The document discusses the complexity of transforming client onboarding processes for wealth management firms. It argues that onboarding involves more than just web applications and forms, as the full process spans multiple steps from initial application to account approval. Fully automating onboarding across all client engagement methods, products, regions, and brands is challenging given the vast combinations and need for continuous adaptation to changing regulations. The document claims that most firms will likely fail to fully transform their onboarding without changing their approach to be more comprehensive and flexible.
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MIKE GARDNER
CEO - Agreement Express
Mike Gardner is the CEO of Agreement Express,
a SaaS platform that automates the entire
onboarding process for the financial services
industry.As a 20-year veteran of the software industry,
Gardner has evolved Agreement Express into a
solution trusted by top financial institutions like
HollisWealth, NBCN, Global Payments, and
Fortune 500 financial institutions.
Agreement Express Onboarding Automation Software
4. Q: How confident are you that you can transform your onboarding process in 2016?
Agreement Express Onboarding Automation Software
AUDIENCE POLL QUESTION
Completely Confident
Fairly Confident
Not Confident
Not On Our Radar
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5. Agreement Express Onboarding Automation Software
IS THE MARKET OVER CONFIDENT?
Likelihood and Confidence in Specific Technology Initiatives
Percentage of Respondents, 2015
Automating Client
Onboarding
n=26
Source: CEB 2015 Wealth Management Technology Agenda Poll.
Likelihood to Work on
This Initiative in 2016
Confidence in Ability to Complete
This Initiative in 2016
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6. Agreement Express Onboarding Automation Software
• Completing the entire process is what is
important, not just completing
the application process
• Unless you compress and improve your
entire onboarding process, your clients
won’t have a reason to care
• The space between application initiation
and onboarding completion is often
measured in days or weeks due to
common problems:
• Application errors (NIGO)
• Workflow inefficiencies
• Compliance review
• Rekeying and duplication of effort
WHEN ARE YOU “ONBOARDED?”
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7. Sales &
Marketing
Agreement Express Onboarding Automation Software
System
of Record
Data
Capture
QA &
Review
Compliance
& Analysis
Processing
& Approval
Compliance, Visibility & Control
ONBOARDING
Day
s
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
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8. “Onboarding is so complex that the vast majority
of you will fail to transform your process in 2016
unless you change your approach.”
9. Onboarding is much more than Web Apps and Fillable
Forms, and the scope is almost always underestimated
Agreement Express Onboarding Automation Software
Variations created by multiple products, channels of distribution,
geographic markets and varying brands, results in workflow and
application combinations numbering into the millions
Most organizations will attempt to use a loose coupling of
systems to achieve complete onboarding, and this approach is
extremely challenging when it comes to satisfying compliance
and regulations
Market dynamics and regulations are changing faster than
organizations can build or adapt their systems and will likely
even change several times DURING an onboarding project
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2
3
4
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10. ONBOARDING IS MORE
THAN WEB APPS & FILLABLE FORMS
Agreement Express Onboarding Automation Software
• Clients want to engage with you in many
ways, and if you start cutting ways out
you risk alienating your customers
• Just “building an app” for one onboarding
method and not transforming the others
will drive business to your competition
that have committed to full transformation
• The application completion and
submission portion is typically less than
10% of the overall onboarding process
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11. VARIABILITY DRIVES COMPLEXITY
Agreement Express Onboarding Automation Software
• 200 Possible Application Variations x 3
Variants Per Client Onboarding Engagement
= 1.3 Million Combinations
• 1.3 Million Combinations x Languages x
Brands x Distribution Channels = Huge
Complexity
• Each time a regulatory change occurs you
will need to update some set of those millions
of combinations
• Don’t settle for excluding certain languages,
regions, applications, and brands from your
central onboarding process
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12. Agreement Express Onboarding Automation Software
• Your onboarding process is nothing if
not compliant
• Your system of record is an “As At”
system that is excellent at reporting
WHO is your client and WHAT products
or services they have signed up for
• Your onboarding system is a
“Temporal” system. It must be able to
reliably report WHEN they became a
client, HOW they became a client and
WHY you permitted them to become a
client
AUDITABILITY CAN’T BE COMPROMISED
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13. CHANGE IS A CONSTANT
Agreement Express Onboarding Automation Software
• Traditional Financial Services firms
don’t lack innovation or creativity,
they lack SPEED and AGILITY
• Every new technology, whether you
are competing against it or not,
changes client expectations
• The more flexible and adaptable your
onboarding systems are, the more
complex they are to build in the first
place
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14. Given all of this complexity, I’m feeling pretty
confident with my prediction – you won’t get there
this year unless you change your approach
15. Agreement Express Onboarding Automation Software
• An onboarding system that spans the end-to-end process, beyond application
• Administrative time reductions of 50% or more
• Account opening times measured in minutes or hours instead of days or weeks
• Application not in good order (NIGO) rates of less than 10% and in many cases
less than 2%
• Continuity of reporting from application through underwriting that compliance
officers and auditors can reliably and easily review
• System flexibility to allow new products to be introduced easily, and the agility
needed to adapt existing products and offerings quickly and easily
EXPECT & DEMAND
REAL IMPROVEMENTS
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16. CASE STUDY
Agreement Express Onboarding Automation Software
• Arrow Capital:
• Managing $1.2 billion in assets
• Arrow Capital needed to shorten the entire onboarding lifecycle,
while staying compliant
• Hundreds of hedge fund trades each month
• Many applications with errors that required manual correction
• Onboarding workflow inefficient
• Loads of distribution complexity due to channel model
“[Onboarding automation] made the entire trade process
more manageable for everyone.”
Rob Parsons - Managing Director, Arrow Capital
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17. • Improve the entire onboarding process
• Don’t limit your methods of client engagement
• Auditability means you have to manage the
How, When, and Why for everyone your firm is
doing business with
• Build with flexibility in mind
18. Agreement Express Onboarding Automation Software
In this eBook, you’ll learn:
• Why you can’t afford to maintain your
paper-based processes
• Big-picture strategy for implementing
onboarding automation
• Whether you should Make or Buy your
onboarding solution
• Nuts and bolts implementation steps for
starting a digital onboarding process
PAPERLESS GUIDE TO WEALTH
ONBOARDING
DOWNLOAD EBOOK
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Contact Us: sales@agreementexpress.com
Editor's Notes
The bolded part is a suggestion for what could replace the paragraph underneath it. If the formula can’t look good, then we should stick with the paragraph.