Have you ever been in a meeting with a client and asked them to spell their name multiple times? Not only does it make you seem inattentive, it also turns what should be individual consulting opportunities into mere Q&A sessions. Spending time repeatedly asking about their personal information, long-term goals and financial situation is frustrating for both RIAs and clients.

However, maximizing meeting time with customers is possible, particularly when automated data aggregation tools are thrown into the mix. That was precisely the thinking behind why Docupace acquired PreciseFP in late 2021.

Already a leader in cloud-based fintech digital operations software, Docupace partnered with PreciseFP’s innovative client-facing capabilities to offer a cohesive, customizable solution for wealth management firms. Here’s how PreciseFP and Docupace’s services can help improve client meetings for all involved parties.

Minimizing Manual Mistakes

Traditionally, RIAs had to stay consistently alert during the client data-gathering process. This level of attention wasn’t placed on the actual interaction between advisor and customer; instead, it focused entirely on accurately getting personal information into the firm’s systems. According to some studies, client data collection and entry equals about 40% of costs of creating a new financial plan.

That’s not to mention the frequent, unintentional errors caused by a manual data entry process. Data entry is lengthy and cumbersome and severely eats into RIAs’ time for completing other, equally crucial tasks.

PreciseFP allows RIAs to aggregate client data and present it in customizable formats. Rather than manually pulling and cross-referencing information from disparate sources, tools like PreciseFP can offer insights into client preferences and behavior with the click of a button. Advisors will have better visibility into the information they need to make informed, personalized decisions for their clients and present those recommendations in understandable and compelling ways.

Standardize Custom Processes

The investment experience can be hit or miss for some clients. Entrusting funds to a financial expert should, in theory, result in better financial outcomes for the investor. Unfortunately, traditional methods of portfolio creation rely largely on manual processes that are challenging for RIAs to personalize efficiently. Cookie-cutter recommendations that aren’t specific to a customer’s goals and current situation turn clients off from particular firms and, sometimes, from wealth management services altogether. Not to mention the behavior ratchets up regulatory risk and violates the advisor’s fiduciary responsibility.

PreciseFP changes this scenario by drastically improving the customizable aspect of the investment experience. Instead of generic forms that leave room for errors, advisors can now guide clients through a user-friendly workflow that prompts customers for needed information. These premade data-gathering templates also feed into the array of systems used by wealth management firms to regularly conduct business.

These capabilities have other benefits, including:

• Fostering more trust between the firm and its clients
• Making clients feel their specific needs are being heard and met
• Improving security around sensitive personal data and investment transactions

These advantages strengthen the client/advisor relationship and help RIAs hold more meaningful and strategic investment conversations with clients.

Get to Know Your Customer and Their Needs

The partnership between Docupace and PreciseFP also can help improve client/advisor meetings in a crucial way: it provides RIAs time to build up deep customer relationships.

Research by the American Psychological Association reported that participants felt less awkward than expected when engaging in both small talk and more meaningful conversations with apparent strangers. This study suggests that clients aren’t necessarily opposed to having in-depth conversations with their advisors that delve into relationships, family, personal finances, and health. These topics can help firms better align investment recommendations with a particular customer’s values and goals. The key to creating more impactful discussions lies in RIAs having the time to conduct them.

One of Docupace’s core tenets is its commitment to the “back-office revolution,” a process in which the old paper-based way of getting things done transitions into more efficient and consistent digital workflows. Part of this revolution is the notion that back-office staff take on more of the manual work that traditionally fell on RIAs’ shoulders. As this revolution continues to pick up steam, conversations between advisors and clients will become more personal, insightful, and productive. And at the end of the day, that’s exactly what platforms like PreciseFP and Docupace are here for.

Learn more about Docupace and PreciseFP.

What’s the one service most financial clients want but aren’t getting? Tax planning.

One recent survey found that 92% of investors expect their advisors to provide tax planning advice, but only 25% of those clients are actually getting the service.

