Fidelity now has an Office of the Future for RIAs, pre-RIAs and their clients

Brooke’s Note: One reason that we admire the heck out stockbrokers who break away to become RIAs is that the process involves a great deal of imagination. Quite literally, the salary-collecting individual has to envision turning their job into a business with its own product and personality. Much of that visualization involves a highly abstract construction of culture, values, service levels and partnerships. This is lots of imagining to ask of any person but it’s especially a lot to ask of literally thousands of stockbrokers out there today considering an RIA life — but who never bargained for all that creative challenge. With that in mind, it seems commendable, perhaps very commendable, that Fidelity has quite literally created a picture that advisors can put into their minds of themselves in a new environment. So much the better that it is future-leaning and thought through down to the technical details.

Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services has launched what may be the industry’s first Office of the Future, showcasing cool technology gadgets like robots but managing to stay away from the cartoonish futuristic toys like jet packs that you might see on “The Jetsons.” See: Advisor Spotlight: Monument Wealth Management shows that A-plus office space isn’t just for ad agencies and law firms.

Fidelity Institutional opened its 1,150 square-foot model Office of the Future in its Smithfield, RI campus this week. The idea is to bring big-box technology store items to an advisor’s office, says Ed O’Brien, senior vice president and head of platform technology for Fidelity Institutional.

O’Brien’s team worked closely with Fidelity’s Center for Applied Technology in creating the model office which is meant to offer advisors practical ideas for technology purchases. O’Brien declined to offer any specifics about how much it cost to build the office.

The Office of the Future gives Fidelity an edge in courting RIAs, says Joel Bruckenstein, who runs the Technology Tools for Today Conference.

“Everything here, is applicable to advisors. It’s all concentrating on advisors,” Bruckenstein says. “There is an arms race, of course there is, and everyone has strengths and weaknesses. This kind of thing is a strength of Fidelity’s. It’s going to create a lot of buzz. My personal opinion is advisors will appreciate this. There’s a big difference between going to Best Buy and going to the office of the future.” See: My day of visiting the Fidelity campus in Boston and what vision and vibe I experienced.

Applied technology

O’Brien is counting on the Office of the Future appealing to all advisors and acting as an effective recruiting and retaining tool.

And props up your coffee, too:
The tablet bot is a mobile
telepresence device on a conference table
or desk top.

“They’ll see this underscoring investment in technology. Hopefully they see that Fidelity has a culture in innovation. We’re starting to integrate around how advisors get the most out of technology driving more efficiency and the next generation around client relationships. I don’t think any of our clients come to us only for technology but technology is one of the decisions they make that is really important,” he says.” It starts to set us apart.”

It’s important that Fidelity focuses on practical technology ideas that they think will ultimately make their way into an RIA’s office in the coming years.

“At the end of the day most of the items we have is technology we think will be most likely to be applied. We’re not spending our time on jet packs that fly us around the campus. We don’t see an application for that in three to five years. We’re trying to make our best estimates and best guesses of what would most likely be used,” O’Brien says. See: Abby Johnson wins RIA respect by articulating her bold vision for Fidelity’s future at the company’s Executive Forum.

A virtual tour

The majority of advisors viewing the futuristic office will not travel to Rhode Island but will do so virtually, though O’Brien says advisors are welcome to go see the office in person in Smithfield.

At RIABiz, we took the virtual tour that offered up smart televisions with video conferencing capabilities. In one image, a couple is watching their smart TV in the comfort of their living room and talking to their advisor who is appearing on the screen in video-conferencing mode.

It also shows advisors sporting eye glasses and watches with smartphone features such as voice controls, data storage and augmented reality. These devices connect to the Internet and offer a range of other applications right before someone’s eyes.

Most industry leaders, including O’Brien, acknowledge that the RIA community may not be quite ready for wearable technologies — just yet. But give it time.

Ed O’Brien: It portrays advisors being
more mobile in the mobile zone
and a home office that doesn’t
have a lot of technology infrastructure.

Table-top séance

Much of the technology is geared toward connecting advisors and clients who may be thousands of miles apart.

For example, there are many different types of teleconferencing cameras including a panoramic teleconferencing camera that gives an up to 360-degree high definition live video of conferences and presentation.

In the office, there are also “telepresence” robots, which are essentially mobile video-conferencing robots. Using this robot means an advisor in a remote location can interact with employees and clients as if they were there in person — at least from the neck up. These devices are still not common features at RIAs offices, but O’Brien and his team feel that could change in the future.

The tablet bot is another small robot that holds an iPad or tablet device and allows the iPad or table to become a mobile telepresence device on a conference table or desk top. See:

Every upgrade counts

The office is popular because it allows advisors to look at high-tech solutions but also to consider more practical and less costly ideas too, Bruckenstein says.

“I think there’s a whole lot of thought that went into what they did and tried to envision. They highlight technologies that are in use today and technologies they think are applicable to advisors in the not-so-distant future and they show how an advisor can use them.”

Fidelity first began highlighting bits and pieces of its office of the future at conferences such as T3. But the office is new and it encompasses everything an advisor could use to outfit their own office. T3 goes big in Miami but Fidelity steals the show with avatar advisors and smart coffee tables.

“I’ve been to the office and it’s pretty cool,” Bruckenstein says. “I think it does a very good job of showing technologies that will be of interest to different types of advisors. Every advisory firm is different and this gives really good ideas.”

One feature displays the type of workspace equipment an advisor buy on tight, medium and upscale budgets.

Joel Bruckenstein [left]: I think there’s
a whole lot of thought that
went into what they did and
tried to envision.

“Even with something as simple as set-up it shows how powerful things can be with a better monitor or a better keyboard. It really goes into the specific details,” Bruckenstein says.

In the mobile zone

Fidelity really wants advisors to be able to get real-life examples and ideas about how they can use technology in their offices, O’Brien says.

“The real purpose is to help advisors who want to do more around utilization and solutions. Advisors want to do a better job with integration and we believe the office of the future is a way to help get really good integration.”

He also says that the firm will work to ensure that the Smithfield office and the virtual office both stay in sync.

“The real mission is to take technology trends that drive industry and consumer behavior — what we’re doing here is taking an advisor’s office and portraying what the office of the future looks like. If you go onto the tool, there’s no conference room that is 20-feet wide. There’s also no paper. This portrays the image of advisors doing things more collaboratively with clients. It portrays them being more mobile in the mobile zone and a home office that doesn’t have a lot of technology infrastructure,” O’Brien says.

caption:In this image, two Fidelity staffers are showing how a tabletop tablet can be used. These are 18-inches or more and combine the features of a desktop and a tablet in one device.