By Colum Lyons, CEO of ID-Pal
It is safe to say that in the last 10 years, wealth management has experienced somewhat of a make-over. The evolution of technology and its subsequent mass adoption has seen the industry open its doors to new audiences, new market entrants and best of all new types of members to bring fresh ideas and ways of thinking. .
In fact, thanks to this digitalisation, wealth management is now more inclusive and efficient with a greater pool of customers interested in investing and seeking general wealth management services, than ever before.
Elevated experiences
The new generation of customers seeking wealth management services are savvy, informed and financially-aware individuals who trust digital apps and online services to fulfil much of their day-to-day needs, including financial ones. As a result, expectations are changing and when it comes to technology, they are higher than ever before.
From this new customer’s perspective, appointments in the meeting rooms of a company headquarters are being replaced by friction-free apps to conduct the same processes at the click of a button from anywhere. Annual investment performance reviews in-person are complemented by on-demand reports of every investment detail.
Standards are high and only rising. So, when it comes to attracting and retaining customers, the experience they have with your business matters. Showing customers that the technology you offer them is of the highest standard from their very first interaction with your business should be a clear priority to financial advisors and professionals in the wealth management industry.
Trust and Technology
A key reason for this is that in the past, wealth managers were able to spend face-to-face time with their customers, a rarity these days in a time-poor digital-first society. Yet trust is the most-important ingredient in the relationship between a wealth manager and their client and this still needs to be established, even from afar, using best-in-class technology.
This is no mean feat, but key to ensuring success is to make the customer journey a smooth one – not to have hold-ups, delays or loading screens that never update. From the moment a customer has started working with you, from the moment they walk through those “digital doors” of your business, everything should be made as quick and efficient as possible for them when experiencing your services. This is the new normal, this is their great expectation.
Removing friction and fraud
Absolutely crucial to developing this trusted relationship is of course ensuring a quick and efficient onboarding process that gets customers onboarded within a matter of minutes. Anything less leaves your business at risk of seeing a customer drop off, choose another company to engage with or share this poor experience with their network. To this end, advances in biometrics, documents and databases checks means seamless and secure identity and address verification of a client’s documents can occur in just seconds.
The days of having to post a passport, email a scanned copy, or actually present ID documents in person are long gone. Or at least they should be given, that using manual processes puts your business at risk of fraud both internally and externally.
Technology exists that can remove fraud, simplify compliance, save time and provide a better client experience all-in-one: all central to the security and reputation of wealth management companies: A great track record and investment performance will go hand in hand with the most seamless of services – for which technology is absolutely key.
Delighting customers from their first interaction is an experience that is vital to achieve and hard to correct if it goes wrong. Developing that trust and standard of service is key and solutions that focus on seamless experiences enable your whole team to align on this goal, no matter their location.
