Along with increasingly sophisticated online tools and access for wealth management clients, traditional person-to-person services must also evolve to offer enhanced and innovative digital touch-points and interaction. Simply throwing unmonitored wealth management technologies at customers in the hope of improving support services is not enough. An enhanced online client experience, where ease of use and efficiency are fundamental to the customer experience, is increasingly being viewed as basic entry-level requirements for wealth management services.
Once the domain of the wealthy, access to wealth management resources is now demanded by all levels of investors seeking basic financial information and assistance, such as pension fund and tax advice. As a result, digital channels are being used extensively by wealth managers seeking to provide an enhanced customer service experience.
In embracing wealth management digital channels, clients are expecting a fulfilling customer experience. In addition, they are looking for clearly presented and relevant information, personalized for their needs. Should digital information distribution technologies fail in some way to satisfy those needs, customers also want direct access to a knowledgeable wealth manager who knows exactly what they have been doing on the company Web site. The last thing a customer needs is to wait while a wealth manager retraces all their steps. And therein lays a major problem.
Wealth managers must keep regulation in mind
Wealth management is a regulatory-driven industry and as a result, embracing any new technology can be a problematic and complex endeavor. As a result, wealth managers need to know that all financial laws and regulations are being adhered to at all times. Simply allowing a customer to click-through financial information online is not only inadvisable, but could also be against the law.
Web site design is becoming increasingly complex and sophisticated in order to support an increasingly personalized customer experience. However, one-size-fits-all is definitely not an approach that will work in any customer’s online wealth management experience. For example, information accessed by a specific customer may include data from a variety of sources, each requiring different legal requirements for public presentation, such as warning messages and disclaimers.
To complicate things further, the same information may be presented in a different way depending on the access device used by the customer. It may also look different on a variety of mobile devices compared to desktop computers. Different times of year, depending on regulatory deadlines, may also impact the same information accessed by a client.
As a result, wealth managers need to be able to see exactly what a customer has seen on their screen. Not only in order to provide a more complete customer experience, but also as a record of exactly what information has been viewed in case of any future reviews, legal disputes or claims. But for many wealth management computing systems, such rigorous technology and reviewing demands can be problematic. The answer is record and replay technology.
Why record and replay technology?
Record and replay technology offers the ability to record and replay a customer’s session exactly as it developed on whichever device they were accessing the information, whether a mobile app or a Web site. The data captured can then be stored in a secure, tamper-proof environment for long term storage or immediate playback according to customer requirements. Stored data should have the ability to be searched according to the needs of those accessing it, be it for review, for example, or to finish an incomplete web site visit by the customer.
Such record and replay technology can also be utilized to identify where customers are having problems navigating the company Web site. It should also be capable of accommodating any Web site design changes without the need to reconfigure the technology.
Get to know the customer better
Record and replay ensures prompt and effective customer service and support. With record and replay, because wealth managers have access to the customer’s entire Web site visit, they can not only see what they have accessed and the information they have been requesting, but also the reasoning and context behind their actions. The ability to retrospectively monitor a client’s online search invariably improves that customer’s experience. From a wealth management company’s perspective, it can also ensure adherence to regulatory obligations and therefore reduce the possibility of client disputes.
In conclusion, as more and more wealth management customers seek to utilize technology and digital channels in order to play a more active role in the supervision of their finances, wealth managers need to take a more pro-active role in ensuring a premium online client experience. One of the most effective ways to ensure that is to utilize record and replay technology on their company Web sites, which ultimately benefits the wealth manager as much as it does the customer.