Clearly, there’s a huge demand for advisors who understand taxes and can provide personalized, relevant advice and tax planning services. But adding another service can seem daunting, especially with the complex and constantly evolving world of taxes.

A discussion between Holistiplan and PreciseFP streamlines tax planning, making it easy for advisors to analyze their clients’ tax returns and provide customized recommendations — without having to memorize the tax code.

In any aspect of tax planning, it’s crucial to remember that tax management happens year-round, not just in March and April. Successful advisors start early to build connections with their clients and check in quarterly so that taxes are top of mind instead of a last-minute shuffle. When advisors help their clients think about taxes throughout the year, they can look for opportunities to increase their investments and reach their financial goals as they gather materials and file their taxes for the previous year. Starting early also helps clients and advisors plan for potential savings and avoid last-minute stress.

Unlock the power of early engagement and ensure your clients’ taxes are in top shape with the dynamic collaboration between PreciseFP and Holistiplan.

PreciseFP Makes Collecting Tax Information Easy

Many advisors use PreciseFP’s leading data collection services for tracking prospects and onboarding clients, but it’s also a valuable tool for gathering tax information.

All an advisor needs to start with tax planning is a client’s 1040 form from the previous year, which summarizes the client’s income and deductions. Using PreciseFP’s library of customizable forms, advisors can select a 1040 collection form, personalize it with their branding and information, and then send it to clients individually or all their clients at once to collect tax information quickly and easily.

As soon as a client shares their tax form, the advisor gets a notification and can rest assured that the tax information is accurate and clean because clients uploaded it themselves. Instead of scouring for personal information and sorting through tax returns, PreciseFP, the award-winning client engagement and data-gathering platform from Docupace, simplifies the data-gathering process to give advisors the exact information they need and start the tax planning process.

Holistiplan Streamlines Tax Services

Once a client has shared their 1040 form with their advisor and PreciseFP, the advisor can upload to Holistiplan to generate fast, accurate tax analysis reports. Within just 45 seconds, advisors have a tax report customized for each client that breaks down important numbers, including the client’s itemized deductions, income, accounts, and more. With detailed line items, advisors can quickly understand where their client fits in the tax bracket and find opportunities for tax savings.

But Holistiplan goes even further with its scenario analysis tool to help advisors work through various outcomes and see the tax impact for clients. Suppose an advisor wants to work through a Roth conversion. In that case, scenario analysis automatically sorts through possibilities to help advisors and clients visualize their money, see projections, and know how clients can make the most of their money without throwing their taxes out of whack. That fast and personalized service goes a long way with clients to provide excellent results and work through the stress of tax planning.

The seamless process between PreciseFP and Holistiplan provides advisors with the tools to optimize client interactions. From effortlessly obtaining essential tax information to generating comprehensive reports and even exploring the efficient sharing of these reports back to PreciseFP — we’ve got you covered. Elevate your client engagement strategy and stay ahead in the competitive landscape.

Ready to get started? Watch a demo of the integration here, and get a free trial of PreciseFP to get started.

Workflow automation is an underestimated and untapped tool in the financial advisory wheelhouse.

Choosing workflow automation is smart because it boosts customer service, ensures nothing slips through the cracks, and removes the risk of one person knowing the firm’s process and leaving. Workflow automation is your digital office manual. Due to a lack of understanding about how workflow automation helps both back and front office, executives may not invest enough in solutions that could help financial advisors and staff if given the chance.

Let’s debunk common workflow automation myths and explore how Docupace’s workflow solutions can drive productivity, client satisfaction, and overall business growth.

Workflow Automation Boosts Productivity

It’s no secret that tedious day-to-day tasks are stealing advisors’ time and attention at disproportionately high rates. The average investor spends more than two hours on back office tasks for every hour they spend in client-facing meetings.

