Schwab Hosts Adviser Workshops to Tackle Technology

The workshops for principals, operations managers, and advisers working with Schwab Institutional will continue in 12 cities during July and August, the company said. New this year is a track designed specifically for principals and operations managers, as well as sessions appropriate for both newer employees and more experienced staff members.

Schwab said this year’s workshops will continue to focus on helping new staff improve their service levels by showcasing immediately implementable techniques for streamlining business operations. For more seasoned back-office employees, advanced sessions on new online account opening, funding and status tools, as well as electronic document management will be offered. In addition, there will be sessions for Schwab Performance Technologies clients on using PortfolioCenter more effectively for billing and data management.

In addition to breakout sessions covering a variety of topics, the workshop will offer roundtable discussions for industry peers to share ideas and best practices. Schwab plans to showcase new technologies including: help building a paperless office, new online cashiering capabilities, and new tools for opening and tracking the progress of new accounts and transferring accounts (TOAs).

Schwab is also debuting the Technology Adoption scorecard—which tracks how frequently their employees are using online trading and account service tools—offered in the “Leveraging Schwab Technology to Improve Operational Productivity’ session. The scorecard compares the firm’s data against a benchmark average so that advisers can see how their use of technology compares to others in the industry.

And what would a technology workshop be without the ability to view it virtually? Schwab will offer a webcast after the last workshop is concluded. The 2007 events are on the company’s Web site (www.schwabinstitutional.com).