Boston, MA, USA
Milan, Italy
October 31,
2002
Ranking the Vendors of Wealth Management
Technology 2002: Financial Planning & Advice
Report Published by Celent
In the second of a four-part series on wealth
management technology, Celent Communications ranks the top financial
planning & advice software vendors in the mass affluent, high net
worth, and European market segments.
The financial planning software market is a highly
competitive and crowded space. Financial institutions face a difficult
challenge when evaluating the various solutions; there are a number of
basic similarities among the contenders, yet shades of difference are
evident in each offering. To help clarify the points of differentiation,
Celent has split the vendors into two categories: pure-play vendors—those
who focus on financial planning as an end product, and front-office
workstation vendors—those who use financial planning as the foundation
for a robust front-office advisor workstation offering.
Who are the leaders in the financial planning &
advice vendor market? In the new 60-page report, Ranking the Vendors
of Wealth Management Technology 2002: Financial Planning & Advice,
Celent Communications
analyzes the solutions of 12 vendors and ranks them (Table 1). The
rankings are based on eight criteria: core planning functionality, market
segment reach, proven solution, usability, administrative capabilities,
client communication capabilities, advisor productivity functions, and
portfolio monitoring.
Top Financial Planning/Advice
Vendors
| Category |
Mass
Affluent |
High
Net Worth |
European |
| Pure-Play |
PIE
Technologies/Financeware |
EIS
(NaviPlan) |
BANQIT |
| Workstation |
netDecide |
Brainpower |
| Ones
to Watch |
eMoneyAdvisor
RiskMetrics |
AssetPlanner |
|
Source:
Celent Communications |
"Features and functionality aside, we cannot
stress enough the importance of product usability. No matter what a
financial planning program’s capabilities, if the advisors don’t use
it, then it’s worthless. As such, we strongly recommend that advisors be
brought into the evaluation process when judging different vendor
solutions," states Celent analyst Pamela
Brewster,
the lead-author of the report.
The vendors covered in this report include: AssetPlanner
(which was acquired by Accenture), BANQIT,
Brainpower, EISI (Naviplan), DirectAdvice, eMoneyAdvisor, Financeware,
Financial Engines, Financial Profiles, netDecide, PIE Technologies,
RiskMetrics.
A Table
of Contents
is available online. Additional reports in
Celent’s four-part series "Ranking the Vendors of Wealth
Management Technology 2002," include data consolidators, client
prospecting and sales vendors, and wealth management platform providers.
|
