Data extraction may sound like a new concept, but from the start, data has been at the heart of effective wealth management. And wherever there is data, wealth managers have need to turn it into a usable form and feed it into the right places, whether that’s a paper ledger or modern analytics and portfolio management software systems.
This article explores how wealth management firms manage unstructured data and how intelligent data extraction (or intelligent document processing) is eliminating the burden of manual data entry. By embracing automation, wealth managers are freed up to spend more time putting their expertise to work for clients rather than wasting it on menial tasks.
Manual Data Extraction in Wealth Management
As times have changed and technology has evolved, parts of the wealth management industry have continued to rely heavily on traditional methods, including manual data extraction—the act of reading data and transcribing it by hand into the appropriate fields.
This heavy lifting comes into play with unstructured data that isn’t in an organized, machine-readable format. For example, this could be client information contained in emails or paper records of financial transactions.
As a writer for WealthManagement.com points out, “This kind of data cannot be easily analyzed, manipulated, or used by an advisor. Therefore, one of the first steps in improving the management of client data is to translate unstructured data into structured data.”
Doing the work of data extraction manually may be more familiar to some wealth managers or analysts, but this approach is laborious and time-consuming and can limit your ability to make full use of data to deliver a quality customer experience. Manual data extraction is also error-prone, which is especially problematic in a profession that demands accuracy. A simple typo of a missed decimal, for example, can have a major impact if it leads to a misinformed evaluation of a client’s portfolio or the efficacy of a potential investment.
According to McKinsey, a high degree of manual processing in the industry is one reason it’s typical for relationship managers to spend an astounding 60-70 percent of their time on non-revenue-generating activities!
What Are the Benefits of Intelligent Data Extraction?
Intelligent data extraction offers some serious benefits for wealth managers, including:
- Time savings: By automating tasks that were previously performed manually, wealth managers can save potentially hundreds of hours every year.
- Accuracy: With the sophistication of modern solutions, such as Notable Systems, wealth managers can also improve the accuracy of their data.
- Client satisfaction: Embracing digital solutions empowers wealth managers to meet modern client expectations and frees up more time to dedicate to quality customer service.
- Profitability: Ultimately, a more efficient process, fewer errors, and higher-quality service can also help wealth management firms increase their profitability.
The Trend Toward Digital Adoption in Wealth Management
Wealth management has existed in some form for centuries. The profession was more formalized in the 1930s when commercial and investment banking were legally separated. In the latter part of the 20th century, wealth management was popularized by private client divisions of banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
Even today, the basic goals of wealth management remain the same, but the methods available to wealth managers have expanded considerably. The industry as a whole is increasingly embracing digital solutions. This move is motivated at least in part by evolving client expectations. Half of high-net-worth and affluent clients say their primary wealth manager should improve digital capabilities across the board.
Intelligent data extraction is a major way wealth managers can embrace digital transformation in their firms, helping them deliver on client expectations, making their jobs easier, and empowering them to offer higher-quality financial services.
What Is Intelligent Data Extraction?
What is intelligent data extraction, exactly? You may also hear similar terms, such as intelligent document processing or automated document processing. These aren’t just wealth management solutions but are data extraction tools with broad applications across industries.
Using automation and artificial intelligence, data extraction software can capture data from unstructured sources, pulling the relevant data points and creating the structure needed to make this data machine-readable and ready for additional processes. For example, you could extract data from a PDF, turning it into a searchable document and even automatically highlighting the most important pieces of information it contains. Some solutions, such as the AI-assisted data entry technology from Notable Systems, can even feed those data points directly into the appropriate applications.
For wealth managers, that means being able to better serve clients without having to dedicate time to the manual work of scouring documents and transcribing information into software platforms or records.
Embrace Intelligent Data Extraction for Wealth Management with Notable Systems
Notable Systems helps wealth managers tap into unstructured data and extract that data with an impressively high level of precision, feeding it directly into the right software platforms and databases. Learn more about this solution and what it could mean for your business by scheduling a consultation!
