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Is it beneficial for employers to track employees’ online activities?
The COVID-19 pandemic pushed many businesses to embrace a work from home setup. However, one of the challenges managers faced was checking the productivity of each employee. Monitoring employees online is a good way of tracking the productivity of a remote workforce. Keep reading to learn more about employee monitoring.

What is employee monitoring?

Employee monitoring is the practice of using digital tools to track employee activity and performance, and the progress of their tasks. The data collected can be used to identify patterns, trends, and correlations across different teams allowing managers to gain insight into various work processes, and how they can be improved.

What are the benefits of employee monitoring?

Here are the key benefits of monitoring your employees online:
1. Improved productivity
  Using employee monitoring tools can help you track how much time employees spend visiting non-work-related websites or chatting with friends. If an employee’s productivity goes down significantly because of these activities, you can address the issue by reminding that specific employee about the company’s policy regarding visiting non-work-related websites and/or limiting his/her internet access. When employees know that their activities are being monitored, they’re more likely to focus on their tasks and avoid inappropriate internet use.
2. Better security
  According to Verizon’s 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report, 85% of breaches reported in 2020 were due to human error. Monitoring the online habits of employees can help employers track and flag instant messages and emails containing sensitive and private information. In addition, managers can block employees from visiting phishing sites or websites that automatically download malware onto unprotected computers and mobile devices.
3. More efficient project management
  Monitoring employee activity provides managers with continuous reports on workers’ progress, allowing them to stay on top of multiple projects. These reports can help managers delegate tasks and adjust schedules to meet deadlines.
What are the disadvantages of monitoring your employees online?

Despite its benefits, employee monitoring also comes with some drawbacks, such as:
1. Trust issues
  Employees may feel that their privacy is being violated. This can lead to low employee morale and reduced productivity, as well as distrust between and among colleagues.
2. Legal issues
  States and countries may have varying policies on employee monitoring, but one thing is constant ⁠— an employee’s consent is needed before any type of monitoring can be done. Without the consent of an employee, an employer can be charged with privacy violations and discrimination if the information collected is used to harm that employee.
To avoid potential problems that can arise from employee monitoring, employers should explain why monitoring is needed. A written policy should be created explaining how employees will be monitored, what information will be collected, and how that information will be protected.

If you want to learn more about employee monitoring, give us a call today.
June 10, 2022
How 5G can improve your VoIP system

The fifth generation of mobile networks, or 5G, is poised to revolutionize Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) for businesses. 5G improves call speeds, has greater capacity, and reduces latency, making VoIP calls clearer and more reliable than ever before. This will be a huge benefit for businesses that heavily rely on VoIP for communications. If you’re looking to stay ahead of the curve, make sure to invest in 5G-compatible VoIP hardware and software. Read on to learn how 5G can improve the quality of your VoIP calls.

Explore VR and AR

With 5G network speeds, virtual and augmented reality can become more common for many small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). 5G easily surpasses 4G’s Gbps (gigabits per second) limit, which is currently holding back businesses’ adoption of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) applications.

VR and AR need to process significantly more data because of the visuals they must process as users move, and this puts an enormous strain on mobile networks. 5G is set to ensure a better user experience by facilitating smoother connections and preventing network delays that can affect your bottom line.

Improved video conferencing

One of the major hindrances to smooth web and video conferencing is slow network data transfer. Fortunately, innovations like Web Real-Time Communication and 5G networks can enhance VoIP for businesses by providing open and stable streaming as well as sufficient transfer speeds. These will allow businesses to view higher-quality videos, even those at 4K and 8K resolution.

Beyond improved streaming quality, 5G networks will also be able to support video calls with a larger number of participants, which is timely, considering the current shift to remote working.

Utilize mobile VoIP

VoIP calls heavily rely on sufficient download and upload speeds. For example, mobile VoIP users may experience unstable and poor call connectivity and clarity when their 4G networks are limited to 12 Mbps upload and 2 Mbps download speeds. These limitations could also lead to packet loss. Packet loss happens when one or more “packets” of data traveling across a computer network fail to reach their destination, which is typically caused by network congestion. Packet loss reduces audio/video quality and can even cause calls to be dropped, leading to a poor VoIP experience. But thanks to 5G’s greater speed, packet loss can be prevented.

