Trending
Written by: Robert Powell | iPipeline
Your New Account Opening (NAO) system may feel like a chronic health condition that hasn’t been treated. You deal with the day-to-day and go through your current routine because you’re used to it. But it feels like the effort to make a change will be monumental.
Eventually, with some prodding, you make the appointment with your doctor, diagnose the problem, and get treatment. Then, you wonder how you lived as you did for so long without improvement.
Obviously, this is an analogy. NAO process inefficiencies certainly don’t equate to a health crisis. But the experience and impacts of inefficient NAO workflows are chronic—and treatable, with digital technology solutions that are designed to automate and streamline the NAO workflow.
5 Reasons to Switch to an Automated & Streamlined Digital NAO Solution This Year
1. You’re opening and servicing a massive number of accounts.
Despite the pandemic, the U.S. wealth management space is in a very strong position. According to McKinsey & Co., the U.S. wealth management industry entered 2021, in the middle of a global pandemic, with a record high amount of client assets ($38 trillion), and an all-time high of 16 million new direct brokerage accounts. This ongoing resilience makes it even more imperative for wealth managers to find opportunities to save time that you can put toward client engagement and service. For example, a good NAO solution will allow you to apply prefilled data and deploy multiple account openings for a client in one instance, with one e-Signature.
2. Digital account opening is a lot faster than paper-based workflows.
The average time to complete a paper-based account opening process is roughly 16 hours, according to Fidelity. On a weekly basis, it adds up to over 1,400 advisor and staff hours. With digital account opening, the time to complete is reduced to an estimated seven hours, an overall time savings of 58% on each new account opened. Save time + save money + super customer experience = WIN.
3. Your NiGO rates stink. (EXPENSIVE!!)
You’re not alone. On average, firms indicate that their not in good order (NiGO) rates on new account openings are between 25% and 30%, according to a ComplianceX study. Fixing a NiGO makes the opening of a new account 300% to 400% more costly than an error-free digital process. Yep, we agree, that is pretty compelling.
4. Your customers don’t want to “DIY.”
This isn’t Pinterest. Wealth management is complicated, and the options are vast. Customers are not comfortable making decisions independently—they want help from a trusted advisor. They want to go to one person to securely handle everything. Meeting customers where, and how, they want to do business is critical to long-term sustainability. Digital transparency and speed in the account opening process is paramount.
5. You want your tech stack to complement your brand experience.
Giving your clients a good first experience with (and impression of) your firm is the kickoff of the client-advisor journey. Customers are motivated by things like ease, convenience, service, personal care, trust, and reputation. These all build brand image, loyalty, customer growth, and retention.
Does your tech stack for NAO create the first impression you want customers to have of your firm? If not, make the appointment and do something about it. You can find an affordable solution that tackles the five imperatives above, and more.
Related: 5 Current Technologies Still Have Room For Innovation
Robert Powell is Vice President of Wealth Management Sales at iPipeline, offering an end-to-end ecosystem for fully digitizing the wealth management industry.