When asked to list their top productivity challenges, advisors cited the following:

• 50%, Lack of process mapping and documentation
• 50%, Ineffective delegation to staff
• 41%, Inconsistent procedures across advisors in the same practice

For advisors, improving productivity can lead to reduced costs, more time spent with clients, and less time spent on the everyday tedium that needs to get done but doesn’t lead to improved outcomes. Automating workflows is a simple yet effective method for managing the day-to-day and focusing more on client relationships.

In fact, more and more wealth management executives are seeing the benefits of using workflow automation as a tool for optimizing processes. An Accenture survey found 93% of executives in the financial advisory space expect to have optimized their front-to-back processes across internal and external partners by 2025.

However, just 43% had their processes automated back in 2019, demonstrating a 50% gap between where executives were and want to be. As technology continues to evolve into better and better solutions, adopting improved workflow processes and automation tools now is key to improving productivity in the future.

Workflow Automation Improves Client Relationships & Drives Business Growth

Another common misconception about workflow automation is that it’s purely a back-office optimization technique. However, there are many use cases where improved workflows can lead to a better client experience, leading to improved business outcomes overall.

Consider workflow automation in the context of client onboarding. Which would your clients prefer: filling out mountains of paperwork by hand at your office or filling out paperwork completely digitally with auto-fill and machine-learning capabilities that speed up the process? PreciseFP saves an office more than 10 minutes here and there by taking data gathering paperless. In 2023 more than 33,000 hours financial plan hours were saved.

These small elements of the client relationship aren’t just nice-to-haves, they impact how clients see your firm, whether they stay or leave, and whether they invest more money with you. For example, 85% of clients consider the frequency and communication style of their advisor when deciding whether they want to stay on or find someone new. Plus, 70% of clients specifically select their advisory firm based on the digital experiences they provide.

Here’s where workflow automation can move the needle on customer relationships and business growth. Docupace’s onboarding solutions, for example, provide clients with pre-populated forms, automatically synchronize data to reduce manual re-entry, and integrate with other tools (such as your CMS) to make reminders and updates easy and paperless.

By automating one workflow at a time, the saved effort and improved experiences compound over time, improving your firm’s offerings, your advisor’s workload, and your client relationships.

The Docupace Difference With Workflow Automation

For firms looking to begin their workflow automation journey, Docupace CEO David Knoch advises to start small and then grow bigger over time. For example, automating Form CRS delivery and then moving into more complicated functions.

“Choose a partner who already has a range of solutions you can grow into, rather than a roadmap of hopes and dreams,” Knoch said. “With a small opportunity and a big partner, you can begin a journey at your pace that over time creates a digital transformation.”

Docupace’s platform is the leader in workflow automation for documentation management and back office operations. Our workflow engine automates compliance and business rules with capabilities like:

• Standardization and data synchronization
• Intelligent routing
• Alerts and notifications
• Configurable digital operations
• Pre-built, easy-to-use workflows

Learn more about Docupace’s pre-built workflows, compliance and business process rules, and how to design custom workflows for your firm here.

When clients first meet their advisors, they have certain hopes. But sometimes, they leave feeling a bit let down because their financial advisors don’t offer everything they expected. For example, 92% of clients hope to receive tax planning advice from their financial advisor, but only 25% receive it. The good news? Making clients happy might be easier than some advisors think! A recent webinar hosted by Nora Gallegos of PreciseFP and Torie Happe of Holistiplan showed how using a simple process with PreciseFP and Holistiplan can help advisors give clients the advice they really want about taxes and make everyone’s financial journey more enjoyable!

Creating, Sending, and Retrieving Tax Documents

Getting tax documents from clients doesn’t have to be complicated. With PreciseFP, advisors can follow a simple three-step process to obtain tax information for advising:

1. Create form
2. Send to client
3. Retrieve document

Creating a form is simple. With PreciseFP’s library of templates, it’s easy for clients to securely upload information such as a 1040 form. Advisors can choose templates, add customizable details such as macros, include extra elements such as a text box for client questions, and match templates to their company’s branding.