Moreover, 4G network providers set a fixed amount of bandwidth for every direction it transmits a signal to. But unlike 4G, the 5G bandwidth can be adjusted on the fly. This means that 5G network providers can allocate bandwidth to mitigate congestion. In practical terms, businesses could reach their customers even if the latter are in crowded places that normally max out 4G mobile network capacity constraints, like in football stadiums or airports.

When your business decides to adopt the up-and-coming 5G network, you can expect to see significant VoIP improvements. If you’re looking to set up a VoIP system for your business, call or email us today.

June 10, 2022
RIA Cybersecurity Checklist: 29 Priorities to Secure Your Firm
Cybersecurity is more important than ever for RIA and financial advisory firms. We all rely on technology every day so we’re at continual risk of cybersecurity breaches. That’s why it’s important for RIAs and financial advisory firms to be especially diligent and keep their cybersecurity practices up to par. This 29-point cybersecurity checklist will help you evaluate your security posture and make sure you are taking the necessary precautions to protect your business and data.

Privacy Policies
- Create an internal privacy policy – Govern how employee and client data are handled and protected.
- Hold employee training on the privacy policy – Teach employees the contents of internal and public-facing privacy policies and how to comply with them.
- Make an internal policy for data retention – Define how long data should be kept, which can reduce the impact of a breach and cut data storage costs.
Security Priorities
- Provide security awareness training for employees and contractors – Provide basic cybersecurity education to help identify and defend against various cyberthreats.
- Conduct phishing awareness training – Test users’ ability to identify phishing emails and other social engineering attacks.
- Have a clean desk policy – Ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of any data that may be found at an employee’s workstation.
- Implement a visitor program – Safeguard against unauthorized access to the premises, systems, and data.
- Identify digital assets – Taking inventory of assets and vulnerabilities allows for proper and regular monitoring and assessment.
- Deploy multifactor authentication (MFA) – Add an extra layer of security by requiring more than one method of authentication.
Cybersecurity Tools
- Use a virtual private network (VPN) – Encrypt data in transit, providing a secure connection between devices.
- Secure Wi-Fi/wireless networking – Employ best practices to protect Wi-Fi networks and critical business systems from unauthorized access and use.
- Deploy a secure email gateway (SEG) – Use multiple layers of security to protect email systems from malware, phishing, and other email-based attacks.
- Conduct a system audit – Log and review network traffic and user activity to detect and investigate potential or ongoing attacks.
- Configure backup solutions – Ensure the recovery of critical business information in the event of a system failure or data loss.
- Test backup solutions – Verify that backups can be properly restored in an emergency.
- Enable domain name system (DNS) and content filtering – Block malicious websites and content to help protect against malware and other threats.
- Deploy an endpoint detection and response (EDR) solution – Continuously monitor devices for suspicious activity and provide visibility into attacks.
- Implement a security incident and event management (SIEM) system – Collect and analyze data from various network devices to help identify, investigate, and respond to cybersecurity incidents.
System Security
- Clean up all unused programs on all systems – Improve performance and help reduce the number of potential entry points for hackers.
- Use group policies and active directory – Centrally manage user accounts, policies, and permissions.
- Secure endpoint configurations – Properly configuring security settings on endpoint devices strengthens the security posture of the entire network while maintaining reasonable user efficiency.
- Implement perimeter security – Protect the network by controlling traffic flows and identifying and filtering malicious traffic.
- Develop a patch management plan – Automatically identify, install, and verify software and/or firmware updates.
- Monitor and track behavior in cloud apps – Detect abnormal or unauthorized user activity in cloud-based apps like Microsoft 365 and Azure AD.
Vulnerability Program
- Define a vulnerability analysis and resolution strategy – Strategically identify, prioritize, and remediate cybersecurity vulnerabilities across the organization.
- Create a vulnerability management program – Manage software vulnerabilities throughout their life cycle, from identification to remediation, to help reduce the risk of exploitation.
- Develop an incident response policy – Provide guidance on how to handle cybersecurity incidents and help ensure a coordinated, efficient response.
- Establish incident response procedures – Outline the steps to be taken during a cybersecurity incident, from initial detection through post-incident analysis.
- Assign incident response roles and responsibilities – Delegate tasks and set expectations for key stakeholders during a cybersecurity incident.
If your RIA or financial advisory firm is using Microsoft products and services, you’re already ahead of the game when it comes to cybersecurity. The Microsoft platform has built-in security features and capabilities that can help RIAs protect their data and systems. However, it’s important to note that these features must be properly configured for you to check many of these cybersecurity items off the list.

