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How cloud technology is changing the way the industry shops for financial products
How a focus on design is driving digital transformation in finance
If you put together a list of the most innovative industries, the financial sector probably wouldn’t crack the top five. The world of finance has been saddled with legacy technology systems that, as the years go on, have become difficult to maintain, and even harder to improve upon. But with more clients now expecting seamless and intuitive online experiences—the same ones they get when shopping online or hailing a cab via smartphone—there is increasing pressure on asset managers, advisers, and wealth management firms to ramp up their digital capabilities.
According to a survey by Charles Schwab, 56% of Americans want the process of creating a financial plan to be as easy as booking a hotel room online. Meanwhile, investors are turning to robo-advisers to grow their wealth and treating the digital experience as a priority. Fortunately, an increasing number of established financial players do want to digitally transform their operations, says Yaela Shamberg, cofounder and chief product officer at InvestCloud, a Los Angeles–based technology company that develops transformational cloud solutions for asset and wealth managers.
“More companies want to move their business into the cloud, which is far more flexible and efficient than the legacy systems many are on,” says Shamberg. “They’re coming to us to say ‘We have to get off the system’ or ‘We have to use what we have but in a better way that lets us move forward.’ And the bigger they are, the more systems they have to move.”
Powering Digital Transformation
Asset managers want to create better digital experiences. InvestCloud’s Functional Design Studies build the road map to get them there.
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How new digital solutions are shaping the future of fintech
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Innovating the future of fintech: A discussion with InvestCloud founders
It’s not just about solving technology problems. It’s about uncovering core truths about your business. What are your drivers? What do your clients look like? What do the clients you need to get look like? … We break it down, then we start to look at what key pieces you’ll need to stand this on.”
“
—Yaela Shamberg,
cofounder and chief product officer at InvestCloud
More than a tech transformation
InvestCloud has developed hundreds of applications and programs specifically for the financial industry—customer relationship management systems, data warehousing, portfolio management, billing and compliance programs, and more. When companies come to InvestCloud, they don’t merely purchase a program and walk away. Instead, they partake in a rigorous process with InvestCloud experts to design a transformation strategy that takes into account their goals and objectives. From there, they decide which aspects of technology they should incorporate into their business: Unlike when firms buy multiple systems from different vendors, InvestCloud’s programs are all integrated and deliver secure access to data across its platforms.
Understanding business needs and how to transition to the cloud is easier said than done—there are often many different opinions and ideas that can trip up a transformation. That is why InvestCloud takes a Functional Design approach to developing cloud strategies: The idea behind Functional Design, says Shamberg, is to get a company’s stakeholders together and create a road map for digital transformation.
InvestCloud’s Functional Design approach involves fully facilitated sessions—sometimes as few as two days, or as many as six—where Shamberg and her team ask detailed questions about every aspect of the company. From purpose to branding to the key messages they want to convey, everything gets examined. “We break it down from the 50,000-feet level,” says Shamberg. “Then we talk about key pillars at the 30,000-feet level, and then we start to look at what those key pillars really mean in terms of facilitating efficiency and how they add value to clients.”
Designing the right strategy
—Name
Title, Company
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The Pillars of Digital Transformation
Ultimately, firms “get what they need,” says Shamberg, “not necessarily what they asked for.” For instance, one large U.S. adviser network came to InvestCloud needing a new planning tool. Through the Functional Design process, InvestCloud found that for the company to get exactly what it wanted, it would have to wait two years and spend $9 million. Instead, InvestCloud created a system that combined 26 of its apps into one easy-to-use platform.
“We put everything together so there’s no interruption for the client,” says Shamberg. “The client just thinks, ‘Wow, I have a whole new set of tools available to me, and I don’t have to go to multiple places,’ and the adviser has the same experience. It solved the fact that the company had a real lack of essential tools they could take to market for financial planning.” Thanks to the upgrade, 92% of the adviser’s clients have completed their financial plans—compared to 16% before InvestCloud’s transformation. “We created the right workflows, and we also incorporated behavioral science in our design to make it an engaging experience.”
Increasingly, financial companies are undergoing digital transformation, says Shamberg. Otherwise, their customers will certainly go elsewhere. “The systems many of these companies have now are expensive and archaic, and so they’re just limping along,” she says. “They need something that can really help move their business forward.”
Getting what’s best
1
Big Picture
day 1
Company purpose, mission statement, ethos
Branding,
campaign messaging, market research
days 2–4
Functional Messaging
2
Key pillars of workflows, app layout and design
days 5–6
Finer
Details
3
Once the sessions are complete, InvestCloud creates several graphic designs that help executives visualize new workflows, the way an app or portal might look, updated branding elements, and more. The InvestCloud team also recommends solutions that the company should adopt in order to meet its objectives. Stakeholders get a physical copy of the designs—“People love having it in their hands,” says Shamberg—so they can see exactly how everything will come together. “They see something visually that’s thoughtfully crafted and that helps them articulate their vision,” she says. “We provide our clients with rich visualizations.”
“It’s not just about solving technology problems,” says Shamberg. “It’s about uncovering core truths about your business. What are your drivers? What do your clients look like? What do the clients you need to get look like? Do you have a full understanding of your client segments? What are your key messages? We break it down, then we start to look at what key pieces you’ll need to stand this on.”