How we help wealth management professionals strengthen client collaboration
I started out in the burgeoning days of software, before dot coms, and Silicon Valleys, and when Route 128 was a thing! I was a restless tech guy that loved to see how things tick: software, people, businesses. So I got a job as a software engineer at Digital Equipment Corp.—and I couldn’t stop thinking about ways to make things better, to solve problems.
I still can’t stop.
With 30 years of building and delivering enterprise products to enterprise firms, my experience spans both engineering and sales. I understand that critical blend of product development and go-to-market experience. The wealth management business is evolving and embracing technology to enable their businesses. In the IT world, we call this digital transformation. So I wanted to be a part of that—to grow a company in the wealth management SaaS space.
That’s where Advisor360° comes in.
The big question
Advisor360° saw a problem to solve: how can wealth management professionals and firms build better, stronger relationships with their clients? It simply cannot be done without improving productivity. The demographic trends and rise of the fiduciary is driving the need for more registered investment advisors (RIAs) who need tools of technology to drive their productivity. Broker-dealers and insurance companies need back office processes to automation, and this pain point is in some respects even greater than the pain point for the advisors.
It’s a productivity problem for everybody.
But what if a team could figure this out? It would not only mean more productivity but more client-facing time to build relationships. And build profits.
This was an intriguing challenge I wanted to help solve.
So that’s why I joined the company that is solving it: Advisor360°.
How it all started
While a wholly independent company, Advisor360° was spun off April of last year from Commonwealth Financial Network, the largest registered investment advisor/independent broker-dealer in the country. It turns out that Commonwealth’s tech division had developed (over two decades and thousands of pieces of feedback) their own award-winning, productivity-enhancing, relationship-building wealth management software.
And this technology finesse was proven: by using Commonwealth’s proprietary software, advisors were 20–30% more productive than other advisors in the market. It’s a classic case of using software technologies to improve overall productivity.
Advisor360° is the continuation of that productivity mission through the adoption of technology and embracing digital transformation.
A holistic productivity platform
We saw early on the value of technology in the WealthTech sector. And Advisor360° is unique in that we’re positioned as a pure play SaaS company.
We unify—not just integrate—all the systems (from CRM to a client portal) firms need to bring better productivity to their advisors.
It’s a big deal, because Advisor360° provides this holistic user experience throughout advisor workflow, home office, and broker-dealer back offices. Our platform lets you scale to your firm’s needs.
And build better relationships.
Ahead of the curve
But how are we better aligned to the business plans of enterprises?
We’re focused on leveraging our R&D investment across a large number of customers to increase the innovation. As an independent entity, we can attract even more technical talent and focus on building the best product possible. Since more and more enterprise products are delivered as a service, Advisor360° fits right in.
We see the big picture: a trend away from captive high-end advisors to a number of independent advisors that are tied to insurance companies or independent broker-dealers.
The bottom line is the aging population of baby boomers is retiring with substantial assets, and they seek independent advisors. We’ve built a world-class platform that integrates and unifies it all for advisors—so they can spend less time on process and more time on relationships.
Let’s keep building
We are here to build a world-class enterprise software company, delivering our products to enterprises as a service. The need for technology in this WealthTech space is clear and present, and Advisor360° is poised for enormous growth in the next 12 months.
If you’d like more information about our platform, please contact us.
Richard Napolitano is Advisor360°’s Chief Executive Officer, ensuring every team in the company is focused on a simple strategic vision: creating outstanding WealthTech products for our clients’ success.
Richard Napolitano
