Rehmann strengthens workflow and information governance with Laserfiche.
Stonehage Fleming Integrations Drive Operational Excellence
GMX Seguros improves client services with Laserfiche.
Client satisfaction and regulatory compliance are paramount in the wealth management industry. Yet, at times, your ability to streamline the client onboarding process and improve back-office operations leaves new clients wondering if they came to the right place. You’re not alone.
Many wealth management firms face the same challenges – onboarding clients seamlessly, while ensuring all necessary documentation and compliance requirements are met. Traditional customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, while widely used, often fall short when it comes to robust workflow automation capabilities.
Discover the benefits of CRM integration with intelligent process automation to enhance client experience and simplify compliance. If you’re searching for more comprehensive solutions to improve your operational excellence strategy, read on…
Despite the high market penetration of CRM software in the industry, wealth management firms struggle to leverage these platforms as the central operational hub for onboarding new clients and other critical processes.
Stand-alone CRMs typically lack the advanced process automation functionalities required to customize electronic forms for different jurisdictions, account types, and approval stages. Plus, many CRMs don’t fully comply with recordkeeping regulations (e.g., SEC Rule 17a-4), offer comprehensive reporting and analytics features, or provide the flexibility needed to reconfigure or rebuild complex business workflows. These limitations can leave you grappling with information silos, manual data entry errors, data security concerns, and inefficiencies across different areas of your business.
Forward-thinking firms are turning to CRM integrations with intelligent process automation platforms to revolutionize their operations. By implementing content-centric workflow automation, firms can streamline the client onboarding process, simplify compliance procedures, and break down information silos that create bottlenecks in your productivity. These enterprise content management (ECM) solutions offer robust workflow customization options, advanced ability to leverage data reporting and analytics capabilities, and secure data storage, empowering firms to modernize their digital ecosystem and enhance client experience.
Stonehage Fleming strategically migrated a substantial portion of their workflows, including the client onboarding process, from Microsoft Dynamics CRM to Laserfiche’s enterprise content management solution. This transition not only resulted in significant cost savings of $55,000 annually, but also unlocked over 35,000 hours of time savings per year.
By leveraging Laserfiche’s advanced workflow automation and integration tools, Stonehage Fleming was able to standardize a group function across multiple jurisdictions and departments, mitigating compliance risks and enhancing operational efficiency.
Gert Bester, IT Business Systems Manager at Stonehage Fleming, highlights the transformative impact of automation on client services: “Instead of getting more resources to do the work and expanding, [our middle office] looked at the processes to automate a lot of steps to be more supportive of the front office team. And in return, the front office team can actually support the clients better.”
Learn about CRM integration with intelligent process automation platform and more wealth management best practices to improve operational efficiency, streamline your client onboarding process, and simplify compliance.
Download free Whitepaper: How to Revolutionize Client Onboarding in Wealth Management.
By Joman Kwong, Strategic Solutions Manager at Laserfiche
With various regulations in place that stipulate how and when financial institutions collect, keep and dispose of customer data, back-office employees are often left to manually manage large volumes of records. Complex and tedious tasks of this nature can bog down staff and take away time that should be dedicated to more valuable activities. Fortunately, leading records management solutions can address regulatory requirements while also supporting streamlined experiences for both staff and customers.
Every customer account includes large amounts of sensitive data and information. Many financial institutions struggle to manage costs and regulations while maintaining that level of data accessibility and security. But when it comes to record handling, any breakdown within these categories could be costly in both the monetary and reputational sense.
Data shows that financial institutions experience the second-highest average cost per data breach. The average $5.97 million loss would be detrimental to any business, and for organizations in the financial sector — which are built on the foundation of customer trust — the added reputational damage would be even more devastating. Record disorganization and misuse can lead to fines as well as put institutions at operational and regulatory risk when the next audit comes around.
Additionally, not only will dispersed information frustrate employees who are tasked with locating records, it will also have an adverse effect on the customer experience, where confidence and trust are paramount. With advanced and easy-to-use records management solutions available, there’s no reason to risk penalties or overburden your employees with scattered records and stacks of paper.
An excellent records management solution is a key part of this modernization journey. Content services technology is highly beneficial, streamlining operations across business units and simplifying larger strategies.
Here are six key advantages of converting paper or digitized records to an improved centralized information and records management platform:
Investing in centralized content services technologies should improve experiences for both employees and customers while boosting the bottom line. A single source of truth eliminates pesky guesswork and makes it easier for back-office employees, legal personnel, and customer service representatives to leverage information across business systems.
Digitized records have, for the most part, replaced paper documentation. However, the old disorganization habits have transferred to the digital realm. Luckily, records management technology is a breeze to set up, use and maintain, empowering financial institutions to focus on what matters most: customers. For more information about records management and to see it in action, check out the webinar “Streamlining Records Management for Banks and Credit Unions with Laserfiche” and more curated resources on our financial solutions page.
