Over the past 12-18 months, the concept of the wealth management platform has continued to evolve towards a fully-integrated end-to-end solution that includes technology, people, and processes. This model combines technology and operations into one unified platform supported by a single provider. In essence, one vendor becomes the partner of choice for integrating and supporting enterprise-wide wealth management operations and infrastructure. This platform provides advisory and home office functionality, combined with business process support, data services, and channel management. This type of platform supports all stages of the client relationship including front-, middle-, and back office services. Wealth management firms that lead the pack will succeed through more intelligently deploying capital and realigning resources so they can have a single focus on growing and scaling their business across segments. It is important to note that this is not the death knell of the best-of-breed solution. Celent would be very interested to hear from wealth management firms that have recently adopted this platform model or are more focused on a best-of-breed approach. What has your experience been? Looking forward to your comments.