If you’re not using Microsoft products and services, don’t worry. There are still many things you can do to help improve your cybersecurity posture. Our experts at RIA WorkSpace will be happy to help you assess your cybersecurity needs and make recommendations on how to best protect your RIA or financial advisory firm. Request a quote to get started.
June 9, 2022
How To Choose the Right IT Vendor in Five Steps
Finding the fit for your RIA

Choosing the right IT vendor sounds like a daunting task. But by following five easy steps you will be able to engage the team that will assist you in all of your IT needs for years to come. You need to ensure that the team you select will be able to meet your needs and help your business grow.

We work with RIAs and financial advisor firms and believe it’s important that you find an IT vendor who knows the unique requirements of your industry. Some of our clients have only 5 employees, but they’re managing millions of dollars for their clients so their cybersecurity requirements are paramount.

Let’s look at the steps to choosing the right IT vendor for your RIA or financial advisor firm.

1. Determine if You Need a New IT Vendor

The first step to choosing a new IT vendor is making sure that you really need one. If you have never had an IT vendor then it could be a great idea to find one capable of meeting all of your IT needs, rather than consuming valuable company time trying to perform these tasks in-house. Most businesses eventually reach the point where they can’t DIY their own IT. Not only does it become a drain on resources, but they simply don’t have the expertise to manage everything, especially cybersecurity.

Technology is part and parcel of today’s business operations. Having a team on your side to meet all of your firm’s tech needs is a significant asset, as the ability to work safely and securely is critical to your bottom line. Whether you’re a small 5-person business or much larger with multiple offices, the expertise needed to manage your IT is the same. We work with RIAs and financial advisor firms with between 5 and 25 people, and their IT requires the same level of expertise as much larger enterprises. It’s not something most firms can manage on their own.

If you already have an IT vendor in place, then you need to consider if you really want to make the change. Some reasons to change vendors would be:
- Poor understanding of specific needs for your business
- Slow response time or poor communication
- Failure to mention hidden costs that result in a higher than expected IT budget
- Poor and inconsistent customer service
- Reacting to fix issues instead of spotting them before they become a problem
If your current vendor presents only one of these problems and then only infrequently, you might choose to stay with them. But if problems are multiple and keep recurring, it might be time to move on.

2. Determine the Needs of Your Firm

The second step to finding the perfect IT vendor match is to precisely identify your specific needs. Where have you experienced difficulties? Look carefully at your own company before you start considering vendors. Only when you know what you want can you ask the right questions and ensure the best possible solution designed specifically for you.

For example, one important factor is whether or not a vendor understands your unique industry and its corresponding needs. A financial firm or a registered investment advisor, for example, will require a higher level of data security than some other industries. For an RIA, one of the top priorities will be to assess the level of security that a potential IT vendor can provide.

You’ll want to identify any other problems that your new vendor will need to solve. Are you having problems with the integrations of some of your apps? Is remote work not as easy as you’d like it to be? Have you had a data breach?

Knowing what issues you want resolved will allow you to pose the right questions to your future vendors, ensuring they are up for the task.

Not sure what you need from an IT vendor or just getting your business started? Here’s a list of questions you can start with.

3. Review Vendors

Take a look at all of the options that are available around you. Don’t assume you need to find an IT vendor down the street. The perfect fit could be in a completely different state. IT experts have remote tools that let them do their job without ever setting foot in your office. However, if in-office visits are important, those can be arranged even if the vendor isn’t in your city.

In your search to shortlist a few potential vendors, look for a company who specializes in your industry and ask for referrals from other business owners.

When you’re evaluating potential partners, here are some things you can use to compare one to the other:
- Stated response times to requests, and the ability to prioritize problems that may arise
- Issue resolution time. IT issues will occur, but your vendor should be able to effectively troubleshoot those issues and avoid repeated recurrence. They should be clear and transparent about how quickly priority items get resolved. Time is money and your IT service provider needs to be efficient in solving problems before they start to affect your bottom line.
- A good IT vendor shouldn’t be contacting you only when problems arise, or just giving you general updates. How they keep the lines of communication open and keep you satisfied is important to consider.
- Consistency with customer service. Getting proper response is important but having the opportunity to get to know the team that will work for you can be valuable when choosing your vendor. If they have a dedicated team for you, they start to understand your unique business better and can provide better service.
4. Review Pricing Details

This is another really important step. Sadly, there are times when what sounds to be a great deal turns out to be a really big money waster. Some companies will promise all-inclusive service but if you dig a little bit deeper you might notice that some things have additional fees attached.

