Reporting is one of the most critical client experience touchpoints of any wealth firm because it connects your reports to the value of your firm. We cover the technology and machinery your team needs to tell unique and insightful investment stories to your clients as you cultivate long-term retention.
Recently, we supported a large RIA with a focus on financial planning that saw its report usage and satisfaction was low. Their teams were not using reporting tools or happy with the output. Plus, the design, layout, and content did not have a good flow; the structure was clunky; and the reports were confusing for their clients.
We conducted an independent analysis of current reports including an advisor assessment and net promoter score survey, known as voice of the advisor and analyzed report usage to understand reporting needs and identify improvements. The information gained in this effort allowed us to develop report packages that address various client segments – snapshots to full detailed reports. With a comprehensive rollout plan, we collaborated with operations and compliance teams to establish who would create the news reports going forward. The final step was to train the team on report contents and how to speak intelligently about and understand data behind the report. The live training sessions were recorded and saved on the Intranet for current and new advisors.
The newly configured report elements better meet clients’ needs and tell the story the RIA wanted to communicate to clients. Because inaccurate data was cleaned up, clients can have more trust in reports and the easier-to-use reports enabled advisors to easily distinguish what was in the report and which was best for specific clients.
A multi family office advisory serving UNHW family office and foundation clients came to us with some complex reporting needs. The way the reports were coded and configured created inaccuracies in report data, rendering the reports unusable.
We worked closely with a stakeholder Portfolio Manager who provides insight into needs. Through deep dive working sessions, we dug into the story they were trying to tell with the reports and gained an understanding of the process. That allowed us to develop a process driven design with significant behind-the-scenes configuration. We modified their asset classification mapping and schema and added new attributes to reports, custom user defined fields, and grouping in the system to align to the structure. Finally, we trained the internal team to manage, design and build reports directly in the system in-house.
As a result of our efforts, the multi family office was able to use the reports, gain more efficiency in creating reports for client meetings, attained higher client satisfaction with the data presented, and became able to quickly create and fix reports in house. They also benefited from the reduced time to prepare reports for client meetings; a process that went from a few days to a few hours because the build process was easier with defined goals.
When a mid-sized, well established RIA wanted to fix a data aggregation and reporting process that was inefficient and dependent on a single individual, they came to us. We helped them look at ways their reports could be updated and enhanced
Our first step was to evaluate their current workflows, reports, and vendor options so that we could provide an outside objective perspective of current data and reporting. From there, we recommended outsourcing data aggregation and reconciliation to a third-party service provider. Finally, we completed a deep dive analysis of the state of their historical portfolio and account performance data.
The new approach enabled this RIA’s internal team to focus on core competency value add activities. With upgraded reporting they could de-risk current processes and positioned the firm to more easily migrate to a new system in the future.