Sending the form to clients is also easy. With the account information stored in PreciseFP, advisors can search for the accounts they want to target, click the Engage button, and choose which forms to send to clients. Advisors also can use customer relationship management software (CRMs) to conduct advanced searches for client segmentation.

After clients receive the form from their advisors, Precise FP makes it easy to track their activity and retrieve the document. When a client engages with a form, advisors will receive an email from PreciseFP informing them of new client activity. On the home page, advisors can see recent engagements, including any newly uploaded forms.

Tax Reports, Scenario Analysis, and Tax Explainer

After advisors receive completed documents from their clients, Holistiplan uses that information to help clients understand their current tax situation and plan for the future.

After an advisor logs into Holistiplan, uploading a completed 1040 form and generating a report takes 45-60 seconds. Advisors inexperienced in offering tax planning services may wish to begin by making the Holistiplan tax report available to their clients. This tax report contains the following for the most recently uploaded 1040 form:

• Marginal tax bracket information
• Modified adjusted gross income tiers
• Schedule D
• MedicareBD premiums
• Schedule B income source (shows all accounts)
• Tax observations (which may include linked articles)

If advisors want to offer more planning services to their clients, scenario analysis can show clients tax implications that could result from various financial decisions. After an advisor chooses to create a new scenario, load a tax return, or copy from a scenario, the system can build up to 1,000 scenarios to help answer clients’ tax questions, from Roth conversions to creating a donor-advised fund.

Also included in the Holistiplan software is a feature called the Tax Explainer. This tool breaks down the client’s tax return, line by line, to explain deductions, AGI, taxable income, income tax, capital gains tax, self employment taxes, and more in an easily accessible format.

Although many financial advisors are not accustomed to offering tax planning services, adding it to your offerings doesn’t require a lot of time or resources. PreciseFP and Holistiplan’s workflow makes it easy to receive client documents and generate practical information your clients can use to understand their taxes and plan for the future.

PreciseFP and Holistiplan have made both softwares available as a free seven-day trial. Take advantage of this offer and meet your clients’ expectations today.

Since our founding in 2002, our goal at Docupace has been to be the leader in operational efficiency for wealth management firms. As the RIA marketplace has grown and evolved in the years since we’ve made it our business to fully understand the scope and complexity of the RIA experience.

Indeed, RIAs’ need for scalable and efficient operational solutions is continually growing. From forward-facing client interactions to data-informed processes in the back office, RIAs have a myriad of operational opportunities that Docupace can help mitigate or streamline.

For example, a recent survey among RIAs found that:

• 71% of RIAs have a critical or moderate need for technology to support new client onboarding.
• 69% of RIAs have a critical or moderate need for more data analysis across the client lifecycle.
• 41% of RIAs strongly agree that their firm’s digital infrastructure is important for hiring and retaining top-tier talent.

Why do RIAs continually choose Docupace to help them with problems like these? As we’ll explore in this article, RIAs choose Docupace because our platform is constantly evolving alongside the varied needs of the industry, helping advisors reduce redundancy, wield data, and improve productivity for scalable growth.

Docupace’s Automated Platform Reduces Redundancy & Saves Costs

Automation is one of the top reasons RIAs choose Docupace to improve operational efficiency. Our platform allows RIAs to shift from manual form entry and document management to an automated system that fills in forms quickly — all while upholding regulatory requirements.

Automating simple but consuming tasks saves more than just time and mental energy. Organizations that utilize automation techniques will save up to 75% on process costs. Indeed, digital automation is expected to automate some 40%-60% of repetitive tasks for RIAs within the next five years.

RIAs choose Docupace to get a head start on cutting process costs and streamlining redundant tasks, such as:

• Rekeying data
• Using multiple platforms for client servicing needs
• Navigating a clunky digital experience with no scalable processes

With Docupace, RIAs know they’ll get the ROI from their tech spend. Plus, they’ll have the data they need to spur growth in the future.