Make sure to read all of the fine print, That way there will be no nasty surprises when the time comes to pay the IT vendor for the work they have provided. If you do choose a vendor with a truly all-inclusive package with a fixed monthly fee, be sure to ask about the flexibility to scale your users to support your growth.

5. Decide on Your Team and Hire Them

Once you have reviewed the information you’ve gathered, it’s time to choose your perfect IT vendor. Always ask for details about the onboarding and transition. Your new day-to-day should be user friendly and the transition should be painless with little to no downtime. You may also want to confirm if there is a way to back out of the commitment should things not go as planned. You may not want to lock yourself into something right away.
June 1, 2022
Is Microsoft Teams SEC-compliant?
Microsoft Teams is a great platform for business collaboration. It offers many features that can help your registered investment advisory (RIA) or financial advisory firm become more productive and efficient. But what about security and compliance? These are especially crucial considerations for financial firms that must adhere to strict regulations, such as the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 17a-4.

Fortunately, when configured properly, Microsoft Teams comes equipped with features that can keep your firm’s sensitive data safe and support your IT compliance. In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at these features and how, when they are properly configured for RIAs or financial advisors, they can help your firm meet its regulatory obligations.

Security and compliance in Microsoft Teams

In addition to enforcing two-factor authentication, single sign-on, and data encryption, Microsoft Teams offers the following security features.
- Microsoft Defender for Office 365 – This service identifies malicious content in Teams, as well as in integrated apps like SharePoint and OneDrive, and blocks access to it. This is especially helpful in defending against malware, phishing, and business email compromise.
- Safe Links and Safe Attachments – Safe Links checks links in Teams messages against a list of known malicious websites and replaces them with a warning message if they are suspected to be unsafe. Meanwhile, Safe Attachments checks attachments for malware before they are downloaded. These features can help prevent users from accidentally clicking on harmful links or downloading dangerous files.
- Secure Score – This tool helps you assess your RIA firm’s current security posture. It provides a list of recommended actions to help you improve your security and gives you a score so you can track your progress over time.
- Conditional access policies – These are granular controls that you can use to restrict access to Exchange Online, SharePoint, and Skype for Business Online based on conditions like location, device type, and network connection. And because Teams’ core functionalities rely heavily on these apps, the conditional access policies that are set for them automatically apply to Teams as well.
Besides these security features, Microsoft Teams also offers a number of compliance-related capabilities.
- Information Barriers – This feature helps prevent accidental or unauthorized communication between employees who are not supposed to share information with each other. You can create “barriers” between different groups of users, and if someone tries to send a message or file to a user on the other side of a barrier, they will receive a warning message.
- Communication Compliance – Automatically monitor and record all Teams communications for compliance purposes with this feature. Communications Compliance can also flag communications that contain offensive language, sensitive information, and information related to internal and regulatory standards.
- Sensitivity labels – Use this feature to apply sensitivity labels to Teams messages and files to help classify and protect sensitive information. You can configure the labels to automatically trigger certain actions, such as encryption or watermarking, when being shared or accessed.
- Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) – This feature helps you prevent sensitive information from being shared accidentally or inappropriately. You can create DLP policies that flag or block the sharing of sensitive information, such as credit card numbers and Social Security numbers.
- Customer Key – Encrypt your Teams data at rest using your own customer-managed key. This ensures that only your RIA firm has access to the data, even if Microsoft’s systems are compromised.
- Retention policies – This feature allows you to set how long Teams messages and files are retained for regulatory, legal, business, or other reasons. You can also specify when certain messages and files should be archived or deleted immediately.
- Content search – This capability lets you search through all Teams data, including messages, files, and conversations. You can use it to find specific information or to investigate compliance issues.
Proper configuration is key

When it comes to security and compliance, Microsoft Teams is a great option for an RIA or financial advisor firm. Microsoft even retained an independent assessment firm to evaluate the compliance of Azure and Office 365 with SEC Rule 17a-4, so you can be confident that Teams meets all the necessary requirements.

