Introducing Digital Tools for Wealth Maximization

India houses one of the highest numbers of asset management companies. 42 large scale asset management companies cater to almost 75% of the High Net Worth Investors in the country. These companies deal in a blend of personal and digital tools to inform, engage and transact with their customers.
 

Keeping the customer happy is the main mantra that any wealth management organisation follows. Following are the key areas of a client-investor interaction which benefit from optimum use of digital platforms:

• Cross Sell Conversations – Digital solutions provide information and are essential in backing the advisors. These backings provide factual information when introducing new offerings with respect to the client’s needs, informing and quantifying a business’ value and also while generating referrals to subject matter experts. Digital tools like research and case studies available online, real time access to market information and product recommendations discussed online are used to perform these activities.
  
  
• Relationship Reviews – Wealth managers invest heavily in relationship building tools which enable them to access past performance history, value delivered from their services, trend of investments and the overall relationship. This complete 360 degree view of an investor’s association with the manager help him/her provide more personalised advice to their clients.
  
  
• Financial Reviews – Similar to the relationship tools, various digital tools are used by a wealth manager to provide an up-to-the-minute information of the current investment portfolio as well as the past performances of the portfolio based on the his/her advice. Digital tools are used to track accurate market pricing, historical trends, future scenarios for strategic planning, validation of content as well as procure external research supporting product and investment recommendations.
  
  
• New Business Proposals – Tools which help in quick and efficient execution of the client’s new discovery in business avenues, also help educate their clients with respect to new and relevant insights on different proposals of investment backed by real time financial analysis.
  
  
• Policy Renewal – Tools that add value and speed to one’s policy renewal process demonstrating high value of advisors is necessary. Value can be added through anticipation of future client needs, adjusting the coverage terms and execution of the consultative selling approaches which enhance expertise.
   

The Indian market requires wealth managers who focus less on competitors in the technology sector and more on digitally developing localized services, along with building clients’ financial literacy online. Investors should understand the following data commonly provided by the manager’s online, in order to make sure that the above mentioned support services can be efficiently used in their best interest.

• Price performance reports – Consolidated rich financial data uploaded by wealth managers into reporting dashboards available on wealth manager's website as well as through mobiles and other smart devices.
  
  
• Asset allocation (portfolio) – Key investment management tool that wealth managers provide to enable investors to create custom reports and also quickly review information relevant to their investment strategy and asset allocation.
  
  
• Interactive charting – Wealth managers engage into interactive charts that can be customised where an investor should know, using different filters, how to quickly glance through desirable information which is related to one’s portfolio.
  
  
• Watch lists – An investor is educated by their wealth managers on how to follow performances of one’s favourite companies and other investment options.
  
  
• Financial planning tools – Wealth managers procure financial projections for different purposes and different investment plans. An investor should be able to understand these financial projections provided by the managers with ease in order to use information available on these tools efficiently.

Digital tools for wealth management

The tools discussed above can be made available to investors through a series of social media and online platforms. A host of new communication and analytical capabilities are rendered to clients for better investment experiences.

• Video communication solutions – Communicating through video chats enables a more spontaneous and authentic communication experience between the advisor and the investor. Features like share screen, exchange messages and record meetings can be used for future references.
  
  
• Language Software Solutions – Various analytical and natural language software solutions help advisors to understand and analyse vast and complex data. They also identify critical developments and formulate language reports for better understanding of the wealth manager, and in turn his investors.
  
  
• Social Media Management Solutions – Social media management solutions bring an integrated and well-constructed approach to social media tools used by wealth managers. Social media presence which connects investors to their advisors can be well regularised by the wealth management company in order to adhere to the rules and regulations set for the client-advisor relationship.
  
  
• Innovative client engagement tools – Innovative client engagement tools offer information material, facilities of video and online seminars and presentations available online to summarize a meeting or video call.
   

Depending on investor’s needs, wealth managers present a wide choice of different tools among the existing software solutions available.

Mobile Applications for Wealth Management

50% of the Indian HNIs connect to their wealth managers through their smartphone applications. Each bank, each financial company is eyeing India to launch their application and capture a higher market share. Mobile applications have risen to be the most dominating technology tool for investment banking. Following are the major trends that are relevant in the mobile space:

• Rising Inclination towards SaaS – Software as a Service is a software licencing and delivery model where a software is made available on subscription basis for short intervals. More and more investors are using SaaS.
  
  
• Biometric Authentication – Biometric authentication is a new entrant in the mobile app world like Apple Touch ID and Fingerprint Passwords for seeking financial security.
  
  
• Social media integration – Social media is widely used by almost 75% of the investors on their smartphones.
  
  
• Video Conferencing– Several leading banks and other wealth managers have introduced integrated video chats into their existing mobile interfaces.
   

Still, less than 15% of advisors today use a full-fledged professional digital application for making investment related decisions. Financial advisors in the fields of mobile apps, digital communication and analytical and social media solutions offer services based on CRM, on boarding, financial planning, portfolio management, reporting and client communication. However, it is not your headache to be well versed with these solution services. All you have to do is know your fundamentals and leave the rest on experts who have their best interest in your growth.