In today’s financial landscape, lending processing stands as a cornerstone for institutions, providing not only substantial revenue streams but also diversifying product offerings to meet a myriad of customer needs. Total U.S. household debt reached $17.05 trillion in 2023, with mortgage balances standing at $12.25 trillion, making it one of the largest asset classes in the United States. However, the traditional paper-based approach to lending poses significant challenges, leading to inefficiencies, errors, and compliance risks. As financial institutions navigate this terrain, leveraging lending automation emerges as a game-changer, offering streamlined processes, improved productivity, and enhanced revenue generation opportunities.
Insights from a survey by Laserfiche and Credit Union Times revealed the urgency of embracing automation. Over half (52%) of banking respondents prioritize driving new sources of revenue through digital transformation in document and information management today, while 48% focus on creating a digital-first member experience. However, challenges persist, with 62% of respondents facing manual tasks, reviews, and approvals, and 60% grappling with manual and inconsistent data processing. Furthermore, 56% have yet to commence automating tedious tasks and busywork, indicating the pressing need for automation in document and information management.
A pivotal aspect of lending automation is the establishment of a single source of truth, a centralized repository that captures data from various business systems through intelligent data capture tools. By automating data validation and navigation, institutions can minimize manual errors and ensure data consistency, mitigating risks and optimize fraud detection associated with scattered documents. This consolidation enhances operational efficiency while bolstering data security, which is crucial in an era of heightened cybersecurity threats. For instance, Bath Building Society exemplifies this approach by adopting comprehensive data management solutions, enabling seamless integration across disparate systems. Such consolidation empowers employees to access accurate data swiftly, facilitating smoother lending operations and bolstering compliance efforts.
Leveraging content-centric process automation tools marks another pivotal step in lending automation. When financial institutions use electronic forms to both run the lending application process and capture customer information, all of that data can be automatically and securely transferred to core banking and loan original systems. This reduces the amount of time it takes to initiate lending procedures. Automated review and approval processes within content services platforms further expedite operations, fostering team collaboration and reducing processing bottlenecks. For example, integrating electronic signature platforms streamlines loan package generation, expedites approval processes and enhances customer experience. This approach minimizes manual interventions, reduces turnaround times, and fosters greater customer engagement, nurturing long-term relationships and loyalty.
The benefits of lending automation extend beyond operational excellence to revenue generation and regulatory compliance. Improved data accessibility, facilitated by seamless system connectivity, expands institutions’ capacity to process more applications swiftly. By cutting operational costs and enhancing productivity, institutions can allocate resources more strategically, further fueling revenue growth.
Lending automation emerges as a transformative force in the financial landscape, offering institutions the means to drive revenue, improve productivity, and enhance customer experiences. By embracing automation technologies, institutions can confidently navigate the complexities of lending processing to capitalize on emerging opportunities and deliver unparalleled value to customers in an increasingly digital world.
Explore additional resources from the Laserfiche banking solutions page: https://www.laserfiche.com/solutions/financial-services/banks-and-credit-unions/
The company’s award falls under the ‘Change Management Process/Best Implementation of a Technology Solution’ category, which recognises Laserfiche’s contribution to the digital overhaul of operations within wealth management firms.
SITUATION
• 19 offices spread across 14 geographies
• Needed a workflow engine to power automated processes for the company’s divisions that have diverse requirements and regulatory needs
RESULTS
• Saved time and money streamlining approval processes while freeing up resources to provide better client service
• Created better consistency, efficiency and collaboration by standardizing core processes
• Saved over $150,000 and 100,000 hours to date
Entrusted with the management, fiduciary oversight and administration of in excess of $170 billion of assets under administration, and $25 billion under management, Stonehage Fleming is serious about accuracy, security and service.
The firm has 19 offices spread across 14 geographies, and prides itself on all operations being in precise alignment with clients’ financial goals. This requires highly coordinated systems and teams — whether they are client-facing, in the middle office or back-office.
To achieve this level of efficiency, the Stonehage Fleming IT department is constantly optimizing business processes to ensure they stay ahead of staff, advisor and client needs. A big part of this optimization has been the adoption of Laserfiche as a process orchestration engine and backend information hub.
“We have over 800 staff who start Laserfiche Forms processes across three divisions of the company,” said Gert Bester, IT business systems manager at Stonehage Fleming. “These range from client onboarding to risk and compliance, to appointments and resignations. Everything we can think of — whether it involves integration, or it is a simple or complex solution — Laserfiche can do it.”
Prior to using Laserfiche to automate workflows, the IT team built many of its processes in Microsoft Dynamics Business Central but found it difficult to customize and maintain.
