Integrating Digital Onboarding with Existing CRM Systems

Integrating Digital Onboarding with Existing CRM Systems

The wealth management industry thrives on relationships, making Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software like Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics essential components of their tech stacks. However, inefficiencies and revenue losses often stem from disconnected systems and data silos.

Mako addresses these issues by integrating our onboarding solution with CRMs, ensuring seamless data consistency throughout the client’s onboarding process.

This integration further improves data accuracy, streamlines workflows, and enhances client satisfaction, leading to better client retention and increased acquisition.

This article will explore Mako’s CRM integrations, their benefits, and provide a detailed plan for implementation.

Understanding the Benefits of CRM Integrations

Integrating an onboarding platform with a CRM enhances the prospecting process, personalizes communication, and improves lead tracking. By capturing and organizing lead information automatically, advisors can focus on building quality relationships and grow AUM and revenue faster. 

This integration will further eliminate manual data entry, streamline compliance, and provide real-time updates. It will also significantly expedite the onboarding process, as advisors can automatically transfer client information from their CRM to onboarding forms at an accelerated pace and without the risk of errors. 

Additionally, this will ensure that all internal requirements are met, client information is consistent between all systems, and a higher quality of customer service is delivered.

In addition to a quicker onboarding process, a seamless integration boosts revenue through enhanced client experiences, operational efficiency, and data-driven decision-making. A faster onboarding process improves client satisfaction, retention, and reduces administrative workload.

Step One: Data Organization

The first step in this type of integration is identifying your objectives in linking the platforms. Your objectives will likely include: 

  • Faster client onboarding
  • Higher client response rate 
  • Establishing a single source of truth

It’s also a good idea to list all the required stakeholders, from IT to client-facing employees, to ensure the solution fits the entire company's needs. Next, it’s time to inventory the data required to make the connection a success: 

  • Household structure
  • Account information
  • Forms required and the information path for each field
  • APIs
  • Any existing infrastructure that could be reused

Mapping out your goals and the data linkages required to achieve them will allow your team to remain focused and ensure the onboarding-CRM connection has the most impact on your business. 

This detailed record of data inventories and their respective links creates a robust framework that can be referenced throughout the integration to ensure your team is staying on track.

Step Two: Planning the Integration Process

Even when a digital onboarding platform like Mako directly integrates with CRMs, the user experience and data paths must still be carefully designed. The first step of the integration process should begin with a business process review(BPR). The statement of work resulting from this evaluation should include:

  • Timelines
  • Responsibilities of every involved member of the team
  • Milestones
  • Data migration plan
  • Integration and user acceptance testing

Another crucial aspect to map out is what each platform will handle so you don’t end up with redundancies and to ensure the best tool is used for every situation. Here is an example of this delimitation:

CRM tasks

  • Client interaction logging
  • Follow-up scheduling
  • Centralized data storage
  • Lead management
  • Sending notifications to clients via predetermined triggers

Digital onboarding platform tasks

  • Digital forms
  • Document submission
  • Initial data capture
  • Audit trail
  • Compliance checks like KYC and AML

This might seem like a no-brainer process, but it is essential to write it down and include it within your training manual, so your employees know exactly which platform to rely on for each task. 

Clear and comprehensive documentation is essential for planning, the core of any employee training material, and a helpful guideline when support assesses issues. 

With a well-documented and meticulously planned integration process, your organization can move forward with confidence, knowing that the groundwork has been laid for successful training, documentation, and support. This proactive approach sets the stage for a seamless and efficient integration, ultimately driving better outcomes for your business.

After Implementation: Documentation, Training and Support

Integrating a CRM with a digital onboarding platform like Mako can improve efficiency, but employees can experience a learning curve like with any new workflow. Without a detailed training program, staff could create data duplicates without realizing it or not utilize the new connection between the two software to its full extent. 

Take advantage of varied types of content to ensure high knowledge retention and training completion rates. Mix in personalized manuals, in-person training, and rich media like videos to keep users engaged. This practice will provide your staff with a wealth of information while also showing your dedication to this new solution.

Training programs are very personal to each organization, but here are some subjects that are common enough to be present in all of them:

  • Overview of the integration and how to utilize it
  • Launching a workflow from the CRM
  • Updating client information
  • Data management

This type of integration often involves data migration and complex ties between forms. Questions and mistakes are bound to happen, and you should have a dedicated support resource to fix these issues, whether in-house or through your vendor. 

Make sure you hold comprehensive training sessions as the integration is being rolled out, with frequent refreshers as new features or regulations are introduced. Ongoing support shouldn’t just be helpdesk-based; it should encourage the user to tackle their own issues through FAQs and knowledge bases. 

It goes without saying that integrating CRM with your digital onboarding should be part of a larger initiative focused on creating a culture of digital transformation. To ensure maximum efficiency, hold scheduled review sessions and encourage employees to provide feedback on the platform.

Mako’s CRM Integrations

Mako Fintech integrates with the most popular wealth management CRMs in order to offer the most flexible digital onboarding experience possible to the market. Here are the tasks you can execute with CRMs connected to Mako:

  • Data sync between clients on Salesforce/Dynamics and Mako
  • Creating new or updated records in the CRM when data is entered by a user in a Mako workflow
  • Creating new records in Mako when a record is created or updated in the CRM
  • Clicking a link in the CRM to launch a Mako workflow for a specific investor
  • Updating the CRM with links to completed, signed onboarding forms produced by Mako
  • Updating the CRM with custodian account opening status from Mako’s straight-through processing APIs

Not sure if Mako supports your preferred CRM? While Mako natively supports Salesforce and Dynamics, many commonly used CRMs in the wealth space are actually based on one of those systems (such as SS&C Salentica, Infinite Investment Systems’s Melody CRM, and Practifi), and we’re constantly adding new CRM support like HubSpot. 

Driving Revenue Growth Through Onboarding

Integrating fintech solutions with existing CRM systems is not just a technological upgrade; it is a strategic move that enhances client relationship management and operational efficiency in wealth management.

This integration leads to improved client onboarding, enhanced reporting capabilities, and a unified source of truth, ultimately driving revenue growth and better client service. 

This integration positions wealth management officesto thrive in a competitive market by staying ahead of technological trends and meeting the evolving needs of their clients.

Embracing fintech integration is a proactive approach that not only streamlines operations but also strengthens the overall strategic foundation of wealth management firms, leading to sustained growth and success in the industry.

Photo by Kindel Media: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-couple-love-people-7979418/

Technology and Efficiency in Wealth Management

View full Infographic

In Pursuit of Efficiency:

Working with Technology to De-paper Wealth Management Processes

Download Complete eBook