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On this week's broadcast, Android users rejoice, you have one less reason to be jealous of
iPhone owners; Laserfiche secures a partnership with a leading electronic signature provider,
six ways technology can boost your writing output, and more. So get ready, Bits and Bytes
begins now.
This week's edition of Bits and Bytes is brought to you by the 2013 T3 Enterprise Conference,
exclusively designed for the technology needs of broker-dealers and financial enterprises.
Mark your calendar for November 3rd through 5th in Chicago, and register today at t3enterpriseconference.com
All the links to this week's Bits & Bytes stories are on the website, so visit fppad.com/bitsandbytes
for all the details.
This week's lead story is for all of you Android users out there.
Now there's one less reason to be jealous of your fellow iPhone owners. Late last week,
Google announced that it will be introducing an app called Android Device Manager later
this month for all users of Android version 2.2 and higher, which pretty much means 98%
of all the Android devices on the market.
Now iPhone and iPad users have been able to track, lock, and even remotely wipe the contents
of their devices since 2010 using Apple's Find My iPhone app, and Windows phone and
Blackberry users have also had remote device management apps of their own for some time.
Finally, this long-overdue app from Google will especially be useful for those of you
using Android devices, because you can now have better remote administration of lost
or stolen devices that may contain personal or client information.
Speaking of mobile devices, huge numbers of financial advisers are using mobile devices
to stay connected and get work done while on the road. But one of the areas with significant
room for improvement is the use of mobile devices to check client portfolios, especially
for clients with accounts at multiple custodians. All of the major custodians have mobile apps
you can use to check on client accounts, but those only work for clients who hold all their
assets with one institution.
Fortunately, third party portfolio management software providers have their own apps advisors
can use to review all of their clients' holdings, regardless of where they are held. Two and
a half years ago, Orion Advisor Services was one of the first to debut a mobile app for
advisors, and just last month they updated their app with a cleaner, sleeker version
advisers should find more user friendly. And another provider to watch is AssetBook, which
launched its own app for advisors, also about a month ago. Details of what you'll find in
each mobile app are in this month's column for Morningstar Advisor, so head over to fppad.com/bitsandbytes
for the link.
Now for some news in the document management arena. It's pretty to easy to scan paper documents
or save PDF files to a document management system, but applying client signatures to
those documents has always been a challenge. Often the easiest thing to do is to just print
out a document, have a client sign it, and then rescan it back into the system. It gets
the job done, but it's not really efficient, and that means it costs you money.
Fortunately, Laserfiche, the enterprise content management provider, announced this week that
their solution now integrates with DocuSign, one of the leading electronic signature providers.
And remember, custodians such as TD Ameritrade Institutional, Fidelity Institutional Wealth
Services, and Pershing, as well as broker-dealers like Cambridge and LPL accept documents signed
using DocuSign, with just a few exceptions. So this development is welcome news for all
advisors seeking a true end-to-end paperless solution for processing client forms that
require signatures.
And wrapping up this week's update is an article from Susan *** on six technology tools
you can use to boost your writing output. Susan is the author of a brand new book titled
Financial Blogging: How to Write Powerful Posts That Attract Clients, and this week
she shared her best technology tips on FPPad for all of you looking to build your online
profile with effective blog posts.
To read Susan's article, as well as all of the other stories covered in this week's Bits
and Bytes, visit fppad.com/bitsandbytes for the links.
And If you want to read about this week's best financial planning education updates,
make sure you visit Michael Kitces' Nerd's Eye View blog at kitces.com/blog to read the
latest Weekend Reading update.
Remember, Bits and Bytes wouldn't exist without the support of our partners, so be sure to
check out the 2013 T3 Enterprise Conference, especially if you're broker-dealer or financial
enterprise looking to boost your technology both internally and for your representatives.
Visit t3enterpriseconference.com and register today.
Make sure you catch next week's episode, so sign up at fppad.com/subscribe right now to
get all my future Bits and Bytes broadcasts delivered right to your email inbox.
Have something to say? Contact me on Twitter @billwinterberg or search for me on Google+
For FPPad.com, I'm Bill Winterberg, see you next time.