“Laserfiche is very user-friendly and easy to navigate, plus it gives us so many options when it comes to process design,” said David Knight, IT project manager and business analyst at Stonehage Fleming. “With Laserfiche, we simplified our forms templates as well, so we went from around 70 different templates down to three. That makes any changes and testing that needs to be done a lot simpler and faster.”
This discovery prompted the organization to move all automated workflows — which encompassed about 200 projects — to Laserfiche. While Stonehage Fleming’s Family Office and Investment Management divisions rely on Laserfiche for core processes, today, the company’s Group Services division is the heaviest Laserfiche user, as it supports all other parts of the company through core processes including:
With too many workflows to list, plus over 100 projects currently in production, Stonehage Fleming has been able to streamline operations that have direct impact on the bottom line, as well as the company’s ability to provide high quality client service.
To further cut down manual data entry, Knight, Bester and the IT team have built API integrations between Laserfiche and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, DocuSign, RiskScreen, Twilio, multiple third-party databases and the company’s website and proprietary data warehouse. The connections enable the automation of the creation of certain data, and eliminate the need for manual verification and other mundane, repetitive tasks.
Today, the team estimates that Laserfiche has saved over $150,000 and tens of thousands of hours, while they continue to collect data on efficiency gains in other areas.
“We are also replacing some built-in processes, which were slow and heavy to maintain, with modern, fully integrated and user-friendly Laserfiche Forms, improving back office and front office efficiency,” said Bester.
Stonehage Fleming’s most successful Laserfiche digital transformation project to date has been the Business Development process, which involves the onboarding of clients or potentials client to any particular product offering.
Onboarding is triggered by a client relationship manager and involves a number of automated tasks that are now managed by Laserfiche workflow, such as the creation of a bank account with Stonehage Fleming’s own treasury or an outside entity. Also required are a multitude of approvals, streamlined with Laserfiche as well. “The gains for us are in the templates that sit within the workflows,” Knight said. “Laserfiche pushes all data into those templates and it’s ready to be signed off very quickly.”
“We have increased consistency, efficiency and collaboration by standardizing the main Business Development process across 11 offices,” Bester explained. “The result has been more visible and transparent results on Stonehage Fleming’s expected revenue stream.”
“We’ve seen over 8,000 of these processes run within the first few years of using the solution, and the amount is increasing year on year,” Knight added. Additionally, Annual Financial Statement Reviews and the Economic Substance process require complicated and lengthy approvals which were previously executed via email. These emails were manual reminders to staff to review sets of financial data and get back to an accountant within a certain amount of time.
“They were taking a lot of manual effort — from the emails to the signing and uploading of documents,” Knight said. “Today, there’s none of that. The whole process is truly automated; there’s no need to chase colleagues anymore, no lost emails or mixed-up versions. Even the storage process is automated.”
“Once all parties review the information, Laserfiche generates the resolution statements or minutes, which are uploaded with the workflow to DocuSign,” Bester said. “Then all documents are saved back into Laserfiche. Maintaining the custodian data (in Business Central) is done via APIs, so none of our users have to manually re-enter that information back into any system.”
In addition to Laserfiche’s integration and workflow capabilities, Stonehage Fleming has benefited from the security tools that support the company’s strict information governance practices. “Due to regulatory requirements, client information in certain regions can only be viewed by specific offices — everything must be put in blocks or silos,” Bester said. “Oftentimes, compliance will need to see a user or investigate who has accessed that information, so Laserfiche Audit Trail has been quite handy. We have also built our own GDPR system module with Laserfiche workflow.”
Today, the team continues to optimize existing processes and develop new solutions to meet the needs of the business and its clients.
“We have an ever-growing list of business requirements coming in, for which we have also built an innovative solution with Laserfiche Forms that is used to gather requirements,” Bester said. “We have also accelerated the adoption of Laserfiche across the company by improving the workflows running in the background, while also making the business more independent by developing forms to manage metadata without any input from IT.”
Ultimately, the IT team aligns its work with Laserfiche with Stonehage Fleming’s values, which are focused on excellence, integrity and embracing the behaviors that make families harmonious and successful.
“Laserfiche enables us to provide better service,” Bester said. “When clients request information, we make it easier for our staff to retrieve that information. Instead of requiring the company to acquire more resources to do the work, we’re looking at ways to do more automation, so that the middle office can provide more support to the front-office team. In turn, our front office can better support our clients.”
Nearly 40% of large insurers struggle with disconnected applications and information silos, according to a recent Laserfiche survey. Even with digital solutions in place, insurers face challenges with accessing information across systems, manual data migration, limited searchability, frequent app-switching to gather accurate policyholder details, and delayed, uninformed decision-making throughout business processes.
Join us to discover how to create a secure, single source of truth and connect it with your core insurance systems through integrations.
In this 60-minute session, we will cover:
