I know you can't believe it either, but here we are at the end of another year. Time flies, and now in December you are trying to complete your to-do list with the goal of being in a good position to start 2018.
Something that should be included on your to-do list is taking time to review and even reflect on how this past year was for your firm from a technology perspective. As we have discussed many times, there is a lot of change happening with technology, and maintaining the "status quo" is not the best course of action to take for your firm.
The technology environment for investment advisors continues to evolve and change. Forgive me for stating the obvious, but it's clear that fintech is hot, and the solutions available for advisors continue to be improved and enhanced.
What is the relevance of new technology for your firm? Well, 2017 had a great chance of being a good technology year for your firm. Long gone are the days when advisors could count on their fingers the number of technology companies focused on serving their needs.
Therefore, if you are unhappy with any of your current technology solutions, you have more choices today than ever before for potential replacement products. Bottom line, it is hard to find a valid reason in this environment to feel "stuck" with any technology solution.
What did your firm accomplish with technology in 2017? This might be an easy question to answer if you deployed a major new technology product during the year. Even if you didn't make any substantial technology changes, there are always improvement opportunities with your existing technology solutions.
At a minimum, you should be more efficient with your time, more accessible to your clients and colleagues, and better informed, when compared with previous years. Hopefully you are measuring the improvement and using the results to build further progress and momentum. As part of your year-end technology review, be sure to evaluate the best practices and training that worked best for your firm, and perhaps more importantly, the ones that didn't.
Do you have any technology goals or objectives that haven't been achieved or perhaps even some that require a "course correction" considering their current state? Unfortunately, sometimes it is too easy to let things continue to move (slowly) at their own pace, especially as it relates to technology.
