Thursdays with Laurie: Boston RIA chosen to launch chapter of women's networking group

MARKET LEADERSHIP REQUIRES DIFFERENTIATION

In an industry that universially acknowledges the need for technological innovation, isn’t it self defeating when something faster, better and cheaper comes along to lament it is not as established as the technological vendors whose technology has been outdated.

If that is the prevailing sentiment, then is there any hope for the industry to embrace anything other than convention and status quo. Fortunately, the consumer can discern the difference and significant market share will be won from those who fail to adapt by those always looking for a better way.

SCW

Brooke,

I enjoyed your article. However, it paints Black Diamond as a replacement for Advent and a direct competitor in the portfolio accounting space when there primary function is performance reporting. An advisor with hundreds of accounts would still need to utilize a portfolio accounting system to manage their accounts. Although Black Diamond does reconciliation it is post trade and thus cannot be used as a substitute to Advent. I could see an advisor that does not like the reporting function in Axys use Black Diamond as a substitute for reporting but they would still have to use Portfolio Center, Advent, APL, etc. for portfolio management. We work with Vestmark and view Black Diamond not as a competitor but as a reporting alternative that the RIAs we work with can choose.

Sincerely,

John Phoenix
Ceo & President
M3

John’s comment on the function of Black Diamond as a reconciliation and reporting engine only is an important one. Black Diamond recognizes that it costs advisory firms valuable resources to generate, audit, and deliver periodic reports to clients, so they provide a suitable alternative for an attractive price.

But what Black Diamond doesn’t do is facilitate the active portfolio management of an advisor’s book of business. Advisors need near real-time position and price information on client accounts to effect security transactions. This requirement will keep PortfolioCenter, Advent, Principia CAMS, et. al. in business for some time.

Bill
<a href="http://fppad.com">FPPad.com</a>

Hi John and Bill,

Though I’m not a tech expert, I stand by what I wrote. Black Diamond’s software performs all the functions of a portfolio management system. The fact that the RIAs in this article switched from other providers wholesale I believe speaks for itself.

respectfully,

Brooke

Black Diamond’s performance reporting capabilities can be useful, but do not underestimate the effort it needs to implement this product. Getting all the information in with usable historical information can take several hundred man-hours and a lot of pain.

Jim