A firm focusing on CRM systems in wealth management is celebrating a hat-trick of achievements.

The client relationship management platform of UK-based Wealth Dynamix, or WDX, has chalked up the wealth and asset management firms bearing the Odey tag as clients, gone live on the systems of Octopus Investments and won what it says is the coveted Microsoft “Gold Partnership” status.

The developments come at a time, WDX told this publication recently, when fostering smooth and happy client relationships has become a top priority for an industry that hasn’t given enough attention to this area before. (To see a previous article by this firm about trends in the sector, click here.)

Octopus Investments, which operates in specialist investment areas such as venture capital trusts, has reached the first phase of its CRM implementation in spring 2015 within six months, WDX said. The CRM offering replaces disparate workflow systems at Octopus, bringing together its front- and back-office with a set of bespoke dashboards and processes.

Separately, WDX said it has been appointed by Odey Wealth Management and Odey Asset Management to implement its CRM solution across the businesses. The solution will support front- and back-office work. The project has a six-month timeline.

CRM technology is one of the most important areas for IT spending across the wealth industry, WDX said, citing a recent survey by EY, formerly known as Ernst & Young. Some 70 per cent of UK wealth firms consider IT as important to woo and retain clients and 38 per cent plan a complete overhaul of their systems in the next 12 – 18 months, EY has said.

In the case of the Microsoft Gold Partner status for WDX, this requires that a firm gives a detailed list of Microsoft technical capabilities, achieves a minimum revenue requirement, and scores highly on ten customer satisfaction surveys and five key client references. 

“Essentially, the client relationship, which in the past has been neglected in the wealth management industry, is becoming absolutely front and centre of what firms are now doing,” Gary Linieres, WDX’s chief executive, told this publication.
 
Change is happening because of forces such as regulation, and because of the rise of a new wave of firms, such as so-called “robo-advisors”. These new firms have turned technology from being an abstract theme firms might talk about into a direct threat to existing business models, he said.
 
Other sectors, such as taxis with the Uber app, are being shaken up for the better by technology. “Lots of our clients are scrambling to have digital capabilities,” Linieres continued.
 

“We now have the scale insider the firm and access to the right levels of technology to be a really significant player in this market. We are getting new clients,” he said.