The value of our Unified Data Fabric

This is part two of a three-part series designed to explain how our Unified Data Fabric™ (UDF) collects and enriches all types of data from hundreds of sources and consolidates it into a rich, unified format that makes it easier for advisors to manage their clients’ digital wealth experience using our platform.

In the second installment, I will be discussing the value UDF brings to advisors, empowering them to make smarter and faster decisions.

The value of our Unified Data Fabric

At Advisor360°, we begin with the data—it surrounds, enriches, protects, and feeds our platform. Our Unified Data Fabric is the foundation that we build from, supplying a unified format that flows freely through our enterprise-class platform of connected wealth management experiences.

“The foundation of our value proposition is that we have multiple components of functionality within our platform that by themselves could be a standalone software company—portfolio accounting, reporting, both performance and operational, single security and model management trading, including rebalancing, document management, and our account opening tool we call ‘Digital Onboarding’—a fully digital straight-through processing experience for establishing accounts,” said Richard N. Hart III, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development.

“If you had five of those systems and you contracted with five different vendors, you would have to hope that all data from the five separate vendors matched or reconcile it manually,” adds Hart. “You do not have to do that anymore. We cleanse and reconcile the data to make sure it is accurate. We then establish the definition of the client as a household and that client view is resonant in the entire platform.”

How advisors leverage UDF

Our Unified Data Fabric provides advisors with more meaningful insights by seamlessly aggregating and enriching data from hundreds of digital platforms. That data tells a clean and consistent story that powers our platform.

“It is all about having clean data. If you don't have clean data, then your outputs are going to be filled with errors. We are able to bring in investment, banking, and insurance data, normalize it, and then output it to our platform,” said Chris Ollendike, Senior Vice President of Sales. “The other thing that UDF allows us to do is integrate with our ecosystem partners and third-party vendors. This allows data to be unified across all systems in the technology stack, which lets advisors spend more time on planning and relationship building.”

UDF also creates a more efficient workflow for advisors, speeding up the process of compiling reports for their clients.

“It is important that advisors are able to run reports quickly without having to do a lot of manual steps or go into two or three different systems. A single report containing data from several different sources should still feel unified and cohesive,” said Eric Esfahanian, Vice President of Enterprise Sales. “With our platform, an advisor can automate their reports and have them delivered to their inbox the morning of a meeting that they have with the client. Now multiply that by three meetings a day. You suddenly realize that reports that took three to four hours to compile now take no time at all—you set it and forget it. Having accurate, reliable, and integrated data enables all these things.”

Our commitment to enterprise-class security

We recognize the trust you put in us to secure your data, which is why enterprise-class security is built into our UDF by design.

“We hold ourselves to the highest industry standards; for example, the Advisor360° platform is System and Organization Controls (SOC 2) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) certified annually to demonstrate our commitment and to assure our prospects and our clients that they can trust us with safeguarding their data,” said Alex Cunningham, Senior Vice President, Chief Information Security Officer. “Our goal is not to just meet but exceed these standards, and we recognize the role everyone at Advisor360° plays in this. By safeguarding the data entrusted to us, we build credibility, and credibility is how we build trust with our clients.”

People power the data

Automation is great, but without human expertise it can lead to errors. At Advisor360°, we continue to enhance your data throughout its life cycle.

“It is not just about the technology pieces; it is also about the people. The subject matter expertise and the domain knowledge that comes with Advisor360° makes us different. It takes skilled experts to do research on the breaks that happen within the data. Our team monitors and refines these breaks, extending the life cycle of the data,” said Jed Maczuba, Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer.

Data that is a work of art

Our Unified Data Fabric can feel very conceptual when trying to describe it, but an analogy helps paint a clearer picture.

“Think of the UDF as a mosaic. You are getting inputs of data from hundreds of feeds and thousands of files, twenty-four seven. All those bits and bytes come out to a bunch of pieces that don't appear related,” said Esfahanian. “But if you can organize the pieces in a consistent, logical way—like a mosaic—when you take a step back, those thousands and thousands of little pieces suddenly blend to become a beautiful creation. That is the benefit of Advisor360°—we do data better than anybody else on a level that no one else can touch. We make data make sense to wealth firms and it becomes the lifeblood of the advisor's workflow instead of a chore or a headache to deal with.”

In part three of this series, I will be discussing the difference between data aggregation and UDF.

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Ronnie Campbell is a Content Marketing Associate at Advisor360°, responsible for generating insightful and engaging content that develops the company’s social media presence and story.