ActiFi Launches DecisionMark, a Customized Financial Benchmarking Tool for Wealth Advisory Firms

PLYMOUTH, Minn., Dec. 1, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- In a world where data analysis is an increasingly important tool in making strategic decisions, ActiFi, Inc., a software and solutions company devoted to helping financial advisory firms build exceptional businesses, today announced the launch of its DecisionMark financial benchmarking tool. DecisionMark, integrated into the ActiFi Roadmap™ business planning/execution software suite, for the first time allows a financial institution to provide their integrated wealth advisory firms the ability to benchmark their financial data against peers offering similar business models.

"We believe that in the not too distant future all wealth advisory firms will have interactive, accessible and comparative financial data," said ActiFi CEO Spenser Segal. "DecisionMark allows advisors to get a jump start on making better business decisions, based on current, objective data."

Benchmarking data is a necessity as financial advisory practices become more sophisticated businesses. In a 2009 CEG Worldwide study, 89% of leading firms reported that accurate benchmarking statistics are critical to business success. Yet few financial institutions provide meaningful data.

DecisionMark solves those issues and more. No longer will an advisory firm need to rely on year-old static data from benchmarking surveys to judge business performance. Instead, data is now readily viewable as soon as the information is updated by participating firms. Once an enterprise inputs its model data, a participating advisor can input their own firm's financial information and then select a comparable business model. Because DecisionMark is customized at the institutional level, an advisor can compare and contrast their performance against peers, and because the information is dynamic in its display, it can be easily analyzed and then used to craft or modify plans or make changes to business strategies.

DecisionMark is currently being rolled out to existing institutions that license Roadmap. One group that is integrating DecisionMark into its practices is the nine financial advisory firms that make up the Zero Alpha Group (ZAG).

"Economic conditions are requiring firms to access, interpret, and alter business practices based on operational information, and for years, we have relied on our own in-house financial modeling and performance metrics systems," comments Justin D. Stets, Managing Director of Carlson Capital Management and a ZAG member firm. "DecisionMark gives us a tool to make better and wiser choices within our firm, plus the technology provides incredible value for us to have a dialogue with like-minded organizations as to how we can precisely and deftly improve our business functions. DecisionMark is changing the way we deliver the client experience."

The DecisionMark interface provides for easy creation of comparative charts and data modeling. Unlike traditional benchmarking tools that provide for only the analysis of historical results in a static framework, DecisionMark allows an advisor to focus on specific data sets that correspond with strategies the firm is committed to implementing. The advisor can then, over time, measure the impact those strategies are having on selected metrics.

Beyond data analysis, DecisionMark can be completely customized per an institution's requirements and the unique needs of their advisory firms. The software produces dashboard displays and customized reporting sets. This flexibility ensures that DecisionMark is extremely specific and proprietary to each institution that licenses Roadmap for their advisory firms, including customization of the institution's brand, business model options, and technology platforms.

"Financial advisors already rely on current information to help their clients make wise investment decisions," added Segal. "With DecisionMark, advisors finally have access to current benchmarking information so they can make wise business decisions and answer the 'so what?' questions related to business performance data. The information can then be used to help define actionable strategies to address the key areas a business would like to improve."

The DecisionMark software is available to financial institutions that license ActiFi Roadmap™ or a specific Roadmap module. For more information on ActiFi, Roadmap, and DecisionMark, visit http://www.actifi.com or call 763.550.0223.

About ActiFi

ActiFi™ is a software and solutions company that creates scalable business execution programs for the financial services industry. Learn more at http://www.actifi.com  

SOURCE ActiFi