Docupace Helps RIAs Apply the Power of Data & Technology Integrations

There’s natural growth alongside the market, and then there’s growth spurred by client and market insights gains. For the former, any RIA can ride the wave and experience marginal growth by doing what they’ve always done. However, a modern digital infrastructure that analyzes client and market insights in real time is key for the latter.

Firms looking to grow in the digital age need operations technology with the capabilities and capacity to grow alongside them, both now and in the future.

A recent Schwab Advisor Services report found that 75% of RIAs said growth makes operations more complex. How are RIAs managing those complex operations? By wielding data. The same report found that 69% of RIAs rely on data to improve their operational efficiencies.

This is one area where Docupace’s platform delivers for RIAs. Our RIA-specific platform includes automated, rules-based data validations with integrations across leading CRMs. RIAs choose Docupace because we deliver on their data needs.

Improve Productivity & Streamline Processes

Ultimately, RIAs choose Docupace over other platforms because of our dedication to providing for their needs. We created the RIA Productivity Suite specifically to help RIAs with key goals, such as:

• Reducing operational costs
• Improving efficiency
• Attracting top-tier talent
• Strengthening recruiting efforts
• Enhancing the client experience

We do this by offering a modern digital user experience and a robust operations and document management tool that includes a workflow engine with configurable and prebuilt flows, straight-through processing, a custodial forms library, and out-of-the-box CRM integrations.

So, what’s the Docupace difference for RIA firms? Michael Pinsker, Docupace’s founder and president, said it’s Docupace’s flexible approach that requires no customizations, keeps costs contained, and provides unique benefits to each RIA firm.

“We have leveraged key components of the platform, but also layered in our new integration architecture to allow us to seamlessly integrate with other systems at scale,” Pinsker said. “This means that we can easily adjust for the subtle nuances different RIA firms have, while preserving the consistency of the platform and the simplicity of the user experience.”

To learn more about the RIA Productivity Suite, get in touch with a Docupace representative today.

Between finding new clients, completing paperwork, and maintaining compliance, advisors often spend more time on back-end tasks than actually interacting with their clients. In fact, surveys have found that advisors spend nearly 40% of their time on administrative and back-office tasks.

But there’s a solution: document management software. By streamlining necessary but cumbersome processes, document management software gives advisors more time to interact with clients and grow their business.

Here are seven processes that can be improved with document management software.

Lead Generation

Generating new leads for a steady stream of new clients can be challenging for advisors, especially for the 63% actively seeking new clients. Managing lead generation can seem like a full-time job on top of an advisor’s many other responsibilities. Document management software can assist with seamless lead generation to capture new prospects and grow your business. Using lead magnet and contact form templates from Docupace and PreciseFP, advisors can easily capture the attention and information of potential clients and turn them into loyal customers.

Information Gathering

A crucial step of opening new client accounts is gathering information, especially following Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering regulations. Document management software integrates compliance efforts into the information-gathering process. It provides unique templates to guide advisors and back-office staff in gathering relevant and accurate information. The ripple effect of streamlining this process is significant and can move clients to onboarding and opening new accounts much more quickly.

Client Onboarding

Onboarding a new client is an opportunity to establish a solid advisor-client relationship and set your client up for success. But with such a lengthy process with numerous requirements, it often feels like you’re just checking boxes instead of making the most of an opportunity to set a strong foundation. A cloud-based document management system can streamline client onboarding by eliminating delays and ensuring accurate information.

Instead of sending your clients a stack of physical papers to complete, document management software allows clients to submit information digitally and automatically populates information from your CRM or other platforms. That means you can shrink processing times from days to minutes while significantly reducing NIGO submissions.

Document Retention

Regulations are continually changing, and knowing how long to keep records of various forms and communication can be challenging. Document management software helps firms of all sizes comply with SEC and FINRA Books and Records rules 17a-3 and 17a-4 and store records in WORM (Write-Once-Read-Many) format. That means that instead of manually keeping physical records or manually sorting through files to ensure everything is accurate and in compliance, firms can automate the process, saving time, and protecting records.