However, these features will only work if they are properly configured. If you’re not sure how to set up Teams for SEC compliance, RIA WorkSpace can help. We have a team of experts who are familiar with the requirements for RIAs and financial advisors and will help you configure Teams to be secure and compliant. Contact us today to get started.
June 1, 2022
Cybersecurity incidents – SCAM OF THE MONTH
Dennis started a new job at a local university. He received cybersecurity training as part of his onboarding, but he didn’t pay much attention. He’s received similar training in the past and knows all about strong passwords and what to look out for in a phishing email.

Dennis’s third week of work was during finals. Students were cycling in and out of his office, and coworkers were blowing up his email. In between meetings with students, he would go through his inbox as quickly as he could, skimming over content and prioritizing tasks that would take the least amount of time.

When Dennis came across an email asking him to confirm his new account, he clicked the confirmation button, plugged in his credentials (which were the same across all his university accounts), and filed the email away as another task completed.

Soon after, the university experienced a ransomware attack. The networks were compromised and rendered the school Wi-Fi unusable. They were forced to cancel all online and hybrid classes, and finals were forced to be extended, impacting graduation.

Did you spot the red flags?
- Dennis didn’t pay attention to his onboarding because he thought he knew the content, but such training could have provided him with university specific cybersecurity best practices
- Dennis used the same credentials across all university platforms, even though he claimed to have known about strong passwords. There is a difference between knowing, and doing, and in order for cybersecurity training to be effective, the knowledge learned must be put to use in order to protect data.
What you should know about this scam

In academia, it is often the responsibility of IT to provide privacy governance, but a community culture that emphasizes everyone’s duty to protect data would help serve all organizations.

Universities face a unique vulnerability with a large portion of their users living “on site,” and experiencing high turnover. Addressing concerns that are specific to a company’s niche could prevent scammers from targeting such weaknesses.

For universities, January and May sees a peak in cybersecurity incidents. This is during finals when students and staff are busiest. Other institutions may also find that their busy season corresponds with an increase in unintentional data disclosures.
May 18, 2022
Best Cloud Storage for Businesses
Many businesses have grown to depend on and spend more on cloud infrastructure, especially cloud storage services. Cloud computing has grown a lot, and now cloud storage services offer more than just secure storage — productivity tools and integrations with other apps are also included.

There are plenty of cloud storage options, and it can be tricky to find out which one is best for your business. Read on to find out about four of the most popular options for businesses, Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS, Dropbox, and Google, their differences, and which one you should choose for your business.

What Is Microsoft Azure? Features and Benefits

Microsoft Azure is an extensive, feature-packed cloud storage service for file storage, running servers, and much more. Azure’s feature list includes
- Azure Blob Storage, a scalable and secure object storage platform
- Archive storage for rarely-accessed data
- Built-in backup management
- Azure Files and Azure Data Share for sharing both small and big data internally or externally
Azure operates on the pay-as-you-go format, where you’re charged based on how much data you’re storing, your chosen type of cloud server, and how often you use your files.

The main benefit of Azure is its integration with existing Microsoft services, such as Windows Server, SharePoint, and Office, among others. This makes syncing your storage with your business applications much easier. They also have plenty of other integrations beyond Microsoft.

What Is Amazon Web Services? Features and Benefits

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world’s most-adopted cloud platform, with its more than 200 cloud services making up 33% of worldwide cloud infrastructure usage, according to Canalys. Amazon S3 is its leading storage service. Some features include:
- Storage management tools such as S3 Versioning, S3 Replication, and S3 Object Lock
- Storage Analytics to monitor your usage and optimize cost-efficiency
- Different storage classes for different data types
- Access management and security control
Flexibility and scalability are some major benefits of AWS. There is no limit on how much or how little you can use since the infrastructure is offered and purchased on demand. This means you pay for only the services you use.

What Is Google’s Cloud Storage? Features and Benefits

Cloud Storage is part of Google Cloud’s services built for businesses. It is a simple yet powerful cloud storage solution, with features such as:
- Four storage classes for different workloads
- Multiple redundancy options
- Storage Transfer Service and Transfer Appliance for easy online and offline data transfer
- Object Lifecycle Management to manage and automatically move between storage classes for cost efficiency
Cloud Storage pricing is based on the amount of data stored, data processing, and network usage. If your company uses Google Workspace tools such as Docs, Sheets, Drive, and Slides, the native integrations within Google Cloud will be a big plus for you.

