Digital Onboarding

Advisors prefer to spend their time meeting with prospective clients and adding value for the households they serve. They don’t want to spend precious time filling out forms in triplicate or wait weeks for new accounts to be funded. That makes productivity a top priority for advisors. And the advisors we surveyed in our 2024 Connected Wealth Report identified new client onboarding as the #1 area they believe needs to be more efficient.??

That’s where digital onboarding comes in: Fast, frictionless new account opening solutions build client trust and bring assets in the door faster, in days instead of weeks. Yet, precious few firms can boast having a reliable, straight-through processing solution for new account opening that encompasses multiple account types, business lines, and custodial relationships. As we will see in a future newsletter edition, advisors want – and need – to be able to move client assets with them quickly and efficiently. Their livelihoods are at stake. But moving assets – repapering as it’s sometimes called – has been historically complicated and cumbersome. This edition of our newsletter sets the stage for advisor transitions by focusing on the foundations of digital onboarding.?

When we asked our contributors about digital onboarding, all agreed that streamlining account set-up and transfer of assets is critical to fund accounts quickly, yet all too elusive, for firms. Chuck Failla, Meredith Connell, and Collin Ross share their insights and experiences about stubborn challenges in this space and what state-of-the-art digital onboarding looks like.?

Enjoy this edition of Connect360° newsletter—and please leave a comment and follow us on LinkedIn to join the conversation.?

Cynthia Stephens?

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Efficient Client Onboarding??

What does efficient client onboarding look like today???

For Collin Ross, Product Manager at Advisor360°, it’s all about how firms utilize their technology. “Efficient client onboarding leverages advanced technology to streamline the process, enhance the client experience, and ensure compliance. Today, that involves seamless integrations to bring data together, automation to reduce human error and speed up the process, and a customized digital experience that meets the firm’s unique needs.” We have seen that firms that want to help advisors minimize the disruption to their clients are actively investigating digital onboarding solutions.?

Adding to what Ross mentioned, Meredith Connell, Sr. Product Manager at Advisor360°, says, “technologies that prioritize both automated processes and configurability to allow firms to enforce their own policies and procedures are solutions that can really boost efficiencies. Embracing solutions that simplify and speed-up onboarding can lead to advisors spending less time on repetitive and administrative tasks.?

Founder and CEO of Sovereign Financial Group, Inc., Charles “Chuck” Failla believes that, at the core, efficient client onboarding “simply means that friction and pain points are eliminated to the extent possible. Specifically, the client should not be burdened by having to enter and re-enter their information. Likewise, the advisor should also not have to deal with redundant data entry. In fact, the advisor should not have to deal with any data entry. With today's technology, there are ways to capture pertinent client data and have that flow seamlessly throughout the advisor's tech eco system.”?

Our contributors made it clear that leveraging technology and eliminating pain points is how firms can become more efficient in their client onboarding process. But are most firms today delivering on that promise??

According to Connell, “While client onboarding is a critical step in the wealth management life cycle, it’s still a surprisingly inefficient process for many advisors and their clients.” She went on to say, “Many firms are struggling to offer solutions that offer robust, cutting-edge capabilities that are also flexible enough to meet their unique and evolving needs.”?

Echoing her thoughts, Ross says, “While state-of-the-art practices are available and provide significant benefits, many firms face challenges in adopting these technologies fully. This results in client dissatisfaction, increased costs, greater risk, and leaves firms at a competitive disadvantage.”?

“While client onboarding is a critical step of the wealth management life cycle, it’s still a surprisingly inefficient process for advisors and their clients today.”—Meredith Connell?

Problem Areas?

Let’s dive in and explore what our contributors believe are the road blocks for firms and advisors when it comes to digital onboarding.??

Ross explains that many firms “still rely on legacy systems that are not compatible with modern digital solutions, which leads to integration challenges, inefficiencies, and increased manual work. In addition, the constantly changing regulations can make it difficult for firms to keep up without a configurable solution, leaving them potentially exposed to fines or other damages.” Ross said that?user experience and training can be another challenge, because “as new users join, the tool must be intuitive and have efficient in-app training to allow users to get the full benefit without an excessive time investment.” ?

Taking a three-pronged approach, Connell believes that the problem areas fall under the following categories:??

• Manual, repetitive data entry?

“The same set of client data often needs to be reentered between multiple systems and forms, slowing down the process and potentially creating inconsistencies and errors.”?

• Lack of transparency?

“Advisors and their clients often struggle with obtaining real-time information when opening new accounts. Once business is submitted to a custodian or sponsor, it may take days or even weeks to understand if accounts are fully approved, opened, and funded, which can be a frustrating experience especially for new clients.”?

• Lack of speed in opening and funding accounts?

“While there are often several steps and parties involved when opening and funding new business, that doesn’t mean it needs to be a long, drawn-out process. The more firms depend on manual steps and outdated processes, the longer it takes to implement and act on financial plans.”?

“Many firms still rely on legacy systems that are not compatible with modern digital solutions, which leads to integration challenges, inefficiencies, and increased manual work.”—Collin Ross?

Advancements in Technology?

With the problem areas identified, we asked our contributors what new advancements in technology they believe are changing the onboarding landscape.??

Failla says, “In a word...Integration. As the entire wealth management landscape rallies around tech integrations, we will finally see the onboarding process reach it's potential."?

“New technological advancements such as AI and machine learning, identity verification, document intelligence, and a growing array of integration options are revolutionizing the onboarding process,” explains Ross. “These technologies enhance efficiency, accuracy, and client satisfaction. Bulk onboarding, as a part of these advancements, plays a critical role in enabling firms to handle large-scale client onboarding seamlessly, ensuring consistency and scalability. By adopting these technologies, firms can overcome traditional onboarding challenges and stay competitive in a rapidly evolving market.”??

Connell sums it up like this: “Advisors have some option for building a tech stack that’s tailored to their needs and objectives. As a result, we’ll see solutions that leverage frictionless, high value integrations that seamlessly connect experiences and workflows together, elevating the onboarding process in new ways. And with AI becoming more and more prevalent, we’ll see more offerings look to leverage AI to further push automation and client data gathering efficiencies.”?

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Please leave a comment and let us know how you enjoyed this conversation around digital onboarding. To learn more about digital onboarding, click here. ?

Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter and stay tuned for our next newsletter edition on advisor transitions! ?

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About our contributors:?

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Charles “Chuck” Failla, Sovereign Financial Group Inc.?

Chuck earned his CFP? designation and transitioned from individual stock picking to financial planning and asset allocating using mutual funds and SMAs. Chuck's practice evolved into what is today Sovereign Financial Group, Inc., an SEC registered RIA. With offices and advisors in the Northeast, Florida, and Colorado, Sovereign is one of the fastest growing RIAs in the country. Chuck is also the Director of Sovereign Advisor Solutions (SAS)—a division of Sovereign Financial Group, Inc. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the FPA of Connecticut and Chairs their Pro Bono / Public Outreach Committee.???

Meredith Connell, Advisor360°?

Meredith Connell is a Sr. Product Manager for Wealth Management. A Certified Financial Planner (CFP?), Meredith defines and oversees product features that improve advisor, investor, and home office efficiencies, with a focus on Digital Onboarding capabilities.?

Collin Ross, Advisor360°?

Collin Ross is a Product Manager at Advisor360°, where he is responsible for overseeing the development of the company's digital onboarding solutions. His role encompasses the entire lifecycle of account opening, maintenance, and funding processes.?

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Learn more about digital onboarding here: https://video.advisor360.com/watch/K1K7Hn8naHdJgobEvNwFmx??

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