Salesforce CRM system targets advisers
Software developer Salesforce.com will launch a web-based customer relationship management (CRM) system aimed directly at financial advisers.
The Salesforce Wealth Management edition, which will go live in the third-quarter of 2007, is expected to be adopted by a number of existing Salesforce clients in Australia, including ABN Amro and Asteron.
According to Tien Tzuo, Salesforce’s US-based chief strategy officer, many of the CRM packages currently used by financial planning dealer groups are only proprietary-based systems, which have not kept up with technological advances.
“The financial market in Australia is under-serviced [in this regard], with clients often receiving better information than the advisers”, Tzuo said.
Accessible from any personal computer connected to the Internet, Wealth Management captures and categorises information in groups that include client action plans, risk profiling, retirement age and asset lists.
The client action plan facility holds information about the advisers’ planned strategy of client contact, detailing the expected number of meetings as well as the regularity and type of meeting.
While helping advisers perform their day-to-day roles, Tzuo said the system would also allow principals to help ensure individual planners within their group are complying with their regulatory responsibilities in terms of client contact and the provision of relevant documentation.
An additional feature of the system, appExchange, is the result of partnerships with external service providers including Dow Jones and Siemens. This can be used in instances where advisers need to collaborate with outside service providers such as accountants or mortgage brokers in order to meet client requirements.
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