Beacon Blog

LaserApp Conference – A Little Late . . .

Three weeks ago we were in San Diego serving as the keynote speaker at the LaserApp conference. We were asked to speak on the state of the broker dealer industry. Our talk, titled Moving From the Clipper Ship to the Steamship, touched on BD statistics, integration challenges, the need for the standardization of file formats and the growing importance of creating a central data model. Based on the feedback and the amount of post talk conversation our talk was well received.

The LaserApp conference is always one of my favorite symposiums. First, the LaserApp folks always make everyone feel so welcome. Second, I find as a conference it is one of the best pure technology meetings of the year. Ed Beggs makes sure that LaserApp shares the spotlight with the vendors that attend. And one of the most valuable experiences are the panel discussions that feature small, medium and large sized broker dealers outlining how they, as BDs,  are using technology in the front, middle and back office. Lastly, it is a great informal setting to have discussions with vendors on a wide range of subjects that touch their present experiences and future plans.

During the conference LaserApp rolled out their web version. I am a big fan of LaserApp and I see their moving to the web as a real positive. And I believe that LAserApp has only touched the surface on what they can deliver to broker dealers and representatives.

As always if you have any questions on any topic we have touched on please give a call at 303-259-3865 or email a blog@beaconstrategiesllc.com.

All the best,

Chip

Elegant Email Review

Last week I sat down with Jan Levine, Chief Technology Officer for Kaulkin Information Systems. Jan walked me through the new KISTrack – TrackMail Email retention and surveillance program. First off the look and feel of the program was very elegant. In fact I was taken with its simplicity and navigational ease. The “Dashboard” allowed the user to see the number of issues in 1, 30, 60 and Plus 60 day views with drill down capability into the individual emails.

Additionally, a nice comment field is included that provides a permanent record of all comments. I believe that more rules would be advantageous; Jan emphasized the ability for firms to create their own sets of rules really made the system powerful. What I also see as very powerful is that the system also can integrate with TrackFile and TrackFlow, Kaulkin’s Document Imaging and Workflow modules. Overall I believe it is worth the time to take a look.

If you have questions please feel free to give us a call at 720-259-3865 or email blog@beaconstrategiesllc.com