Technology Benefits

Many retirement plan advisers are joining the iPad craze and discovering opportunities for their business.  

In fact, twice as many financial professionals used mobile devices (22%)—such as iPads and other tablets—compared with a year ago (11%), according to results in American Century Investments’  third annual “Financial Professionals Social Media Adoption Study.” 

Moreton Retirement Partners has 15 iPads, which the company uses during committee meetings. Corey Whitehead, senior vice president of Moreton, told PLANADVISER he can already see a difference in client meetings and cost efficiency since the company started using the devices about 14 months ago.

Enhanced Client Meetings  

The iPad allows for paperless reports, which Whitehead can send to plan sponsors for review before a meeting. If something comes up during the meeting that requires further research, the iPad can be a helpful tool, he says.

Client feedback was important to Moreton Retirement Partners when it started using iPads. “To our astonishment, we didn’t have a single client give us negative feedback,” Whitehead says, adding that even committee members light on technological savvy appreciate the tablets. Whitehead said the team offers a short iPad tutorial at the beginning of each meeting.

“There’s always a positive reaction when we walk in [with iPads], especially with new clients,” Whitehead says.

Heather McKim, senior vice president of strategy and interactive at HNW, says she thinks enhancing client meetings is one of the biggest benefits of the iPad. The device can be used both for projecting presentations on a larger screen and for one-on-one planning discussions with clients. “If you can immediately show the value of the solutions you’re recommending, obviously that will speed the decisionmaking process on the client’s end,” she says.

For advisers unable to hold an in-person meeting, the iPad allows for easy video conferencing and information sharing. Meeting Mngr Pro, for example, connects as many iPads as needed and projects documents onto the screens. Cisco WebEx Meetings enables advisers to conduct online meetings from anywhere, with two-way streaming video. Applications such as Keynote can be used for professional presentations. 

McKim says some advisers remain reluctant to host remote meetings on the iPad because of possible Internet connection issues. “The adviser absolutely needs to have those conversations free of any tech issues, so I think there’s a bit of hesitation around that,” she says.

Saving Money and Trees 

Lengthy reports are paperless with tablets, so companies can save money from lessened printing and paper costs. They can also reduce soft-dollar costs for the meeting preparation itself because reports no longer require compilation in binders. Meeting preparation time is cut and human error—such as leaving out or misarranging paper pages—is eliminated, Whitehead says. “The iPads have actually paid for themselves at this point, due to the reduction in printing and paper costs,” he says.

His company earned back the purchase price about nine months after buying eight iPads, and he said he expects the same result within the next few months after the purchase of seven more. “We do a lot of meetings, though,” Whitehead says, “so that’s not going to be the [case for the] typical smaller-shop adviser.”

Clients and advisers also like the environmental benefits of the iPad, sparing paper waste from bindered reports. “We certainly want to be more conscious of our environment, and we are involved in an industry that’s not,” Whitehead says.

Work From Home 

With tablets, advisers can access their work computers, to find documents. They can also edit and create documents, spreadsheets and presentations while away from the office.

Whitehead says he enjoys being able to conduct multiday meetings without needing to return to the office for client documents, because all folders are accessible—with password protection—on his iPad.

Working on the iPad does have drawbacks, however. Whitehead points to taking notes and adding events to his calendar as its weak points, although he finds it useful for viewing reports.

“The easiest way to describe the efficiencies of an iPad is they are not overly efficient for input, [but] they are very efficient for output,” he says.

Overall, McKim thinks the iPad is positively changing the way advisers conduct business. “I think these devices have the power to be transformative in this field,” she says.