We need to talk about data.
Many wealth management and financial advice firms experience the same pain points regarding data - not only might you be juggling between information and data stored on paper or digital, but you also have to contend with typos, errors, duplication and no fast and accurate way of accessing and analysing the information you have.
Clean and secure data is vital for compliance and the effective day-to-day operations of an advice firm. But it's also vital for the performance and commercial growth - something too many overlook in their haste to meet the latest data regulations.
Credit company Experian which collects and aggregates data on over 1 billion customers worldwide, say, “Achieving and maintaining accurate and reliable customer data in your database and having the tools, processes and procedures in place to maintain the data is fundamental for business success.”
Clean data can save your organisation time and money, boost employee trust in your business systems, and improve your client’s experience.
Time to get serious about your data
Whether your data in stored in excel, filing cabinets or another financial software system (hey, we’re not here to judge!), your data has built up over a long time.You may even find that different team members update or store data in different places so there's no cohesion between departments.
You might see it as too large a task to start looking under of bonnet.
But if your data is well-looked after and everyone on your team enters it in the same way, business data can decay at over 40% a year. As inaccuracies creep in, the whole thing becomes an unreliable and daunting mess.
It's no longer an asset, but a liability and compliance risk that can significantly hinder future business. Most of your hard work could be going to waste ad none of us want that.
Business data can decay at over 40% a year.
How should I clean my financial data?
Data cleansing is the process of firstly identifying any incorrect, incomplete, duplicated, poorly formed, out of date or irrelevant data. And then taking action to correct that data by either removing or updating it.
The result should be a beautifully clean and accurate database where you are confident every record is up to date and correct.
Our software is used by more than 10,000 businesses and 500,000 users. so we certainly appreciate what a challenge it is to keep up-to-date with data.
It can be a time-consuming, roll-up-the-sleeves process that most people prefer to avoid (we hated it too so we employed people who love data). But the benefits far outweigh the inconvenience.
By cleaning up your data, you’ll be able to engage better with clients through personalised communications without fear of any embarrassing errors (such as addressing emails to Mr Mr). It also opens the door to more business automation and valuable insights to help your business grow.
How do I manage my data once it's clean?
Data cleanse done - now what? You’ll want to ensure that the error don’t start building up again.
One of the efficient things to do is have a single source of truth. That means moving to a single system of data storage, one that can help you better manage your data and use the same processes.
So it now seems like the right time to introduce Xplan! This financial advice software CRM system can:
- Store and back up your data securely on the cloud
- Makes it easy to access your data, wherever you are on any device
- Generate automated reports and run time-saving data flows
- Enable personalised and automate communications at the click of a button
- Integrate with other software packages
- Give you an unlimited amount of storage
All the things you would have probably found difficult to achieve before .You can even collect digital signatures so no more hard copy signature to print, post, chase and store in filing cabinets!
A clean sheet
Moving to a new system is a great opportunity to review your data and start afresh unhindered by legacy data and technology.
Any system migration starts with a thorough data cleanse to ensure you only put good stuff in and get good things out.
When it comes to data, the cleaner, the better (why would you want to take over useless, incorrect data?). There are tools to take the hassle away and our data migration team will happily guide you through the process.
How can we help?
Complete the form to talk about upgrading to Xplan today.
