Comments on: Should an Advisor write their own PMS? http://wealthfly.com/blog/2007/06/15/should-an-advisor-write-their-own-pms/ A blog for investment advisors, brokers and financial planners. Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:22:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: WealthFly » Joel on Custodians http://wealthfly.com/blog/2007/06/15/should-an-advisor-write-their-own-pms/#comment-210 WealthFly » Joel on Custodians Mon, 18 Jun 2007 16:27:43 +0000 http://wealthfly.com/blog/2007/06/15/should-an-advisor-write-their-own-pms/#comment-210 [...] I think so; the software really has to be built for it though. As Matt pointed out in a comment to this post, the software has to be “customizable and extensible”. This is more than meeting flexible requirements for users though. It has to be flexible enough to implement changing regulatory requirements without having to be completely rebuilt. [...] […] I think so; the software really has to be built for it though. As Matt pointed out in a comment to this post, the software has to be “customizable and extensible”. This is more than meeting flexible requirements for users though. It has to be flexible enough to implement changing regulatory requirements without having to be completely rebuilt. […]

]]> By: Matt Abar http://wealthfly.com/blog/2007/06/15/should-an-advisor-write-their-own-pms/#comment-208 Matt Abar Mon, 18 Jun 2007 07:17:39 +0000 http://wealthfly.com/blog/2007/06/15/should-an-advisor-write-their-own-pms/#comment-208 There's a trick to designing shrink-wrap software for a sophisticated audience like professional wealth managers. This trick is the reason why Advent has been successful where many others have failed. Your software needs to be *customizable* and *extensible*. In PMS software this essentially comes down to the report engine, since 99% of all adviser requests can be addressed through reports. Any time somebody calls Advent with a feature request, Advent's response is "you can do that in our custom report writer." Followed closely by "our professional services department can write that report for you for $X,XXX." Beautiful. It took me a while to figure this out but once I did, managing Techfi's clients got much easier. Not only could we do anything our clients wanted, we turned their needs into revenue for Techfi. And once our software handled custom reports, we set up a professional services department that did all the work, without distracting our core development team. Win-win. FYI, I write this from Vigo, Spain. I hope all is well -- the blog looks great. There’s a trick to designing shrink-wrap software for a sophisticated audience like professional wealth managers. This trick is the reason why Advent has been successful where many others have failed. Your software needs to be *customizable* and *extensible*. In PMS software this essentially comes down to the report engine, since 99% of all adviser requests can be addressed through reports.

Any time somebody calls Advent with a feature request, Advent’s response is “you can do that in our custom report writer.” Followed closely by “our professional services department can write that report for you for $X,XXX.”

Beautiful.

It took me a while to figure this out but once I did, managing Techfi’s clients got much easier. Not only could we do anything our clients wanted, we turned their needs into revenue for Techfi. And once our software handled custom reports, we set up a professional services department that did all the work, without distracting our core development team. Win-win.

FYI, I write this from Vigo, Spain. I hope all is well — the blog looks great.

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