Web 2.0 and CRM

Web 2.0 as a term has come to mean a lot of things, some specific and some ambiguous, not unlike “CRM.” But for better or worse, people now use “Web 2.0” as a catch-all term to describe range of interactive models and tools on the internet that create both threats and opportunities in many sectors - including financial advisory services. While the term Web 2.0 has been bandied about for some time, it seems the financial services industry media is abuzz about it lately, and with good reason. It’s a force for everyone. WealthFly just ran an excellent post about Web 2.0 that you might want to check out which aligns precisely with our views of Web 2.0 in the financial advisory space.

A common feature of Web 2.0 in the realm of financial services is that the dynamic between businesses (such as investment wirehouses, broker-dealers, and advisory firms) and consumers (investors) is changing from a vertical model (investors receiving information and guidance from financial firms and professionals) to an increasingly horizontal model (investors learning information from each other). The relationship of the financial advisors to his/her clients is changing in a Web 2.0 world, and this spells both a threat and an opportunity to a financial advisor. (Don’t believe us? From one angle of the business, check out the success of new Web 2.0 upstarts like Covestor and Cake Financial, where the world of investing advice is getting democratized.)

If you’re a financial advisor who's new to all of this and want to get a good primer on Web 2.0 technologies, tools and practices for your business, we suggest contacting Marie Swift, president of Impact Communication, a marketing communications firm that assists independent financial advisors. We caught up with Marie and did a quickie interview with her in the video above after she presented at another standing room only session entitled “Using the Web 2.0 to Build Rapport With Your Clients and Market Your Business” at the recently held Technology Tools for Today Conference in Orlando.

In subsequent blog posts we’ll reveal how the many Web 2.0 features of Upswing’s CRM service can help advisors and firms interact with their clients in entirely new ways in a changing world. Opportunities abound.