Group Retirement Plan Provider

May 31, 2017

Paperwork Automation Case Study Of Group Retirement Provider Helping Independent Investment Advisors Onboard New Plan Members

PROCESS BEFORE SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION

• A group retirement plan provider was trying to grow its group assets through independent financial advisors.
• The provider encountered resistance from some advisors whose cost/benefit analysis of group plans showed a low result which was further reduced by the paperwork time commitment required to set up accounts for multiple clients.
• In order to encourage these advisors to seek out new group business, the provider sometimes offered to complete all the paperwork for the advisors with data submitted by the employers setting up the group plans for their employees.
• The provider was reluctant to provide this service and did not promote it because it was time consuming and cumbersome.
• The provider would obtain a spreadsheet of employee data from the advisor, who obtained it from the employer setting up the new group retirement plan.
• The provider would transfer the data to PDF fillable forms using manual data entry and copy and paste.
• The provider would print, organize, and ship the documents to the advisor.
• The new advisor would be frustrated by inaccuracies in the documentation caused by human error during the manual data entry process.
• The new advisor would be frustrated by the length of time to receive all of the completed documents from the provider.
• The advisor would meet with the new clients, fill in the missing information on the documents, and submit them to the dealer and the provider to open the new accounts.

REQUIREMENTS FOR AN AUTOMATED SOFTWARE SOLUTION

• Must be easy to use and require minimal training so existing employees can begin using it immediately and future employees can quickly learn how to use it.
• Must save time.
• Must improve accuracy.
• Must have excellent technical support.
• Must have flexibility to quickly accommodate customized requests and changes.
• The user interface should be customized to reflect the provider's brand identity in case the provider decides to switch the use of the software from its staff to the advisors in the future, in which case the brand identity and software quality will improve the advisors' image of the provider's value.

PROCESS AFTER SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION

• A group retirement plan provider was trying to grow their group assets through independent financial advisors.
• When the provider encountered resistance from advisors due to the time commitment required to set up accounts for multiple clients, the provider would offer to complete all the paperwork for the advisors with data submitted by employers setting up the group plans for their employees.
• The provider would actively promote its service of paperwork completion for advisors who established new group retirement plans.
• The advisors would supply the group provider with spreadsheets of employee data obtained from employers setting up new group retirement plans for their employees.
• Most users were able to operate the software with extreme efficiency shortly after reading the instructions and looking at the screenshots, or watching a live online demonstration.
• The provider's employees would run the software and automatically complete the forms with client data from the spreadsheets.
• The provider's staff would have the option to print the completed documents as produced.
• The provider's staff would organize and ship the documents to the advisor establishing the new group retirement plan.
• The new advisor would be pleased with the accuracy of the documentation.
• The new advisor would be pleased with the short length of time to receive all of the completed documents from the provider.
• The advisor would meet with the new clients, fill in the missing information on the documents, and submit them to the dealer and the provider to open the new accounts.
• If turnover occurred with the provider's staff, new staff members would quickly learn how to operate the software to complete paperwork for new group retirement plans.

If you are a group retirement plan provider that needs help with the paperwork for client onboarding, please complete the contact form and start the conversation. We have also been building custom paperwork automation software for investment dealers, investment companies, and independent financial advisors since 2004. We can design a custom solution for you.