrating Technology Improves Business Efficiency

BY ADRIAN JOHNSTONE
cheif executive officer, Practifi

Emerging technology continues to be a major boon for financial advisor firms, as advisors use everything from advanced analytics to AI-enabled software to better manage financial portfolios and deliver more value to their clients.

However, financial advisors can make even better use of the latest software and technology by integrating core business applications to drive efficiency and improve employee productivity. Businesses rely on a number of critical software platforms, including both proprietary and third-party applications, and keeping each one isolated from one another will only create more work—not to mention headaches—for your team.

Integrating technology, especially the business applications you rely on every day, will remove operational obstacles and help your team get more tasks accomplished in less time.

Reduce swivel-chair work

Although the term “swivel-chair work” comes from the IT world, where employees literally swivel their chair to face different monitors displaying ticketing systems, communication platforms and other everyday applications, the phenomenon can be readily witnessed in financial advisory firms as well.

Swivel-chair interfaces are the bane of every employee, forcing them to routinely enter duplicate information into different applications to carry out their assignments. They need to jump from one application to another, manually transferring data as they go.

Without integrated software, financial advisors may find themselves constantly carrying data over from portfolio management tools to their customer relationship management (CRM) platform. Given how many portfolio management applications the average financial advisor uses to give the best guidance possible, they might be combing through several interfaces to update a single account.

Employees spend less time moving between applications when your business software is seamlessly integrated.

That work is wholly necessary for advice firms, but it can be done more efficiently. Integrating all of those applications, and removing them from their silos, allows staff members to quickly gather critical financial data and update CRM account information. It takes less time to produce insights gleaned from multiple portfolio management platforms, giving your team the space needed to support a larger number of clients. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.

Centralize your business workflows

The problem with managing a variety of disconnected, independent business applications is that your employees lack a centralized platform to do their work. They have to move between different software suites to receive updates on different projects and accounts or to see what assignments they have in their queue.

Some businesses can get by with this fractured, decentralized approach to everyday operations, but it’s far from efficient. Employees waste a lot of time hunting down information that’s spread out across a number of different applications. They might waste even more time correcting mistakes and errors made because they couldn’t find the right data or information that was locked away in a siloed piece of software.

Integrating various third-party applications through a business management platform gives your team a centralized view of different workflows and processes throughout the organization. They don’t necessarily need to constantly shuffle through business software to do their work, because much of the information they require is condensed into a single interface.

For instance, our platform can be configured to seamlessly integrate with Google’s G-Suite, which includes widely used apps like Google Calendar, Gmail and Google Docs. By doing so, financial advisors can get a glimpse of their upcoming schedule or see incoming emails directly from the Practifi dashboard. Relevant documents can be tagged to specific accounts so stakeholders can easily view all of the most pertinent client information available.

That means less time sifting through applications and connecting the dots between disparate software.

Integrated business software helps your team be as productive and efficient as possible.

Put more up-to-date data at your team’s fingertips

Data silos are a common problem for organizations of every size and industry. They prevent staff members from acting on all of the most up-to-date information available, leading to flawed decision-making at every level of the organization.

Knocking down those data silos will improve your business at every level. Everyone from your financial advisors to your executive leaders do better work when they have more data and information at their disposal. For instance, financial advisors can provide better guidance and assistance to your clients because they better understand each one’s specific needs and financial goals, as well as have access to the most comprehensive amount of financial market information available. Integrating technology and core business applications effectively removes many data silos within your company, letting information flow freely between, teams, business units and departments.

Integrated business management platform can be the centerpiece of your business operations, connecting many of your most important software platforms and driving efficiency throughout the entire organization. Contact Practifi today to find out more.

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