Revolutionizing Wealth Management Communication: The Benefits of Using a Team Chat App

The role of a financial advisor comes down to two fundamentals: having reliable information and making sure your client understands it, both of which are based on effective communication. This is true in the short term, like when your team members need to update you on financial figures, as well as in the long term, through building a strong customer base.

In wealth management, it’s vital that communication is clear, concise, fast, and secure, which is why many advisors have turned to chat apps to collaborate with their colleagues and clients. These IM-style tools allow for the rapid exchange of information between team members and a more in-depth approach to communicating with clients.

The financial sector is in the throes of a digital revolution, and wealth management is no exception. The industry is being overhauled by digital transformation, and with effective communication playing such a significant role in finical advice, if you’re not using a modern communication app for wealth management teams, you and your clients are missing out.

Streamlining Internal Communication with a Team Chat App

A communication app for wealth management teams can streamline internal processes and bolster employee collaboration. Other forms of communication, such as video meetings certainly have their place, but a messaging app allows for instant interaction, which means your team can work on the same project in real-time.

This is especially important as teams move online and less collaboration takes place in the real world. With an IM-style app, your team can send and receive messages at the same time (synchronously) as well as in preparation for when other team members come online (asynchronously). For wealth management teams working in a global economy, this flexibility is invaluable. Communication apps for wealth management teams further streamline this collaboration by offering web, desktop, and mobile versions.

Additionally, communication apps offer not only text messages but also photos, videos, documents, and more. This allows your wealth management team to stay on the same page, with the same information, in real-time.

Moreover, having a communication app for wealth management teams can help boost employee engagement, as IM-style services tend to be more appealing than older, drier forms of business messages. And better engagement means better collaboration as team members focus on tasks with their colleagues.

When choosing a communication app for your wealth management team, you should look for features that can further enhance your collaboration. Some key tools to check for include:

• Group chat – does your business chat app allow you to create dedicated group conversations for teams, projects, or anything else you might need? Ideally, the chat app should also allow you to include external collaborators, such as clients, but more on that later.
• File sharing – a file sharing, storing, and search function can prove invaluable to team collaboration in a business chat. Imagine you’re discussing upcoming changes to a client’s account with documents flying back and forth – without good file management, you’ll have to scroll through hours of emails trying to find the right ones.
• Cloud synchronization – Having your message platform cloud synchronized allows your team to always be up to date when switching between devices, so you can take your collaboration on the road without interruption.
• Read receipts – knowing if and when a team member has seen your message is vital for transparent collaboration, as without it, you can find yourself talking at cross purposes during your next call or meeting.
• Voice messaging – sometimes text just can’t do your message justice, which is why there has been such an explosion in voice messaging in recent years. When looking for a communication app for wealth management teams, try and get this as a feature so employees can choose how they chat.

Enhancing Efficiency with Internal Communications

In addition to improving team collaboration, messaging apps for financial advisors can significantly impact efficiency and productivity within a wealth management firm. First, the very nature of IM-style messages means that communication is faster and more direct. This saves time compared to more formal channels, such as email, which require the heads and tails we’ve come to expect from such communications.

Additionally, when team members can have effective real-time conversations using a chat app, it reduces the need for meetings – whether online or in-person. Meetings are famously inefficient and time intensive, so being able to replace (or at least reduce) them with online chat can be a big boost to your business. In fact, a study a few years ago suggested that the cost of poorly planned meetings could be as high as $399 billion in the U.S. in a single year. Chances are your meetings aren’t costing that much, but they surely cost something.

What’s more, chat apps with the features mentioned above offer a  Work OS, which means no more jumping from one platform to another, and as such, more time focussed on the job at hand. This increases focus, organization, and productivity.

Strengthening Client Relationships through Improved Communication

Messaging apps aren’t only useful for internal collaboration and communication. As mentioned earlier, effective communication with clients is the cornerstone of any wealth management firm, and a good communication app for wealth management teams will also allow for external conversation and seamless collaboration.

The world of finance can be a complicated one for those not in the know, and a big part of any financial advisor’s job is being able to communicate complex ideas in clear and simple ways. Using a platform type that clients are comfortable with – such as IM chat – can help make this complicated world less intimidating. Moreover, it allows advisors to cut to the heart of the matter rather than dancing around the point with more formal communication channels.

Using a chat app for customer communication in a wealth management firm means opening a more direct line between advisor and customer. This helps build trust, which is an integral part of the relationship between a financial advisor and their client. What’s more, it means that both parties can update the other with in-the-moment information, allowing for more informed decisions. Simply put, a direct line means people are more engaged with their finances, leading to deeper, closer relationships.

Finally, while it’s great to have direct channels between client and advisor, it’s also important to keep a clear divide between personal and professional. Having a business chat app offers the opportunity for IM-style messaging without having to connect using a more personal-oriented chat app, such as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.

The Digital Transformation of Accounting

Many industries are undergoing a digital transformation, which is the adoption of new tools to digitize products, processes, and workflows. Finance is no different and has seen the introduction of digital features that have revolutionized how accountants, advisors, and other professionals operate on a daily basis. This digital transformation of accounting and finance has generally included everything from automation and mobile apps to cloud computing and robo-advisors.

While many of the technologies cause a splash, few have changed the day-to-day lives of financial professionals more than digital communication applications. They have enabled advisors and accountants to move away from in-person meetings, thousands of emails, and even researching in a library to instant information, communication, and collaboration throughout their team.

Spike, for example, offers chat-like email and smart inboxes, which allow wealth management teams to be “ultra-responsive,” as Angel investor Guy Gamzu puts it. As a communication app for wealth management teams, Spike enables users to create dedicated group chats, share files, run video meetings, chat on audio calls, send voice messages, and much more. Spike’s IM-style messages even include read receipts, which offer transparency and smooth collaboration.

Importantly, Spike is built on a foundation of email but offers the features of the most advanced business chat. For wealth management teams, this means seamlessly including external clients in specific chats or projects without them needing to sign up for anything.

“Every time we have a collaborative project, I open a dedicated Group on Spike so we can have a joint workspace. Anyone can be part of the entire thread— complete with files— which flows through their email of choice,” said financial expert Gamzu. “The fact that people external to the venture can immediately access a Slack-like channel without ever logging into anything is a big time saver. I can use it as a business chat with everyone, even if they’re not on Spike.”

These technologies allow financial professionals to cut down the time they spend on the “how” of communicating, which leaves more time to talk with colleagues and clients.

Revolutionize Your Wealth Management Team with a Team Chat App

A communication app for wealth management teams can significantly impact your company and its relationship with clients. By introducing a feature-rich chat app, you could:

Chat apps are part of the digital transformation sweeping through finance, and if you’re not exploring how these tools can help, you’re letting down your company and clients. With a platform such as Spike, you can bring together teams with multiple communication channels, create collaboration-rich environments, and build stronger more resilient channels for your clients.