Mobile Productivity Blog

What Market Turmoil Means for Advisors

Experts are predicting painful layoffs as a result of the financial crisis of September 2008. One commentator predicts as many as 27,000 employees could lose their jobs in the aftermath of the BofA/Merrill merger. As a result, there will be a lot of talent available, enabling stronger firms to choose from among the very best financial advisors. Firms that can show strong operating results, a continuing commitment to advisors, and savvy use of the newest technologies will be in a good position to recruit these financial professionals.

In addition, the market shake-out should benefit firms that can show how they are different from failed or weak competitors. Consumers are likely to pay more attention to independent advisors, smaller banks, and regional firms. So large firms will need to provide transparent information about clients’ portfolios and prove their strength with the latest technology and tools. And small players should strive to demonstrate that they can not only remember clients’ names and faces but also execute at a high professional level.

For every advisor, market turbulence means that clients will need more handholding. It will be more important to keep up with real-time changes and respond promptly to information requests. To reassure nervous clients, performance reporting must be more timely. Advisors will need to connect 24/7.

Advisors today need the ability to gain productivity from mobile technology. They make calls, check email, surf websites, use GPS functionality to map locations. But these devices are underutilized. There is much more possible.

Pyxis Mobile's 6.1 Launches

We're live at Pyxis Mobile's internal launch party for our version 6.1. This is an exciting release including a number of new client features including "Snap to the App" (image capture from within an application, which is huge for Property & Casualty), Exploding Rows (to deliver more information unless space), Click-to-Sort, Televav support, Blackberry Bold support, enhanced font support, and more.

The new features, along with server and Application Studio enhancements, provide better usability to firms across Financial Services, Insurance and Banking. The upgrade-able nature of their applications is seen by their customers as a huge differentiator for Pyxis Mobile. Even Pyxis Mobile's earliest customers are able to upgrade to the new 6.1 version without having to create a new app or config.

Today's meeting is bring chaired by product manager Nikki Pall and engineering team lead Jeff Ladino (both pictured above). For more info on our applications, visit our main site at www.pyxismobile.com.   

Mobile Transactions: Driving Business and Increasing Margins

There is a lot of talk about mobile commerce and mobile transactions. Generally, these terms are being applied to banking and consumer applications. However, the current economic climate has made the bed for mobile transactions in other venues as well. Advisors, insurance agents, mortgage brokers, and others who are feeling the crunch of heightened competition and a shrinking client base need to be able to move faster and do more with less.

Tangible Results of Mobility Spending

A few weeks ago, I sat down with Bob Mazzarella, our new CEO, and former president of Fidelity Brokerage Services. The following was Bob's view on mobility spending in the advisor space.

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The ability to view a composite of market data, portfolio and performance reporting, alerts, and access to customer contact information greatly enhances an advisor’s ability to serve the client. That level of account insight also delivers a message to the client that his account is well cared for at all times, regardless of the whereabouts of his advisor. That level of account insight also allows the advisor to allocate less time to serving more clients, while allocating more time to prospecting. This reallocation of the advisor’s available time results in a larger book of business and reduced client attrition, which, combined, amounts to increased margin and net revenue for the firm.