It’s been nearly a month since my last post and I’m just about settled into 2011, ready for another year of evolution. I think new year’s resolutions are a joke but if I had to have one it would be for our Friday afternoon 5-a-side team to break the .500 barrier this year! Not setting my sights very high I know but you haven’t seen us play…
I spoke with many of you in 2010 and I hope to get the chance to meet even more advisers this year at conferences, user forums and training meetings. We had our first user forum yesterday at our London offices so here’s a few thoughts on yesterday’s event and the year ahead of us.
- Yesterday’s user forum kicked off with a discussion of active vs. passive management philosophies. Peter Toogood, Director of Investment Services for OBSR, and Ben Johnson, Director of European ETF Research for Morningstar discussed the merits of both approaches and the fact the there is a place for both. Look for the presentations at Morningstar user forums this year to continue to provide expert analysis on investments and ways to improve your business.
- Income has become a hot topic and the need to find income producing investment products for clients is increasing. We are going to be looking at ways to address these needs and help advisers provide more research and analysis for income seeking investors.
- I conducted a small group training session at the user yesterday. Most of those in attendance were already Adviser Workstation users, a few were not. We covered the basic functionality – finding investment products, building searches, setting up models, producing client reports and some light asset allocation planning. Every single person in the room came away with more knowledge of how the system works but also of they can use it more effectively in their businesses. If you use Adviser Workstation and you want to get more from it, call me! 0203 107 0017.
- Integration with wraps and platforms was a huge priority for Morningstar in 2010 and 2011 will see this continued. The fact remains that software needs to be easy to use and it needs to work together with other technology solutions. Look for further integration this year to make it easier for you to provide top quality advice to clients.
If you have any feedback or questions concerning the above please comment below.