Fidelity Investments on Thursday announced a new website for retirement advisors and consultants who manage workplace plans with the firm.
Called FidelityConnect, it provides advisors with a complete book-of-business snapshot of all their defined contribution plans administered by Fidelity, and improves on plan-level analytics, the firm said in its announcement.
Fidelity said the new service was being piloted with several of its advisor clients, and would likely be fully available during the first quarter of 2017.
Customer Input
Fidelity included customers in the development of FidelityConnect.
The firm's User Experience Design team met with some 150 retirement advisors to learn how much time they spent researching investments, compiling reports and navigating the existing site.
"We sat with advisors in our labs and in the field to develop a shared vision for what FidelityConnect could help them achieve," Heather Wingfield, Fidelity's principal information architect and FidelityConnect's design leader, said in the statement.
Wingfield, whose background is in human-computer interaction and design, built screen prototypes in tandem with advisors.
"The collaboration is essential," she said. "Together, we uncovered what advisors need at their fingertips, and continued to refine the site to improve the user experience."
Fidelity noted that new regulations from the Department of Labor's fiduciary rule may increase pressure on advisors' time with retirement plan clients.
