By Kyle Tetting
New technology is coming. This time, it’s close to home.
Although I often focus on the shifting dynamics for financial markets driven by the BRAIN revolution (Biotechnology, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Nanotechnology), now I have news on technology that will improve portfolio reporting for our clients.
In coming months, we’ll be upgrading how clients securely access their individual investment information as we collaborate more closely with a company called Orion and shift away from Morningstar.
Morningstar shifts
Since 2013, we have partnered with Morningstar to allow clients to more directly peer into their portfolios. Through Morningstar, we have provided clients on-demand performance and allocation data along with a robust and secure method to deliver monthly insights and sensitive individualized information.
We have a longstanding relationship with Morningstar, and their platform offered the triple threat of deep investment research, account data aggregation and secure reporting.
In recent years, though, Morningstar has refocused its role in financial services, pivoting toward its core, investment research. That’s great for us, as we’ll continue to have access to a deeper expertise in investment research, but it also requires us to replace Morningstar’s data aggregation and reporting tools.
No changes to investments
Learn more
The Landaas & Company difference, a Money Talk Video with Art Rothschild
None of this affects client investments. Morningstar simply aggregated data so clients could see it all in one place. Whether their funds are held at Pershing, Schwab, a fund company directly or some other place, clients will continue to receive statements directly from their account custodians.
Going forward, we’re more closely partnering with Omaha-based Orion, which we’ve already relied on for many elements of relationship management software. Orion’s technology provides all the same great features we appreciated from Morningstar — performance and allocation reporting, secure document delivery and data aggregation. Plus, Orion provides a considerably more vigorous package.
As a result, we’ll be fully winding down the Morningstar web portal clients and the related tools and transitioning toward the next big step in our ability to provide in-depth insight into portfolios.
Orion: Improved insights, views
I’m really excited about this. We’re able to better capture, access and understand data with a partner that is more focused on providing that information to our clients in a more accessible and forward-thinking format. This switch is a major step forward in the services and information we offer.
Of course, transition entails change for clients, like having to navigating to a new website with a new login and looking for information in different place. Such changes will raise questions and conversations.
Clients, you can rest assured that we’re here to ensure you have access to the insights you need to understand your investments and how they’re performing.
Stay tuned
We don’t have a set date yet for when we’ll flip the switch. These things take time and have a lot of moving parts. But I wanted you to know in advance that improvements are ahead.
In the near future, we’ll be communicating more directly on how to access Orion as a new source of portfolio information. You’ll also see new reports in your advisor reviews derived from Orion, and we’ll begin to expand the ways we interact to best use all the new tools.
Change is never easy, but this one in particular brings immense opportunity for us to bring the ways we can work together into the future. So, stay tuned and please keep us in the loop on how we can continue to provide you access to your information in ways that are meaningful to you.
Kyle Tetting is president of Landaas & Company, LLC.