(Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at the Microsoft Envision conference in Orlando. Source: Microsoft.)
Hearsay Systems (San Francisco), provider of Advisor Cloud solutions for the insurance and financial services industries, announced at the Microsoft Envision conference in Orlando, Fla., that it has undertaken a strategic alliance with Microsoft to develop scalable high-tech/high-touch business applications.
Clara Shih, CEO, Hearsay Social.
Hearsay reports that Microsoft will join the company in addressing specific challenges faced by financial institutions, including the need for compliant advisor-client engagement technology that will enable advisors to better manage client relationships and grow business. The alliance will bring together the data-driven relationship insights from Microsoft Dynamics 365 with the financial industry-specific workflows, data and compliance capabilities developed by Hearsay, allowing advisors to more effectively acquire, convert and deepen client relationships, according to the vendor.
“Advisors, agents and bankers are on the front lines of the digital transformation journey for financial institutions, but regulatory compliance rules can present challenges that restrict advisors and bankers from using basic engagement channels that today’s digital-first consumer expect and demand,” comments Clara Shih, founder and CEO of Hearsay. “We’re thrilled to partner with Microsoft to help institutions break down traditional organizational silos and empower the advisor across the client lifecycle—from awareness and initial engagement to service, retention and referrals, with the ability to utilize relationship-deepening, one-to-one digital communication tools like texting, email and instant messages.”
Joint customers of the companies will be able to capture client relationship data at the advisor level and recommend contextual, personalized next-best actions for their advisors, all while helping them compliantly engage with their contacts via modern digital channels such as social media, text messaging and email, according to Hearsay.
Automating Vital Compliance Tasks
Alysa Taylor, General Manager, Microsoft Business Applications Group.
The vendor provides the example of a client updating her employer on LinkedIn. The action would trigger Hearsay to prompt her financial advisor to pull up the client’s Dynamics 365 contact record and suggest that the advisor reach out with a pre-written congratulatory message via text. Once this action is taken, Hearsay would recommend the advisor to follow up a week later with a pre-suggested email in Microsoft Outlook to discuss a 401(k) retirement savings plan rollover, since job changes are often the only times people consider a rollover. All advisor-client communications would run through Hearsay’s supervision and compliance platform, ensuring adherence to a firm’s compliance policies.
“We are excited to bring together Hearsay Systems’ technology and extensive financial services expertise with our Dynamics 365 customer engagement platform,” comments Alysa Taylor, general manager, Microsoft business applications group. “Hearsay brings financial services-specific workflows, data and compliance capabilities that provide an industry-focused addition to our existing Microsoft Dynamics 365 offerings for sales and support teams, including our Relationship Sales solution, and will ensure that financial services organizations can give their sales and support teams an application that meets their unique needs.”
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