Fraud Detection and Prevention

Fraud is a major concern for clients and firms, especially as cyberattacks increase. One survey found that 90% of consumers worry about digital banking fraud. Ease their concerns and prevent fraud with document management software that automatically tracks user actions to identify suspicious activity and potential fraud. Cloud-based document storage also encrypts files to maintain security and compliance, meaning you and your clients can rest easier knowing their personal information and money is secure.

Audits

Audits are part of life in the financial services industry and are notorious for requiring long hours hunting down the right forms and documents to show that your firm is in compliance. With document management software, you can become your auditor’s favorite firm and give auditors access to the records they need quickly and seamlessly. Document management software ensures records are in compliance and organized and tracks who can access which records. Docupace clients reduce disclosure processes by 65%. That means you can quickly meet the audit requirements and return to the most important work of serving clients.

Advisor Transitions

The transition process of bringing on a new advisor can be daunting, often taking up to six months and thousands of forms to fully transfer a book of business to a new RIA. But with frustrating slowdowns and lost revenue, that’s a transition many advisors can’t afford to make. Document management software provides a cloud-based advisor transition solution that automatically populates transition paperwork, covers all lines of business, and securely stores the paperwork to maintain compliance. Streamlining the transition process makes your firm much more enticing for new advisors and opens the doors for incredible growth opportunities.

These are just a few of the many applications of document management software. Cloud-based tools can transform every aspect of how your firm does business — providing a better experience for advisors, employees, and clients. Docupace is a leader in cloud-based document management software. Click here to learn more and see a free demo.

Engaging prospects keeps your business moving forward.

Without a steady stream of prospective clients, your firm can’t grow. And gaining new clients becomes especially important as a new generation of clients starts investing and planning for the future.

But engaging prospects can seem like a full-time job on top of your many other responsibilities. One survey found almost 75% of advisors feel frustrated about generating new leads. The key to cultivating relationships with prospective clients and growing your firm is to automate as much as possible and leverage industry-leading tools, including Docupace’s newest acquisition, PreciseFP. The onboarding function helps firms attract and onboard new clients with a digital-first mindset.

Here are three ways to engage prospects with PreciseFP:

Use Templates for Effective Lead Generation 

The first step to engaging prospects is to find them. Although the traditional method of cold-calling potential clients is still available, it’s less effective because many potential investors — especially younger clients — turn to the internet first for research. Establishing your firm online and creating funnels to attract new clients is essential for growth.

If you’re trying to manage lead generation on your own, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. PreciseFP’s library of ready-to-use lead generation tools can help you capture new prospects. As you collect client information during the onboarding process, you can use that information to generate lead magnets, surveys, and quizzes with the help of PreciseFP’s customizable content templates. Topics range from retirement to investing to tax planning and more. The content in the template library is pre-written but completely customizable to your firm’s offerings and your clients’ needs.

Aside from saving time and taking the guesswork out of lead generation, PreciseFP’s templates also lead to significant cost savings. The average cost of a new lead is $55, but using customizable templates can significantly lower that cost and speed up your lead generation pipeline so you connect with the best leads quickly.

Create Customized Client Questionnaires 

The prospect stage is a crucial time to gather information about potential clients so you can provide them with the best product and investment recommendations. But the task of gathering information is cumbersome for both prospects and advisors. Many clients, especially high-net-worth individuals, value their time highly. A time-consuming onboarding process could cost you clients who would rather spend their time elsewhere.

PreciseFP’s FactFinder automates much of the data-gathering process and eliminates generic questionnaires, saving your clients time without sacrificing service. With its smooth and customizable interface, FactFinder helps advisors put their best foot forward and show their digital prowess to potential clients with customized and streamlined data collection.

