Advisors will often quickly see how workflow processes and client service delivery can be enhanced through the use of client lifecycle management (CLM) technology, but as with any large IT project, it is crucial to demonstrate to senior executives what the potential return on investment (ROI) could be.
“It’s really, really important to understand what the metrics are – what the KPIs are – that are driving a solid business case, because if you can’t make that case, you’ve got no chance of doing something beyond a very small, siloed project, because you’ll only get that much budget,” says Dominic Snell, product strategy director for Wealth Dynamix, talking to Fintech Innovation Network in a recent interview
That means understanding the pain points and business drivers across the organisation and then gathering data on those to build a compelling business case for any new large scale technology implementation. By crunching that data, firms can get a clearer idea of the potential gains they are looking at—perhaps it equates to a 3% reduction in the time it takes to onboard a new client. When you then extrapolate that to the number of onboarding cases a firm handles every month, that produces a detailed, forensic-level business case for the potential ROI and payback periods.
“That is a huge benefit to the whole process because it shines a light on the areas that the project should really be focused on, and they might not be the same as what people intuitively thought originally,” says Snell. “For us, it’s going in, putting together the bones of that business case and really working to help them understand that their investment in this technology makes sense.”
Often a firm’s business case will be driven by increasing efficiency and reducing cost, while at other times it may be about generating more business and getting more revenue through the door. But these goals aren’t mutually exclusive, says Snell.
“A good business case is made up of elements of both of those at different ends of the lifecycle,” he says. “The whole business development piece—the marketing piece—might be about increasing revenue,” he says. “Then when you get into onboarding and into client management and servicing, it might go slightly more towards how do we make things more efficient?”
“It’s really, really important to understand what the metrics are – what the KPIs are – that are driving a solid business case, because if you can’t make that case, you’ve got no chance of doing something beyond a very small, siloed project, because you’ll only get that much budget.”
Yet CLM technology goes beyond simply saving money or driving new business, it is also about improving client service and boosting client loyalty—something that has become even more important following changes to how firms are able to interact with their clients as a result of coronavirus restrictions.
“Given the events of the past 18 months or so, the priority seems to be around the client service element, the client experience,” says Snell. “Before, I think there was a little bit of complacency when it came to actually needing to differentiate in that respect.”
Part of that complacency was driven by the fact that good client experience is expected by default, but with in-person touch points disrupted by the pandemic, technology has become much more valuable to those relationships.
“What firms are actually saying is how do we bring the client in and make them much more a part of the process, so they can feed into it whenever they want, and it should be up to them as to how much or how little they participate,” says Snell.
CLM technology can also help future-proof wealth management firms—not just in terms of being relevant to the tech-savvy, digital native wealth clients of the future, but also to ensure wealth managers can continue to attract and retain the best new talent.
Watch the full interview with FinTech Innovation Network via the link below.
“It’s really, really important to understand what the metrics are – what the KPIs are – that are driving a solid business case, because if you can’t make that case, you’ve got no chance of doing something beyond a very small, siloed project, because you’ll only get that much budget.”
Yet CLM technology goes beyond simply saving money or driving new business, it is also about improving client service and boosting client loyalty—something that has become even more important following changes to how firms are able to interact with their clients as a result of coronavirus restrictions.
“Given the events of the past 18 months or so, the priority seems to be around the client service element, the client experience,” says Snell. “Before, I think there was a little bit of complacency when it came to actually needing to differentiate in that respect.”
Part of that complacency was driven by the fact that good client experience is expected by default, but with in-person touch points disrupted by the pandemic, technology has become much more valuable to those relationships.
“What firms are actually saying is how do we bring the client in and make them much more a part of the process, so they can feed into it whenever they want, and it should be up to them as to how much or how little they participate,” says Snell.
CLM technology can also help future-proof wealth management firms—not just in terms of being relevant to the tech-savvy, digital native wealth clients of the future, but also to ensure wealth managers can continue to attract and retain the best new talent.
Watch the full interview with FinTech Innovation Network via the link below.
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