Advisors: Do You Have a Plan for Your Data?

 

Recorded at the BNY Mellon | Pershing INSITE 2022.  Media Center Powered by:

Advisorpedia interviewed Rob Cirrotti, Head of Data & Insights at Pershing X, at BNY Mellon | Pershing INSITE in June, 2022.

Related: How Pershing X is Going to Help Advisors

Resources: Integrated Partners | Flyer Financial Technologies | Pershing X

Transcript:

SPEAKERS: Shannon Rosic, Rob Cirrotti

Shannon Rosic  00:00

Big Data can be a dirty four letter word in our industry. I'm joined by Rob Rob Cirrotti. Pershing X to learn how firms and advisors can actually harness the power of it. Rob, welcome.

Rob Cirrotti  00:16

Thank you. Good to be here. . .

Shannon Rosic  00:17

So as I mentioned, data can be a dirty four letter word in this industry. Because if you don't have a strategy, or a plan, or a system to put all that data in to make it work for you, that can be a problem for advisors. So how should they be looking at it?

Rob Cirrotti  00:31

I think we want to look at it as such an opportunity, right? When there's challenges, that means there's opportunities and I think data can really be powerful. You know, we hear things like data is the thing, right? Data is the asset. And I think that speaks to the opportunity that if you get data, right, it can really be powerful to help you with your business.

Shannon Rosic  00:49

So how is Pershing EQ, specifically, helping advisors and firms harness the power of it.

Rob Cirrotti  00:54

So one of the core tenants of Pershing X is that we want the applications that advisors use to be interoperable. And we're going to serve clients that are multi custodial in nature. So it's really important to bring that data together in a way that facilitates that interoperability that provides a cohesive approach to their multi custodial business. So data really is going to be critical to the person next strategy to sort of power that interoperability and to create that efficiency. And that time, save that we're really is quarter our mission of Pershing X.

Shannon Rosic  01:25

And we're still seeing in our industry, a bit of that swivel chair effect or disparate systems. And I've heard a lot about this next wave of trying to create these deep integrated workflows. So is that the road that that person is ultimately going down to create a system where advisors don't have to pop in and out of systems trying to make it all work for them?

Rob Cirrotti  01:45

Absolutely. That's, that's critical to our mission. So we think about interoperability on a number of fronts, right? It's applications talking to applications, it's reducing rework that has to happen from one application to another when an advisor is going through a workflow. We talk about it as advisors work in rows, but applications are built in columns. And so we need to help them do their work in the across the rows rather than gets stuck as they go from column to column across their applications. Second, data is really core that that foundational data layer can really be core to powering all of the applications with a consistent data layer. And oftentimes, that's the challenge, right? There's different data for different applications, it's interpreted in different ways. So if we can bring together all of that data into a single platform for advisors, it's really going to be the power behind that interoperability that we want to drive for them. And it's key to making their lives so much more effective and efficient so that they can serve more investors.

Shannon Rosic  02:43

And so you mentioned efficiency and time saving, how is the platform ultimately going to do that? What are advisors clamoring for that you're going to be building out for them?

Rob Cirrotti  02:52

So I think it's really a couple fold. So one, you know, we talked about apps that talked to apps, we just talked about the interoperability between them, we think that that's a core element of time savings. I think the other element is and a core part of our data strategy is to really drive insights and analytics for advisors and for firms as well. So for advisors, if we can really create greater value by giving them insights, helping them to understand what their clients need, so that they can be more effective and more targeted with their time, and how they service their clients in being proactive and reaching out to them. And so that can really make the whole ecosystem of Pershing X much more valuable for advisors. And we think much more effective.

Shannon Rosic  03:34

And what about at the firm level?

Rob Cirrotti  03:36

So I think firms struggle with data just as much as advisors struggle with data. And so there's an opportunity to take that same data management platform and give the tools to the firm's as well to solve their big business questions. Where Am I growing? Where do I want to focus on in terms of accelerating growth for my organization? What advisors are being most productive? And what are those best practices that we can learn from? So there's opportunities to mined data at every level of the of an organization. And by bringing that full data suite together in a single data management platform, it really unlocks the power of it for all of those different constituencies. So we're, as you can tell, really excited about what we can do with data for the Pershing X platform.

Shannon Rosic  04:17

And just to wrap up, what's next for Pershing X?

Rob Cirrotti  04:20

So we are on our journey. So we are looking to get to market. We're in the middle of transforming our data platform. We're in the midst of uplifting our reporting capabilities, and we're looking at how we can drive those powerful insights and analytics that I just mentioned.

Shannon Rosic  04:35

Well Rob, thank you so much for your insights today. Great information for the industry. Appreciate your thanks for your time.

Rob Cirrotti  04:41

Appreciate it.

Shannon Rosic  04:42

For Advisorpedia. I'm Shannon Rosic.