Technology has completely restructured the modern business landscape. According to a recent report from Executives Online, 80 per cent of the UK’s executive-level workers feel that advancements in technology have changed the way in which their companies operate. Huge improvements have been made across the board and there are plenty of beneficiaries.
The same study also found that the financial sector is feeling the shift more than most. With multi-channel engagement and process efficiency at the top of most business owners’ priority lists these days, web-based financial management systems are proving particularly useful – and there are plenty of reasons why.
Interoperability: the problem
With technology finding its way into new, previously untouched areas of the finance world, it’s becoming normal for firms to start relying on multiple systems to cover various tasks – reporting and the managing of customer relationships are just two examples. However, as technology plays an increasingly defining role in finance, the number of solutions available is creating a complex ecosystem.
To be effective, all of the different elements must work hand in hand – interoperability is key if things are to run smoothly. This can, however, be difficult to achieve in such a disparate IT environment. Ensuring each solution is capable of working with the next is a long and labour-intensive process, with plenty of associated costs.
Ready for evolution
The idea of web-based financial management software is to bring all of the IT-based tools needed to run a business in the sector together as one. Once this kind of system is in place, many of the issues commonly associated with traditional, separate setups disappear.
The simplification that such a system offers doesn’t just save time and money in the short-term either. As client needs change, updates can be quickly and remotely applied by the service provider..
Reporting
In most situations, firms with specialist knowledge are constantly forced to demonstrate the value of their work, simply due to a lack of understanding on the client’s part. While this challenge exists across most industries, it’s particularly prolific in the finance sector.
It is for this reason that reporting is so important - it’s a way for financial advisers to show clients just how beneficial their services are, highlighting value on a regular basis. When cold, hard stats are available, it’s much easier to quantify the results and, in turn, justify the investment.
Financial advisers, therefore, need web-based management systems that offer robust reporting capabilities. Essentially, a report will be formulated based on data from a number of different sources and top-shelf solutions make this kind of compilation easy. When the sources are spread across numerous systems, however, the process becomes lengthy and costly, with the risk of error also increasing.
A streamlined approach
Time is an extremely valuable resource in any business environment; hence the importance of streamlining. In the financial world, the less time an adviser has to spend on pushing paper, the more chargeable time they have to dedicate to clients. With such effective automation capabilities and the support that comes with web-based solutions, a dedicated business management system may just be the best way to begin making sure this kind of productivity shift is possible.
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