How Enabling Back Office Heroes Helps Wealth Management Firms

The work wealth management firms take on enables their clients to pursue what all humans want: happiness, freedom, and meaning. After all, secure financial health ensures a secure future for clients themselves, their families, and their communities.

This responsibility is not one financial advisors and wealth management providers take lightly. Indeed, most spend the majority of their careers building exceptional client experiences from start to finish that reflect the nature of their important work.

That’s why any potential mishaps in back office execution create disproportionate ripple effects, for their brand, reputation, and client relationship. Back office professionals — which we like to call #BackOfficeHeroes — are often the backbone keeping this system together. So what is a back office hero? How can the financial services industry support them? Why should they be a priority?

What Does It Mean to Be a #BackOfficeHero?

A back office hero can take many different forms. But broadly put, a back office hero is the person who runs things from behind the scenes so advisors, front office staff, and others can focus on helping clients build a brighter future for themselves. Though perhaps not as glamorous as more visible roles, back office heroes are just as essential to keeping any wealth management firm afloat.

Back office heroes are also the professionals most likely to be juggling the many legacy systems, vendors, processes, and relationships that firms need to keep daily operations running for clients. This can mean processing and organizing key documents, onboarding clients, or even keeping track of all the different compliance requirements so the firm doesn’t get hit with penalties.

Oftentimes, these systems are completely separate from one another, making it difficult for a back office hero to save the day and stay sane, too. In the hybrid working environment of 2022, supporting #BackOfficeHeroes by consolidating these processes has never been more important if companies are serious about providing the best experience to their clients and employees.

Why Back Office Heroes Are More Important than Ever

Hybrid and remote work is here to stay. Since COVID, 69% of financial services companies say at least 60% of their workforce will work from home once a week going forward. With this new, flexible model becoming more normalized, it’s vital that wealth management firms take special interest in supporting the unique needs of back office heroes.

Back office heroes need support through the right processes and technological solutions. Of employees who said they were less productive when working from home than before, 30% said difficulty getting the information they needed was a top factor. The typical disparate systems back office heroes deal with can lead to lower productivity, which then lowers work satisfaction.

Experts agree that paying attention to logistical details — such as providing effective technology resources — can have “an outsized effect toward building loyalty and appreciation” among employees. Back office heroes have sustained financial services companies for so long, and now it’s time for companies to repay the favor by reevaluating processes that may hinder progress.

How Digital Transformation Can Empower #BackOfficeHeroes

If you’ve not bought into supporting back office heroes with the right technological solutions yet, take a look at the data. It’s never been more clear that digital transformation is consuming the financial services industry. Companies who waffle on adopting technological solutions in how they manage their systems are likely to fall behind their more digitally-savvy counterparts in productivity, employee satisfaction, and revenue returns.

In 2022, 38% of digitally advanced firms expect measurably higher revenue prospects compared to just 13% of less digitally advanced firms. Not only that, but digitally advanced firms generated an 8.6% increase in revenue and saw an 11.3% increase in productivity in 2021.

Digital transformation equals more productivity among back office heroes and other workers, which engenders more trust from clients, which then translates into higher revenue. Focusing on back office heroes and their unique needs in a hybrid workforce is the first step to seeing these returns.

In summary, back office heroes truly are just that — heroes. Without them, wealth management firms wouldn’t be able to do what they do. Supporting back office heroes from wherever they work — in the office, remotely, or in a hybrid model — is key to keeping them happy, productive, and unleashed to provide the best returns to the company.

Docupace’s platform offers a holistic solution to back office operations. Seamless data and forms processing, workflows, compliance, integrations, and data storage make it easier for back office heroes to do their jobs everyday. Reach out to learn more.