Why "thinner, faster, lighter" makes tablets must-have tools for advisors

Today features a recent column from Horsesmouth, the leading online practice management resource for US advisors.  While the original article specifically focused on the iPad, the principles apply to all tablet computers.

Tablets are the hot sector in computers, while sales of conventional desktops and laptops are projected to fall by over 50% in 2011 vs. last year. Among the challengers to the iPad are Research in Motion's Playbook as well as new entries from Motorola, Acer and LG.

For more information on subscribing to Horsesmouth, go to www.Horsesmouth.com - note that a selection of recent Horsesmouth articles is also available at the advisor site for Dynamic Funds.

By Amy Buttell

When Apple introduced the iPad last year, few expected it to be a business sensation, with the financial industry quickly becoming one of its major adopters.

Indeed, tablets such as iPad and the new Blackberry Playbook are changing how advisors communicate. Advisors cite many advantages to tablet computers: they are light, portable, and make advisors' jobs easier, especially when you can access all of the information you have in your office.

"It's much lighter than a laptop because it only weighs a pound and a half," says Starrett Dalton, a registered representative with Securities America in Tiburon, Calif. "That difference of three or four pounds over a laptop makes a huge difference when you're on the road, especially when you can access everything."

More US financial firms including Raymond James, JPMorgan Chase, Securities America, and John Hancock Financial Services are either buying iPads for their advisors, executives, and wholesalers, allowing mobile access to business enterprise systems, or both. In fact, the financial services industry is the largest single adopter of iPads in corporate America, says Srini Kandala, senior vice president of technology at HNW, a financial services marketing firm based in New York City.

Here are 12 advantages to using a tablet computer in your business:

1. Remove the barriers between you and your client.

 The way a laptop is configured can create a physical barrier between you and your client. Not so the iPad, which can be handed from advisor to client. "It's the form factor of the iPad, which tends to create a bond, instead of a barrier, between the advisor and client," says Kandala. "It resonates with a lot of people."

2. Flexibility to promote dialogue

A tablet allows the advisor to react quickly to whatever parts of a presentation a client is most interested in, Kandala says. "Imagine you're talking with a client about their portfolio or some other information, you notice where he's paying attention, and you have this invisible button that you just click to build your leave-behind."

Josh Bolander, technology product liaison for Raymond James,  believes one of the biggest benefits for advisors is the flexibility the tablets provide, especially if they're programmed to provide complete web access to client accounts and other information.

It's proven to be a very powerful and effective tool for advisors so that they can have that extra mobility, that extra ease of use," he says. "It gives them a lot of flexibility about how they manage and run their practices."

3. Demonstrate your technological savvy.

Many clients are impressed when their advisor pulls out an iPad, especially if they haven't used one before, says  Bolander. "If you want to pull out client reports or show some different presentation materials, you can easily have those loaded on a tablet and take it out and show it to the client," he says.

"It carries a lot of weight with clients, and shows that the advisor is on the cutting edge," he adds. "It gives the client a little more confidence in the advisor to know that they are comfortable with the latest technology, and that they aren't sitting there running a desktop from 1995."

4. Customize material.

One of the biggest advantages of tablets is the ability to specifically customize marketing collateral and other materials to each individual client or prospect, says Kandala. "

Once you're done meeting with the client, you've already tagged everything she's interested in, and you can email all that to her at her personal portal site, so she's got the stuff she's interested in rather than a bunch of printed stuff that she's never going to read."

5. Impress clients and prospects

Kandala sees tremendous possibilities here: If you're operating at the top of the market with multi-million dollar clients, you could even give your best clients an iPad or Playbook loaded with specific information tailored to their situation and then automatically update that information every month or quarter.

And then of course you could let prospects know this is part of your client offering.

And soon it will be possible to go through a client relationship management program like Salesforce. Before a meeting, for example, you could ask a few questions and create targeted collateral for a specific client. "Once you know who you're talking to, a good CRM-in conjunction with the tablet-could dynamically create the presentation for you," says Kandala.

6. Ditch the paper.

Tablets are so portable that they allow you to go paperless. You can show clients key information and then email them everything they need. You don't need to haul a lot of paper collateral around with you, says Kandala.

Barton Close, an advisor with Raymond James in Chattanooga, Tenn., says that the iPad has helped him create an entirely electronic office. More important, by emailing information and collateral to clients and prospects, you can better track what they open, what they read, and deliver only the kind of information that they are interested in going forward, "You can't have that kind of intelligence with physical paper," says Close.

7. Get directions.

Securities America's Starrett Dalton uses an app to turn his iPad into a GPS device. Not only does it help him get to client meetings, conferences, and other events out of the office, but he can also check traffic conditions and better manage his time.

8. Showcase custom apps.

Financial services companies are launching custom apps for their clients to access private-label information on portable devices. With more consumers than ever migrating to tablets and smartphones and wanting information on the go, the marriage of a custom app that clients can use on their own and customized presentations on tablets is a powerful one.

Apple offers corporations an enterprise license so that they can develop apps in-house and not have to make them public through the iTunes store. This offers firms the opportunity to develop customized apps for use by employees and clients, Kandala says. Fidelity, Merrill Lynch, Chase, JPMorgan Chase, and TD Ameritrade are just some of the companies offering in-house iPad apps.

9. Take pictures.

In line with his paperless office, Dalton  uses the camera feature of the iPad to take pictures of documents that he wants to store. Unlike the camera on the typical smartphone, the iPad's camera allows you to see a large image as you are taking the photo. You have a really good idea of what picture you are going to get, he says. You can also use the iPad to take video and communicate with clients remotely using apps like Skype and Facetime.

10. Share data

Using mobile apps like DropBox, SugarSync, and others, advisors can share all of their documents, spreadsheets, and other materials between their mobile devices, desktops, and laptops. "When I'm with a client or working at home or away at a conference, I have access to all my materials and information on my iPad either because it is already on the iPad or I manage it through DropBox," says Close.

11. Improve productivity.

Not only do tablets have a much longer battery life than the typical laptop, - ten hours or more - but they also start up almost immediately, says Close. "I can be in, get my information, and be out before someone could start up a laptop. It's fast, too-my  connection works quickly, because there is nothing but a screen-draw," he says.

"A few Raymond James advisors were at a conference last month, and they used their iPads exclusively," says Bolander. "Three days out of the office, and all they had was the iPad. It worked out really well for them to access all the information they needed."

12. Maintain security.

 Because all of the data associated with client information, investing subscriptions, and company information is online in the cloud, there are no security issues if the iPad is lost or stolen. "There's no client data on my iPad, so if it gets lost or stolen, there isn't a problem," says Close. "Of course, it's also password protected."

There's also a free app in the iTunes Store, Find My iPhone that will locate your iPad geographically. If it's lost or stolen, you can remotely wipe it using this app for additional security.