Streamline Personalized Client Touchpoints

Each client has unique needs based on their financial situation, goals, and life stage. A recent college graduate, for example, has significantly different financial needs than a retired couple, and a message tailored to one prospect won’t resonate with the other. When firms send generic messages to all leads, they try to reach everyone but don’t create real connections with anyone because their value propositions are too vague.

The onboarding stage sets the foundation for future relationships, so take advantage of this opportunity to send personalized messages that demonstrate your understanding of your clients and their individual needs. PreciseFP makes it easy to send unique messages to multiple prospects. Instead of manually writing each message, you can automate messages to automatically send to different types of clients.

A prospect nearing retirement, for example, could receive a message about retirement products. Later, as you build the relationship, you can follow up with the prospect individually. This approach of personalized communication can lead to a solid relationship with each potential client.

Engaging prospects and driving new business is crucial to your firm’s growth, but it doesn’t have to take over your other responsibilities. With PreciseFP and Docupace, you can streamline the process to find the best leads and grow your firm.

As any advisor knows, creating personalized financial plans can be time-intensive and expensive. In fact, data entry and collection often represent 40% of the overall cost of doing business in the wealth management industry. In traditional models, advisors have to constantly be on their game when collecting client information and inputting it into systems. One error can result in weeks of backlog and excess spend.

That’s why Docupace acquired PreciseFP, the leading data gathering and client engagement solution for the wealth management industry, in 2021. Rather than manually inputting customer information, PreciseFP handles the burden of data gathering and lessens errors with its automated data aggregation platform.

The decision to merge with PreciseFP wasn’t random; indeed, PreciseFP offers customers the simplicity of use and technological consistency that Docupace promises its partners. Here are three ways Docupace and PreciseFP can collectively save advisors time on the job.

Prioritize Advisors’ Time Where It Really Counts

By automating data entry and document storage, Docupace and PreciseFP can save your advisors hours previously spent on clunky, manual processes. PreciseFP allows users to create customized data-gathering workflows. With these, managers or individual advisors can build onboarding processes step-by-step and make sure they never forget a critical piece of information again. Similarly, premade templates can help advisors communicate with clients in a more standardized fashion while ensuring the right information gets captured and stored.

With Docupace’s powerful automation and operations processing capabilities, PreciseFP can significantly free up advisor time to focus on building and maintaining customer relationships.

Other benefits of the joint endeavor between Docupace and PreciseFP include:

• A mobile-friendly interface
• Seamless connectivity with leading CRM systems
• Integration with major financial planning applications
• Visualizations of advisor and client trends

Leaning into automated tech platforms allows advisors to focus on the “people-first” side of their jobs. Spending non-productive time inputting data and tracking down vital information can be significantly minimized.

Increasing Consistency in Data Collection

Uttered with dread by wealth management advisors, “Not In Good Order” (NIGO) documents create significant delays in processing customer information and turning hard-earned dollars into valuable investment opportunities. NIGO documents typically refer to paperwork that lacks critical or correct information from customers. Often caused by typos or misheard customer responses to advisor questions, NIGO results in wasted on-the-job hours for both advisors and back-office staff.

To solve this problem, PreciseFP allows firms to build validated or required fields into onboarding paperwork processes. Similarly, Docupace’s integration with third-party systems cuts down on duplicates and validates incorrect information. As part of the “back-office revolution,” paper-based operations are disappearing in favor of efficient and transparent workflows supported by new tech solutions.

Docupace’s commitment to improving the way back-office processes get done coincides with its decision to acquire PreciseFP. With the constant improvement of AI and automation, Docupace and PreciseFP can remain at the forefront of wealth management tech.

Catering to Customers’ Expectations

Perhaps the biggest benefit that Docupace and PreciseFP can offer clients is the opportunity to improve the investment experience. Saving time on previously manual processes allows advisors to focus more on personalizing portfolios and interacting with customers in the way they best prefer. Moving away from generic forms makes clients feel unique and can help cultivate stronger relationships with advisors and firms.

