Given the rise in the usage of mobile devices over the past five years, it’s not surprising that financial advisors surveyed for this year’s Brokerage Report Card are starting to demand more support from their firms for using mobile technology.

“You have to be accessible to your clients at all times,” says an advisor in Quebec with Toronto-based RBC Dominion Securities Inc. “Having mobile access allows me to spend time at my cottage and still keep in touch with my clients.”

Adds an advisor in Ontario with Toronto-based CIBC Wood Gundy: “A lot of brokers aren’t working from their desks, so mobile technology makes life easier.”

At first glance, there appears to be no traction in the overall average performance rating for the “support for mobile technology and the mobile advisor” category, as it dipped slightly to 7.6 from 7.7 year-over-year. But upon closer inspection of the ratings for individual firms, it’s evident that there are a number of approaches being taken in the brokerage industry that advisors are warming up to.

For example, Toronto-based ScotiaMcLeod Inc. saw its rating rise to 7.3 from 6.0 last year. Although the firm’s advisors say it still has a way to go, the firm recently spent more than $50 million on a new technology initiative, which includes a focus on mobile tech.

“Advisors need to be tethered to the office in some way, shape or form, and we recognized that early on,” says Zaheer Merali, managing director, sales management, with ScotiaMcLeod. “We started to make improvements, from a foundational perspective, to make sure advisors could access just about every application they had from outside the office.”

Accessing data from home is key

ScotiaMcLeod launched a research app that advisors can access on both an iPhone and iPad. This app provides access to the firm’s internal communications, as well as to research from Scotia Capital Inc., Thompson Reuters Corp. and Morningstar Canada.

“Working from home, for me, is absolutely necessary,” says a ScotiaMcLeod advisor in Ontario. “I can contact any client and pull up any file from anywhere.”

Leede Financial Markets Inc. of Calgary and Vancouver-based Odlum Brown Ltd. also saw improvements in this category, with both firms’ ratings rising – to 9.2 from 8.8 and to 8.5 from 8.1, respectively. For advisors at both firms, accessing information remotely was a big reason for their satisfaction.

In addition to remote access, some Leede advisors credited their firm’s success in the mobile space to the firm’s “bring your own device (BYOD) to work” program – and its support for all brands of smartphones and tablets.

“We are always reviewing new technology that becomes available,” says Robert Harrison, Leede’s president and CEO. “And, if it fits our business model, we are more than willing to provide it to our advisors.”

In contrast, some firms lag in the support they provide their advisors regarding mobile technology, leaving many of those advisors very frustrated.

“No mobile platforms exist at the firm,” says an advisor in Ontario with Toronto-based Raymond James Ltd. “When I’m not in the office, I’m totally on my own.”

Raymond James and TD Wealth Private Investment Advice (TD Wealth PIA), also based in Toronto, saw significant drops of half a point or more in the category. As well, both firms are performing well below the expectations of their advisors, who rated the category highly in importance.

TD Wealth PIA advisors voiced frustration about not being able to use tablets or having no access to Apple Inc.’s mobile products.

“Using BlackBerrys is an absolute disaster,” says a TD Wealth PIA advisor in B.C. “Most of the BlackBerry services are disabled [by TD Wealth PIA], so we have to carry around two phones and we end up looking like drug dealers.”

New program could help

A new, firmwide BYOD initiative could ease the annoyance felt by TD Wealth PIA advisors. This program will allow advisors to select the mobile device of their choice and be responsible for the hardware and the voice and data plans they select, which then will inked to the firm’s platform. But this BYOD initiative is still in its pilot phase; at the time the research for this Report Card was underway, only 40 of the firm’s 750 advisors had access.

Advisors with Raymond James have similar concerns. Although they are given free rein over the devices they can use, they are able to access the firm’s network only through the BlackBerry network. (The firm is running a pilot project that could see the network expanded to other devices.)

“We can’t seem to get iPhones set up,” says a Raymond James advisor in Ontario. “And the ability to work securely on that [platform’s] environment is critical.”

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