What Is Dropbox Business? Features and Benefits

Dropbox is a popular personal cloud storage platform, though its use has grown among businesses. The platform offers two different versions, a free, personal version, and an enterprise alternative. The free edition isn’t a good fit for business and could be a security liability. If you go with Dropbox, you should use the paid business version. Some of its features include:
- File management and a version recovery system
- Flexible storage plans for different team sizes accompanied by a team folder manager
- Automated folders with standardized naming, tagging, and sorting
- Easily transfer files and remote wipe from lost or stolen devices
Dropbox is priced per package, with fixed rates for different sizes of teams or businesses starting at $12.50 per user monthly. One of the perks of using Dropbox Business is its accessibility across mobile and desktop devices and its remote wipe feature for security.

Which Is the Best Cloud Storage for Businesses?

While all these cloud storage services have different benefits, your choice of cloud storage will often depend on what features you’re aiming for and what your business currently uses.

Dropbox and Google Cloud are simpler options than AWS and Azure and are best for smaller businesses and teams. If you’re currently working with Google Workspace, Google Cloud Storage may be the easiest option.

AWS and Azure, the two biggest cloud service providers, offer more features and better security. Microsoft Azure is generally easier to use and offers more functionality and integration because it is built with Microsoft applications in mind.

Ask Expert IT Services for Help

If deploying cloud storage sounds complicated, you might need an IT service provider who is an expert at your chosen platform. Not only will they offer recommendations and solutions based on your platform, but the service provider will also help you build secure, resilient, and highly customized systems. You’ll also gain access to expert support and maintenance on your cloud infrastructure without breaking a sweat.

RIA cloud services can help you access the benefits of cloud computing while simplifying your operations and driving growth.
May 11, 2022
What Is the Best CRM for Financial Advisors? Comparing Redtail and Tamarac

One of the chief needs of financial advisors and RIAs is to retain their existing clients and maintain a healthy and profitable relationship while expanding their client base. Plenty of customer relationship management (CRM) systems can help advisors keep track of and create custom communications with clients and prospects, automate their workflows, and get business insights. With over 90% of companies using a CRM in their workforce, these tools are invaluable to all industries.

However, few are better placed than the options we’ll look at in today’s post — Redtail and Tamarac — because these are specifically tailored for financial advisors and Registered Investment Advisors. Read on to learn more about each, their differences, and which is best for you.

Redtail CRM

Redtail CRM is part of Redtail Technology’s services and has been a popular choice for financial advisors since its creation in 2003. Its main draw is its easy-to-use platform, making the learning curve short and a good user experience. While it comes with plenty of features, Redtail’s key specs include:

Workflow

Workflows are automated processes you can set up with Redtail to standardize and speed up your daily operations while ensuring nothing goes unnoticed. You can automate internal and external activities such as onboarding, client meetings, and many more.

Reporting

Redtail has plenty of standard reports and allows you to create custom ones, from accounts to workflows and even transactions.

Calendar

Redtail’s Calendar allows you to keep track of the schedules of everyone in your office. You can add various activities such as meetings and appointments, sort them by custom type and color code, and integrate them with your other calendars like Google Calendar and Office 365.

Notes

With Notes, you can take note of your client’s history, ensuring that no valuable information is lost throughout their journey. They’re instrumental in keeping an eye on customer conversations.

Seminars

Seminars allow you to plan and manage events for your customers easily. They can also manage email campaigns, call campaigns, and any other running activities you may have.

Opportunities

The Opportunity tracker helps you monitor all your prospects and current clients as they move through your sales pipeline.

Tamarac CRM

Tamarac is a web-based CRM system built on the trusted Microsoft Office 365 platform by Envestnet in 2000. Its native integrations with Microsoft are the key reasons for its popularity. Its main features include:

Reporting

Tamarac CRM is integrated with Tamarac Reporting for powerful business intelligence reports such as portfolio management, firm valuation, and tracking leads.

Automated Workflows

Automated workflows for onboarding, reporting, sales pipelines, and many other tasks are part of the CRM.

Custom Configurations

While other CRMs come with standard features, Tamarac consultants work with financial consultants to customize dashboards, workflows, and reports before you can use the product.

