Onawa Promise Lacewell, PhD
Director, Consulting
Onawa Promise Lacewell has a research focus on the impact of disruptive technologies on the financial services sector and on the client-facing technology that wealth managers use to support the digital experience of UHNW and HNW end clients. Specifically, she is interested in how wealth managers use digital portals and mobile apps to support the client experience of UHNW and HNW end clients. Onawa holds a PhD from the University of Missouri.
Recent research assignments and publications include the following:
- Behind the Login of Wealth Management Client Portals
- Benchmarking of Value-Added Services for UHNW clients
- The Rising Popularity of Family Offices
- AI Throughout the Wealth Management Lifecycle
- UHNW Benchmarking
Do any of these statements sound familiar?
“Clients don’t want to access another portal … they already have too many account logins to remember.”
“Clients just want us to email them their documents.”
“Everyone’s asking if they can just access the raw data and pull it directly into their in-house reporting system.”
I hear these statements all the time when I talk to people about client reporting and the future of client communications. And they’re not wrong — clients often DON’T want portals. They want the path of least resistance, which usually doesn’t mean dealing with yet another set of authentication credentials.
However, whether clients want it or not, the current state of email communications for reporting is outdated, inefficient, and often insecure. Most of us understand that the industry is behind in terms of digitization and client portals — with their self-service data options, more secure communication channels, and “one-stop shop” promise — have landed on a lot of firms’ roadmaps today.
But I’m also starting to hear firms ask why they should stand up a client portal at all if they can simply provide clients with direct access to data or data feeds. After all, if end clients aren’t always enthusiastic users of portals and there’s another way to get them what they need, why not do that?
It’s a good question. Let’s discuss …
The Lure of a Data Feed
With modern data platforms all the rage in the industry and firms starting to see a payoff from implementations like Snowflake, the question from clients becomes, “Can’t you just give me my data directly?” This approach is clearly the path of least resistance. Give your clients access to the data and make sure it’s validated and correct (of course). Then clients can draw the data into their own systems and do with it what they will.
Done.
Dusted.
The client services team can take an extra coffee break or two. Maybe it’s time to take your pickleball game to the next level?
Not so fast.
A few problems creep up when circumventing the need for a portal by simply allowing your end clients to access data directly or through data feeds ─ primarily, the loss of control of the message and the loss of the portal as a tool to support internal use cases and drive internal efficiencies. Additional roadblocks also exist ─ namely, data access and data feeds really only support a subset of use cases and personas. They also do not provide ad hoc, time-sensitive analysis such as exposure reporting. For example, data access or data feeds would require internal reporting teams to quickly develop exposure reporting if they didn’t already have the capability.
Why Portals?
When you pipe data directly to end clients — either by allowing them to access it directly or via a data feed — you lose the power of messaging and the ability to control the message. This isn’t about spin doctoring, but ensuring that your firm’s messaging gets heard. Commentary and context make up key aspects of client communications, but direct data feeds don’t allow for this type of message-building.
This isn’t only about client reporting, although the loss of commentary is especially problematic. When used correctly, client portals support your firm’s image as the best partner possible for your clients, from client onboarding, client communications, and sales and marketing to reporting, thought leadership, and beyond.
Additionally, and as I often happily preach from my soapbox, good portals serve both external users as well as internal ones. They support client service teams, client reporting teams, and relationship managers, among others. I would even go as far as to argue that even if a firm never opens up its portal to external client users, the internal use cases alone could provide enough ROI to justify the expense of building and maintaining a good portal. Client portals, data access, and data feeds don’t address the same needs and therefore firms shouldn’t treat them as an either-or choice.
All of this is to say that when it comes to the future of client communications, client portals will continue to play a key role as a touchpoint between clients and firms. Firm’s may, of course, use direct data access and data feeds, but I believe they will need to consider them as a supplement to their digital client communication channels rather than a replacement.
Lost Dreams of Pickleball Glory
Unfortunately, this means your client service team members will likely have to give up their dreams of pickleball court glory for now. The good news is I’m always available to talk portals, and Cutter offers a range of ways to support firms looking to build, buy, or improve an existing client portal.
If client reporting and portals are on your mind, perhaps you’d be interested in having your client portal assessed. Cutter’s proprietary process scores your portal’s usability, functionality, and design. Learn more about our Client Portal Assessment.