Unicorn Found!
May 29, 2019
UNICORN FOUND
“…perfectly-integrated technology is a unicorn.”
-Deborah Stavis, CEO, Stavis & Cohen Financial
“Technology and client demands are among the toughest challenges for more of this year’s top broker-dealer advisors,” wrote Rita Raagas[i] De Ramos in Financial Advisor IQ[ii] recently. The 2019 Financial Times 400[iii] top advisors cite these four things as the toughest challenges they face in their practice.
- Managing day-to-day operations (cited by 66% of advisors)
- Ensuring technology tools are up to date and efficient (cited by 63% of advisors)
- Meeting client demands/servicing client needs (cited by 47% of advisors)
- Complying with regulations (cited by 40% of advisors)
Ramos quotes Deborah Stavis, CEO of Stavis & Cohen Financial in Houston, managing around $500 million in client assets. “A perfectly-integrated technology is a unicorn,” says Stavis. “There’s so much technology out there, but it’s integrating that technology to work together that’s one of our biggest challenges because we’re a small firm,” Stavis continued.
Chris Cooke of Cook Financial, part of the FT400 finds that developing a digital presence is a challenge as he tries to market his firm.
“Having this digital presence is a question mark for us,” says Cooke, who is also among this year’s FT 400 advisors. “Sometimes we don’t even understand the rules. How do I promote my team while doing it well within all the required rules?”
Financial Times reports that meeting client demands and servicing clients moved up from fourth to third this year (cited by 47%).
For the last decade, Jim Cannon and his team at Dynamic Advisor Solutions has been creating the unicorn. “Their systems talk to each other,” Linda Lubitz-Boone told Michael Kitces on his podcast[iv]. The unicorn is the integration of all the data of an advisory firm into a single sign on with no more than a click or two to find everything and anything related to client and firm information.
The other elusive ingredient for most advisors is the staff required to service clients and maintain the tech stack. Dynamic solves this by combining outsource service staff with the platform and business system. Wealth Managers are not required to learn and configure the technology and software, the Dynamic staff does all of that for them. Dynamic advisor support staff also process all client service work such as onboarding, ACATs, and cashiering requests. Every digit of data related to the wealth manager’s practice is accessible 24/7/365 from smart-phone, iPad, or laptop anywhere there is an internet connection.
The unicorn has been found.
About Dynamic
Dynamic is recognized as a premier provider of essential resources to professional wealth management practices. Its turnkey practice platform and staff support includes asset management and enables wealth advisors to save money and focus on clients while positioning themselves for success and growth. With myVirtualPractice™, a suite of wealth management practice solutions, Dynamic hands the professional wealth advisor the keys to a comprehensive, custom-built virtual office and practice complete with staff, back/middle office, accounting/billing, compliance and even a Virtual Assistant. The wealth advisor need only add clients and a laptop, and they are up-and-running instantly. For many breakaways and independent wealth advisors, being part of a nationwide community of like-minded professionals is one of the most valuable components of their affiliation with Dynamic.