Redtail CRM and Tamarac CRM Compared

Redtail and Tamarac CRMs have many similarities in their functionalities and feature sets. Both are robust web-based clients specifically designed for financial advisors and RIAs. They also offer automated workflows, excellent reporting capabilities, and mobile applications in their offerings. They have some differences, however, in the following areas:

Integrations

Since Tamarac CRM is built on the Office 365 platform, it is easier to integrate with Microsoft Office and other products. Redtail CRM still has plenty of integrations, though not as smoothly as Tamarac CRM.

Ease of Use

One of the pros of using Redtail CRM is its easy-to-use interface. On top of the excellent interface, Redtail offers free in-person training for its software through the Redtail University. Tamarac CRM is for the more sophisticated user and usually takes more learning.

Pricing

Redtail’s pricing is done per database, with each database available for use by up to 15 users. On the other hand, Tamarac CRM does its pricing by quote only, mainly because of the heavy customization for each business.

Conclusion: Which Is the Best CRM for Financial Advisors?

Both Redtail and Tamarac are excellent CRM for RIAs and financial advisors. Your choice often depends on the size of your business. Redtail CRM is the best option for independent advisors, startups, and small firms. Tamarac is the better choice as your business grows since it offers more integration and personalization options.

Need help integrating a CRM into your business or keeping your CRM running smoothly? We can help you manage your CRM and its integrations through our managed IT services tailored explicitly for RIAs.

May 11, 2022
What’s new with MS Excel 2021 for Windows?
Microsoft Excel is a powerhouse in data management and analysis. With each new release, it becomes even more powerful. The latest version, Excel 2021 for Windows, includes many new features and functions that will make your life easier. Here’s how to make the most of them.

Features exclusive to Excel 2021 for Microsoft 365

The following new features are available for Excel for Microsoft 365, but not its long-term servicing channel (LTSC) version, which was formerly known as the “perpetual license” version.
- Co-authoring – lets you work simultaneously with other users on the same Excel workbook and see each other’s inputs in a matter of seconds
- Threaded comments – allows you to have better discussions with other users in an Excel workbook, thanks to the ability to reply to comments inline
- Visibility of active co-authors – lets you see the other users who are also working with you and where they are in the workbook
XLOOKUP function

Similar to the VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, and INDEX+MATCH functions, XLOOKUP searches for an item in a range or table and returns the matching result. However, XLOOKUP is more powerful than other lookup functions since it requires only three basic parameters to perform the search:
- The value you are looking for
- The list that should contain the value
- The list where the result should come from
XLOOKUP can search anywhere in the data and find the result, not just on a specified column or row like with the VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP functions. Moreover, XLOOKUP finds the exact match by default, so you don’t have to indicate “True” or “False” in the formula.

LET function

The LET function allows you to assign names to calculation results. For example, you can apply names, such as “monthlySales” and “totalSales” to an associated value, which makes formulas easier to read. The LET function supports up to 126 name/value pairs. Take note that the names work only within the scope of the LET function.

To use the LET function, you need to provide at least three parameters:
- Name
- Associated value
- Calculation that uses the name and associated value pair/s
For example:

=LET(x,1,x+2) → x+2 → 1+2 → 3

6 New dynamic array functions

For the longest time, Excel allowed users to use just one formula per cell. However, this has changed with the recent introduction of dynamic arrays wherein any formula that returns an array of values automatically spills into neighboring cells.

To leverage dynamic arrays, Excel 2021 for Windows introduced six new functions:
- FILTER – filters data based on the predefined criteria
- SORT – sorts a cell range by a specified column
- SORTBY – sorts a cell range by another range or array
- UNIQUE – takes out unique values from a range of cells
- SEQUENCE – creates a list of sequential numbers
- RANDARRAY – creates an array of random numbers
XMATCH function

The more powerful successor to the MATCH function, XMATCH looks for a specified item in an array or range of cells and then returns the item’s relative position in vertical or horizontal ranges. It can also return a value in an array.

The XMATCH function assumes that you want an exact match, so it requires only two parameters (i.e., lookup value and lookup array) to work. However, you can add an optional third parameter to change the default matching type to “next smaller,” “next larger,” or “wildcard match.”

XMATCH has another optional parameter that allows you to indicate whether to search from the top or bottom of the lookup list, or whether to conduct a binary search on ascending or descending values.

These are just some of the great new features you can leverage in Excel 2021 for Windows. Helping you manage your Microsoft Apps and subscriptions is part of the Managed IT Services for RIAs that we offer. Get in touch today if you have any questions.
May 11, 2022