Similarly, building consistent and accurate processes via automation and cloud storage increases the sense of trust customers have in their financial institutions. With the alarming growth in data breaches and hacks worldwide, clients are more nervous than ever at trusting outside parties with their financial information. PreciseFP and Docupace offer firms secure ways of gathering and transferring customer data and can help bridge the trust gap between customers and advisors.

Ultimately, Docupace and PreciseFP’s union helps firms invest more in back-office solutions and place less of a focus on front-office resources that emphasize look, feel, and presentation. In short, firms can offer their clientele more substance over shine with the help of technology like Docupace and PreciseFP.

To find out how your organization could benefit from Docupace’s automated workflow solutions, schedule a consultation today.

Documentation management tools are a must for any wealth management business that wants a robust digital presence. And if that isn’t you yet, it should be. In recent studies, 77% of financial advisors reported losing business because they lacked the appropriate digital tools clients expected. The same research found that 85% of wealth management business leaders rated partnering with third-party companies as important in both the short and long term.

The need for online platforms that manage customer data, streamline business operations, and improve customer satisfaction rates is only growing. Clients expect a seamless and personalized experience, which can only be delivered with the right software solutions. Turning traditional paper documents into cloud-based versions is one important piece of the digital transformation jigsaw.

Lean Into Digital Transformation

Wealth management firms are seeing younger clients, and that trend isn’t expected to disappear anytime soon. It’s projected that by 2030, millennials will hold five times as much wealth as they currently do. Raised in the age of computers, millennials are much more comfortable with modern technology than their parents and are used to a consumer economy that caters to their individualized needs. Gen Zers and their younger counterparts will only heighten this movement toward expecting an exceptional digital experience.

Document management solutions allow firms to offer clients a real-time version of this experience. Younger investors want remote financial consultations that don’t include sitting face-to-face with an RIA. A digital cloud for document storage and retrieval allows clients to easily stay on top of their financial goals.

Although all firms’ needs are different, documentation management tools generally offer the following:

• Data insights and industry-leading recommendations
• Seamless integrations with existing systems
• Customizations for processes and employees
• Cloud-based storage solutions
• Predictive analytics

Since many of these attributes are the basis of an effective digital transformation within the wealth management industry, documentation management tools like Docupace are a great way to help firms get started.

Minimize Operating Costs and Streamline Processes

One of the biggest benefits of implementing a document management tool is the cost savings associated with its long-term use. Any leader of a wealth management business is likely feeling the effects of fiscal pressures and an unstable market. Keeping costs low and revenue high is the ideal operating model for any organization wanting to remain competitive in the financial sector.

When it comes to processes, documentation management tools excel at streamlining traditionally manual (and repetitive) tasks for employees. They also minimize processing errors and remove system duplicates. The margin for human error within firms is small, and even the simplest mistakes can result in hefty fines and excess costs.

Rather than minimizing the importance of back-office staff, however, documentation management platforms allow employees to excel in the tasks they do best. By automating menial to-dos and freeing up workers’ time, firms can solve multiple complex business problems by adopting a document management tool.

Documentation management tools also help firms save time and expense normally spent on compliance-related issues. With end-to-end digital delivery and automated processes, advisors can focus their time on building strong client-advisor relationships. The ability to worry less about keeping compliant and more about making customers happy is a boon to everybody within the wealth management industry.

Stay Compliant (And Competitive) in a Cutthroat Marketplace

Finally, documentation management tools keep firms from falling behind more savvy financial advising solutions. Tech companies have made considerable breakthroughs in the traditional wealth management space, and existing organizations need to adapt quickly to keep up.

Customers will not continue to patronize businesses that don’t communicate with them efficiently and fail to consider their preferences when making investment recommendations. A movement towards email personalization and video conferencing means RIAs need documentation management tools that correspond with this migration to the digital realm. Antiquated processes and legacy platforms can make firms seem outdated, which can be a potential death knell in a highly competitive financial space.

Learn how documentation management systems can help your business excel by speaking with a Docupace representative today.