One of the pillars of digital transformation for wealth management firms is adopting and improving paperless strategies. In the past three years, the COVID-19 pandemic has made asynchronous communication and online meetings a staple for any business. In turn, that level of collaboration is made possible by paperless solutions. Even as wealth management firms adapt to their new normal, the benefits of making the switch from paper to digital are long-lasting.

Here’s how to identify if your wealth management firm is ready to make the switch to paperless, as well as some best practices to increase engagement internally and with your clients:

Laying the Groundwork for a Paperless Office

Going paperless is more than implementing a digital signing tool or hosting documents in the cloud. It means taking all aspects of your business online and creating an ecosystem of integrated tools that enhance your customer’s experience and streamline work for advisors and the back office.

Is your office ready to make the switch? Here are a few things to consider:

• Have you allocated the appropriate amount for your technology budget? Top-performing wealth management firms have increased their budgets for tools and staff to implement and optimize.
• Do you have an internal consensus on your technology strategy? Instead of focusing on individual tools, successful firms first think about the big picture and then seek the best solutions to fit the plan.
• Have you upskilled your employees to transition to paperless? Even for technologically-savvy advisors and staff, creating documentation and processes now saves headaches later.

Top firms have learned how to balance agility with preparation. Waiting too long to make the leap to paperless can mean missing out on some important opportunities. However, implementing new platforms and solutions requires a lot of time and work, so selecting the right options the first time is essential.

Your Paperless Adoption Roadmap

Once you’ve decided to go paperless, it’s time to make the implementation as smooth as possible for everyone involved: clients, advisors, and back-office staff. A smooth implementation process makes you more likely to gain and keep buy-in from your most important players. Here are a few best practices to build into your plan:

1. Begin with Your Document Management System (DMS): The DMS is the backbone of your entire paperless strategy, so do the research to pick the right one and know how to use it well. Before signing a contract, make sure you have the features and integrations you need.
2. Prepare Your Top-down and Bottom-up Buy-in Strategies: A little commotion for your new paperless strategy is definitely appropriate here. Identify an executive sponsor to champion the move from the top. Then, focus on employee engagement with the proper training, addressing potential concerns, and encourage breaking down silos and collaboration across teams.
3. Build your Implementation Roadmap: The best way to get buy-in across your organization is to lay out clearly what’s expected and in what timeframe. From preparing your document library to building your automation and onboarding customers, paperless transitions span across your firm. Don’t leave any part of your implementation to guesswork with a comprehensive plan.
4. Bring in Your Clients: Once your firm is ready to push go on implementation, your messaging to clients needs to hit the mark. Show your clients how this new system benefits them (fewer forms, greater accuracy, reduced wait times for processing documents, etc.) and give detailed instructions on how to use your new system to communicate and interact with you. Client buy-in will only happen if they see improvement and value above the old system, so let your enthusiasm shine through.

Optimize and Expand Your Paperless Processes

Once you’ve implemented your paperless process, staying paperless requires less effort. However, the paperless journey isn’t done after implementation. Tracking your success and the benefits for your staff and clients will help keep momentum. Continue to allocate budget and resources to keep your systems running smoothly and report frequently on the efficiencies you gain.

Ready to make the switch to paperless document management? Docupace uses government-grade encryption and tools to help you maintain security and compliance. With Docupace, you can consolidate all of your firm’s books and records — physical and digital — in order to manage files quickly and confidently, all with private, true cloud-based WORM storage. Let us show you how simple and effective it is by requesting a demo with Docupace.