Salesforce Introduces Salesforce Financial Services Cloud: Transforming the Client-Advisor Relationship

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 25, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Salesforce [NYSE: CRM], the Customer Success Platform and world's #1 CRM company, today introduced Salesforce Financial Services Cloud, transforming the client-advisor relationship for the digital age. With Salesforce Financial Services Cloud, the company's first industry-specific product, Salesforce is empowering advisors to build deeper, 1-to-1 client relationships, be more productive, and engage more holistically with clients anywhere and on any device. Leveraging the new Salesforce Lightning Experience, an entirely new user experience that also launched today, Salesforce Financial Services Cloud is modern, intuitive and intelligent, bringing new levels of efficiency to advisors.

In the next five years, more than $2 trillion in wealth is expected to transfer between generations.¹ Today's financial advisors need to meet the needs of clients set to inherit this wealth, and who are increasingly social, mobile, connected and seeking significantly more collaboration. In fact, 55% of investors want the opportunity to collaborate with their advisors, yet very few are able to do so today.² To succeed, advisors must free up time from administrative tasks and build deeper relationships with clients and their families.

Introducing Salesforce Financial Services Cloud

The new Salesforce Financial Services Cloud is transforming the client-advisor relationship by delivering more personalized client experiences, increasing agent productivity and enabling collaboration like never before.

• Build Deeper, 1-to-1 Client Relationships: The Client Profile in Salesforce Financial Services Cloud allows advisors to see all of their clients' information in one place, with instant access to tear-sheets, financial accounts and goals. In addition, as wealth is transferred between generations, advisors need to gain a more complete picture of everyone in the family. The Client Profile's Relationship component enables advisors to visualize and manage relationships with extended family members. Advisors can now map and build 1-to-1 relationships with each member of their clients' households, using relevant information to manage their individual goals, such as budgeting for college, buying a new home or planning a summer vacation.
• Increase Productivity: A frequent complaint among financial advisors is that they spend half their day on manual and paper-based tasks to prepare for meetings. Salesforce Financial Services Cloud's Advisor Today homepage is built to enhance advisor productivity by automating administrative tasks and giving advisors more time to focus on their entire book of business. They can check information on client accounts, such as gains and losses, and review relevant market insights. And rather than toggling between systems, advisors can stay on top of their most critical tasks throughout the day with the Salesforce Financial Services Cloud Assistant. It aggregates information from multiple systems and creates comprehensive advisor to-do lists, including proactive alerts for leads and tasks.
• Engage with Clients Everywhere: With Salesforce Financial Services Cloud Private Client Communities, advisors can easily collaborate with clients and other stakeholders within the client's household. In addition, an entire advisory team, including third parties, can come together to provide clients with collaborative advice. And because advisors can access the Salesforce Financial Services Cloud app from any device, they can give ongoing advice in micro-moments to their clients. They no longer have to schedule quarterly meetings to connect with customers -- they can quickly and easily share information, proactively respond to questions and more, all while in a cab or waiting in the coffee line.

Comments on the News

"Today's investors want a much different relationship with their advisors than their parents had," said Simon Mulcahy, SVP and GM of Financial Services, Salesforce. "They want someone who understands them and engages them on their terms. Salesforce Financial Services Cloud sets advisors free from administrative tasks and gives them the modern tools they need to supercharge their relationships."

"A client's financial well-being isn't just about money. It's about a person's entire life," said Mike Capelle, chief strategy officer, United Capital. "With Salesforce Financial Services Cloud, advisors now have the technology to build deeper, 1-to-1 relationships with their clients, helping them make the right financial decisions to achieve their life goals."

"Today's connected clients expect their advisors to have a deep and holistic understanding of their unique financial needs," said Anil Arora, CEO of Yodlee. "By integrating the Yodlee Aggregation Platform with Salesforce Financial Services Cloud, we are enabling them with aggregated, user-permissioned account data and a 360-degree view of their client's finances so they can provide the very best in customer advice."

"We are excited about the release of Salesforce Financial Services Cloud and what it means to the wealth management industry," said Michael Spellacy, Principal, Global Wealth Leader at PwC. "We believe this product can fundamentally change the way wealth managers engage with their clients by providing a complete customer eco-system perspective. It transforms the experience of the wealth manager and gives them a more integrated perspective on their client interactions."

The Salesforce Financial Services Cloud Ecosystem

Salesforce has built an entire ecosystem around the Salesforce Financial Services Cloud to accelerate customer success and ensure the product meets the unique challenges faced by today's advisors. This includes working with leading wealth management firms in the design of the product, including AIG Advisor Group, Northern Trust and United Capital. In addition, Salesforce systems integrators Accenture, Deloitte Digital, PwC and Silverline support Salesforce Financial Services Cloud by providing technical integration assistance with leading wealth management firms. And Salesforce independent software vendors, including Advisor Software, Informatica and Yodlee, extend the functionality to the product, with sophisticated tools:

• The Portfolio Rebalancing App from Advisor Software is an enterprise-grade rebalancing engine that can quickly scale to thousands of advisors. Integrated into the Salesforce Financial Services Cloud, rebalancing may be done either automatically or manually, with the option to pass trade files for manual review or directly into an order management system (OMS). The rules-based aspect of the application allows advisors to set constraints, receive alerts and rebalance accounts at both the household and individual account level.
• The Cloud Integration Portfolio from Informatica connects Salesforce Financial Services Cloud with core back-end systems, such as asset management, portfolio management, risk and trust operations, to aggregate critical investment data in the cloud. Informatica, a global provider of data integration software, integrates data from hundreds of on-premises systems, SaaS applications and enterprise databases.
• The Account Aggregation Platform from Yodlee collects and connects end-user account data from more than 14,000 sources (such as bank accounts and 401ks) to provide wealth management professionals with a holistic view of their client's finances across accounts. This empowers advisors to deliver smarter, more personalized engagements that lead to increased assets under management and improve regulatory compliance.

Pricing and Availability

• Salesforce Financial Services Cloud previews today, with general availability slated for February 2016.
• Pricing for the new Salesforce Financial Services Cloud will be announced at the time of general availability.

Additional Information

• Learn more about Salesforce Financial Services Cloud at www.salesforce.com/financialservicescloud.
• View our Salesforce Financial Services Cloud demo video at http://sfdc.co/biO8Rq.

Connect with Salesforce

• Like Salesforce on Facebook at http://facebook.com/salesforce.
• Follow @salesforce on Twitter.

About Salesforce            

Salesforce, the Customer Success Platform and world's #1 CRM, empowers companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way. For more information about Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), visit: www.salesforce.com. 

Salesforce Financial Services Cloud is a product of salesforce.com, inc. and is not affiliated with any products or services of other companies. Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase Salesforce applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available. Salesforce has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CRM." For more information please visit http://www.salesforce.com, or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE. 

¹ Accenture, "The 'Greater' Wealth Transfer Report," June 2012
² Salesforce, "2015 Wealth Management for Connected Investors Report," May 2015

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