Use Case Independent Financial Advisors

Email is the primary communication channel between IFAs, their clients, support teams and financial product providers as it is universally used and flexible. Yet the sheer volumes of emails, documents, tasks, and back and forth communications can make managing email-based tasks and workflow and delivering the best customer service operationally challenging.

There are many apps that try to solve this problem, such as CRM and ticketing systems, but these often just over complicate processes and they can end up being more effort than they are helpful. Much of the time users end up going back to traditional email again.

To solve this problem, Inbotiqa has developed YUDOmail. This advanced email workflow tool manages and tracks all emails, tasks and documents in one place and looks and feels like normal email that everyone is familiar with. YUDOmail also integrates seamlessly with any existing email service so no address changes are required.

YUDOmail solves email pain points and enables IFAs to:

Achieve 100% execution – no emails are missed and no follow-up can be forgotten. Each case is assigned an owner, status and follow-up date, manually or automatically using Workflow Rules.

Reduce operational risk – pick up any work if anyone is out of the office. Never lose client communications and instructions in someone else’s emails.

Save employee time – no more filing, sorting and searching for emails, attachments and history. Up to 90 minutes a day of time used on email management can be freed up.

IFAs have specific email challenges

IFAs face several challenges when it comes to email communications with their clients and their financial product suppliers.

With clients, email is most often the communication method used for the advice, decision-making and contracting process. On the financial product supplier side, email is the communication method most often used for the execution of transactions and the management of client assets.

For example, an IFA’s client wants to invest funds that she has recently received from selling a property. Over and above the various meetings and discussions, here is just some of the email traffic that will be part of this process:

1. Investment Advice agreement between the client and the IFA

This will also include due diligence documents like proof of identity and address:

• An email from the IFA’s support team with the draft contract
• One or more replies from the client with signed agreement and scanned copies of passport and proof of address

2. Investment Option Proposals backed up by quotes and research

Investment proposals to the client. For each of these proposals, there may have been quotes from relevant suppliers:

• One or more emails with investment proposal and supporting documents on the underlying investment provider
• Replies to emails from clients with clarifications or question e.g. fees, timelines, investment restrictions
• Answer replies to emails from the IFA or their support team.
• Emails with micro-decisions, for example, instructing a small investment withdrawal in 6 months

3. Execution phase – Once the client has decided which investment option she wants, there will be the execution phase:

• An email to the client containing the financial service provider investment application
• A reply email from the client with the form filled in and signed, assuming there were not back and forth emails with questions
• An email from the client containing the proof of source of funds, needed for due diligence
• An email from the IFA’s support team to the financial product provider with the application form, source of funds and copies of the proof of ID and address received earlier in the process
• Assuming the process runs smoothly, an investment confirmation email will then be sent to the client

4. Care and Servicing – Following this, there are also ongoing care and servicing needs:

• Emails sharing annual investment reviews
• Emails recording any changes to the investment over its lifetime
• All of these require emails as well as access to previous emails and correspondence

IFAs and their support teams have to do this for multiple clients concurrently, keeping track of all the emails, documents, tasks and follow-ups needed. Traditional email applications such as Outlook and Gmail require a lot of email folders and management time by support staff and the IFAs, to mitigate the risk of missed emails, instructions or documents.

The YUDOmail email workflow tool resolves all these issues for IFAs by:

• Linkingall the relevant emails and documents to a unique case with each case having an owner, status and follow-up date, all in a familiar email inbox style.
• Providing visibility of what still needs to be done and what has been completed.
• Allowing future reminders for case reviews.

YUDOmail solves all the pain points of emails, keeps all the benefits of it, optimises customer service and delivers valuable management insights through advanced analytics.

If you would like to see a demo or sign up for a 10-week trial, please contact us at yudo@inbotiqa.com.