As 2022 draws to a close, we examine the top finance tech trends of the year. These were the trends with the most significant impact on your business, your advisors, and your customers. Most importantly, these trends will continue to loom large in 2023. We previously discussed the central role the CRM plays in the tech stack and how to maximize its capabilities. Now, we discuss common mistakes and how to avoid them.
Skience Tech Trend #3: Avoid These Common Pitfalls
“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” — Albert Einstein
Life doesn’t always run perfectly. Despite making plans and following a guide, things have a way of going awry. With so many intricacies, implementing new technology often seems to be a winding road of more failures than successes.
The roadmap to new WealthTech is no exception. In 2022, several industry experts joined our CRM Unlocked podcast to share the bumps they encountered along the road to new tech—and how you can learn from their mistakes.
You can’t avoid a few wrong turns
“The top killers of adoption are inefficient data consolidation, disorganized organizational change management, and abrupt product implementation,” warns Skience Director of Functional Services Leslie Page. No user wants to adopt a new tool knowing all their past work is going to be scrapped. Data needs to flow cleanly between old and new systems.
“Perfect is the enemy of good,” says Greg Starr, Senior Vice President of Salesforce Services at Skience. “Sometimes a step back can be needed before you take two steps forward.” The solution: involve users who will be utilizing the new tech in the decision-making process. Every choice won’t be the perfect one, but it offers the chance for administration and users to learn along the way.
Get users in the driver’s seat
“We often focus on employees resistant to change, which is important to be aware of and understand,” remarks Valarie Vest, First Vice President of Strategic Planning & Innovation at Cambridge Investment Research, Inc. As the decision-maker, you’re in the driver’s seat. But it’s important to get everyone onboard.
An unclear or poorly defined outlook can obscure the path forward. “Most of the time, we tend to deliver technical advice with a technical presentation, and consumers of financial advice are looking for clarity and confidence,” states Adam Holt, CEO & Founder at Asset-Map. “When you’re trying to get people to take action and serve their financial well-being, you have to create clarity and simplicity.”
Just as importantly, don’t expend all your energy on the naysayers. “If you focus too much on those resistant, you lose those that are in the front and ready to move ahead,” Vest advises.
Keep your destination in mind
“What I think folks make a big mistake on is, they’ll select and implement a tool,” comments F2 Strategy Senior Manager Ernie Lacroix. “They won’t have a really good defined strategy as to how that tool is going to help them solve the particular problem that they looked for the CRM to solve.”
Why are you implementing your new tech? Is it to increase efficiency? Grow user adoption? Add budget dollars back to the bottom line? Each goal will have a very different strategic plan.
You don’t want to realize you’re lost after you’ve already left the road. “We saw a lot of folks really go down the path of trying to automate their account opening and they got it half right,” warns Beacon Strategies, LLC Managing Partner Chip Kispert.
The journey comes to an end
“A lot of projects fail because they go too long without showing value,” Starr continues. You should have a defined timeframe to measure success. “A lot of projects fail because they go too long without showing value. So, the concept behind ‘crawl, walk, run’ is to get the value quickly and continue to show value quickly.”
No matter how well you plan your trip, the wide-open road is sure to throw a few hurdles your way. The key is to identify these pitfalls, correct your course of action, and put the pedal to the metal towards your successful implementation.
Next time: Enhance automation with a human touch.