CRM is the backbone of the advisor tech stack. It is the intelligent conduit for client acquisition, onboarding, and the growth of existing client relationships. However, a poorly integrated CRM costs advisors time, money, and end-client satisfaction – and often, their sanity. That is why turnkey CRM applications like Wealthbox and Redtail are held in high esteem in the RIA community: they work well in the tech stack and are deployed with relative ease at low cost.

A recent Javelin survey shows the enterprise-centric Salesforce CRM platform outpacing smaller competitors such as Redtail and Wealthbox in the battle for registered investment advisor (RIA) market share. These traditionally RIA-centric vendors are seeking to fend off Salesforce and other enterprise competitors by making their turnkey platforms pliable enough to appeal to the customization needs of fast-growing RIAs. Enterprise CRM platforms, for their part, should aim to deliver a less complex and functionally relevant out-of-the-box solution to advisors. Such a solution could help capture the hearts and minds of RIAs who are approaching $1 billion in assets, a level at which typically a higher degree of workflow customization is required. 

Key questions discussed in this report:

• How should CRM platforms compete for RIA market share?
• What are the critical RIA CRM pain points?
• Is there a custodial partnership opportunity for CRMs to create incremental value?

Companies Mentioned: 

Accenture, Advisor Engine, Advyzon, Affirma, Asset+map, Bank of America, CapGemini,  Charles Schwab, Codezero, Cognizant, Comnexa, Deloitte, DocuSign, Ebix, eMoney, Envestnet, Fidelity, Globant, Hubspot,
IBM, Infosys, Microsoft, Pershing, ProTracker, PwC, Redtail, Salesforce, Sikich, Silverline, Simon, SmartRIA, SS&C Salentica, Tata Consultancy Services, TD Ameritrade, Wealthbox, YieldX, Zoho