eBusiness

Best Blogs of the Week

Posted by Anu Heda on Nov 28, 2011, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , , ,

We hope everyone enjoyed a significant amount of food and beverage over Thanksgiving.  While the volume trailed off at the end of the week, the week began with a bevy of blogs.  Here are three excellent posts.

  1. American Century – This post highlights the supercommittee scenarios of cutting budget or not and the impact to portfolios.  This is clear, direct and easy for an FA to absorb and consider.
  2. US Funds – This post makes a clear reason to consider technology investments for the long-term.  It’s an example of sharing ideas without pitching product.
  3. Franklin Templeton – A video post that discusses the drivers of Latin American growth and the role investing in Latin America may play for a portfolio.

Best Blogs of the Week

Posted by Anu Heda on Nov 21, 2011, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with ,

This week didn’t have many  exciting posts.  The two most noteworthy came from Russell.

  1. Russell – This post acknowledges and considers the very real and widespread struggle for advisors: investors want to stay on the sideline currently.
  2. Russell – This post announces the launch of an advisor app.  The post is nothing revelatory, but the introduction of an app to enable interaction with the information treasure-trove at Russell is important.

Best Blogs of the Week

Posted by Anu Heda on Nov 15, 2011, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , , , ,

Sorry for the one-day delay.  Last week, many firms covered a lot of ground. Wells Fargo posted 11 blogs last week and other firms followed suit. AllianceBernstein – new to blogging – came in with seven. With so many posts to select from, we have four posts to share with no theme or inter-related issue.

  1. AllianceBernstein – In this post, Sharon Fay shares a compelling reason for being bullish on technology stocks. Agree or disagree, it’s valuable to the FA for a firm to share posts like this.
  2. American Century – This post shares a straightforward and easily shared reason for including alternative investments. For an advisor beginning the discussion with clients, this post is helpful
  3. BlackRock – I admit it: I am a sucker for a good heat map.  This post simplifies the tax-loss harvesting discussion many FAs will have with clients soon.
  4. Wells Fargo – This is a solid Q&A with thoughts on how high-quality in the high-yield market can represent value right now.

Best Blogs of the Week

Posted by Anu Heda on Nov 07, 2011, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , , ,

In a week where some political pundits are predicting a Greek revolt, I thought we’d see more blogs tackle this issue and the potential impact on US equity markets.  Instead, we have a single Halloween reference and retirement talking points.

  1. US Funds – This post provides some a quality economic comparison between China and the US.  It provides both reasons to think of China as a compelling long-term place for investments and reasons to be cautious.
  2. Russell – This post provides three excellent talking points for an advisor selling retirement plans.
  3. AllianceBernstein – This post provides two clear ways to try to reap excess returns with less volatility typical in emerging markets.

Why Don’t More Firms Care About Mobile Sites?

Posted by Mike McLaughlin on Nov 03, 2011, in Thoughts , tagged with , ,

Last week we presented at the MFEA Council meetings in Chicago. The topic: mobile strategies.

We covered a lot of ground in our presentation – device and mobile Web usage trends, sites vs. apps, client-facing tools, mobile efforts to support field personnel – which we’re more than happy to share if you drop us a line.

The subsequent roundtable conversation covered a lot of ground as well. To my surprise, though, one topic got very little airtime as firms shared strategies with one another: mobile Web sites.

A fund profile on American Century's mobile site.

Back in 2010, Dalbar noted that 24% of asset managers have a mobile Web site. Current estimates lie in the 25-35% range, so there hasn’t been a big move. Why the lack of interest? I see three themes:

  • Mobile Sites are Boring: iPads and apps are sexy. A mobile site, on the other hand is purposefully designed to be a simplified, streamlined experience (single column, limited graphics/multimedia) that delivers the basics (product info, commentary, etc.). There’s not as much room to innovate, so firms see the sites as a snoozer.
  • There are Bigger Fish to Fry: Right now mobile-generated Web usage comprises 7% of all Web traffic. Some firms see that as a big number, some see it as small (especially intermediary/institutional managers). So, when it comes to budgeting, a mobile-optimized site simply misses the cut.
  • There’s Hope for Convergence: 6,500 different mobile devices exist. The Android, Apple, and BlackBerry operating systems all maintain significant market share (20%+). The marketplace is fragmented. But as more people get smartphones and tablets with ever-faster connections, some firms hope that, eventually, most bases will be covered with a single site.

But each of these lines of thinking is flawed. While less sexy than apps, mobile sites currently have the greater potential to reach clients and prospects (no buying a tablet and then searching the app store). The mobile share of Web traffic is only going to increase. And the hoped-for convergence of operating systems and devices is not going to come nearly fast enough.

Bottom line: more firms are simply going to have to bite the bullet here and implement an effective mobile site.