Improving Service to High Net Worth Clients

The Ask

First Command migrated to a new platform that would help it open accounts, view more detailed account information, and offer Unified Managed Accounts (UMAs) for high net worth clients. UMAs are simply a customizable financial investment that allows advisors to create portfolios that reduces a client's tax burden.

Because these UMA accounts are intended for high net worth clients, I was asked to:

  • Define the business process for servicing financial accounts for high net worth clients with product management, business analyst, system architects and wealth management.
  • Create a workflow that ensures a high quality level of service to clients.

Initial Process Map

A process map made by a solution architect that includes all actions for opening a type of investment portfolio, which includes various details about different systems for compliance, and how advisors and portfolio managers should be working together.

Analysis of the Process Map

The above process map has the following issues:

  • Creates additional dependencies on the company's content management and compliance software that we are trying to move away from.
  • Uses a completely different workflow from all other account opening processes which could impact tracking of sales opportunities to the business.
  • It's more difficult to train and would require more support from both the training and adoption teams.

It is likely that Salesforce was not chosen to support this initiative due to tech debt related to the tool. First Command started using it in 2022 and kept many of the requirements and processes from the previous CRM. The current Product Manager has a roadmap item to standardize Opportunities reporting and build out various automation but more critical items has been prioritized since its release. Because of the lack of support in prioritizing Salesforce I chose to design and test a prototype to build a business case to recommend a change in the proposed process.

Recommendation #1: Process Documentation

An initial mockup that includes a page in Salesforce that lists all actions that should be done in the portfolio account creation process with checkboxes as a way for advisors and assistants to better collaborate before more automation could be built into the system.

Recommendation #2: Portfolio Details

An initial form page that contains general details that are required for opening a new portfolio and meeting compliance requirements.
A form page that allows advisors to say which types of accounts a portfolio should contain. Each account is on a card element that can be collapsed and deleted.
The final page allows documenting changes to existing accounts, such as moving funds or changing the risk profile of the portfolio.

Findings and Next Steps

I spoke to two advisors and an assistant to investigate how Salesforce could support the new processes and how they would like to be supported with the rollout.

  • They all appreciated having a documented process to help internal offices communicate but mentioned it may not get used as they gain familiarity with the new process.
  • One Advisor mentioned these types of financial accounts occur from a long relationship and documentation on previous opportunities helps them be more informed about the clients needs.
  • Advisors also mentioned their desire for a more digestable overview of the benefits and intended audience of financial products on offer.

My above report allowed the VP of Design to escalate this issue across the development team and protect capacity for additional research. I met with technical stakeholders for feedback on improving the prototype to ensure a more positive rollout of new investment products, while attempting to mitigate the upfront work since the Salesforce team will restructure a number of necessary components in the upcoming year.

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