Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Oyster (00:05):
Welcome to this week's
serving of Oyster Stew, a mix of
financial services, commentaryand insights.
Each week we'll discuss what ishappening in the industry based
on what we see as we work withregulators and clients, we hope
you come away with the knowledgeand tools to help you make the
best decisions for your firm'sfuture.
Libby Hall (00:23):
Hi everyone.
I'm Libby Hall and I'm your hostfor today's podcast on software
selection.
With me is Polly Cordle,Managing Director of Oyster
Solutions software, ourcompliance software that we
offer, and she's going to helpus with some tips and tricks on
what to look for when you'reconsidering selecting some
software for your firm.
(00:45):
Polly, you've done a lot ofsoftware implementations and
selection.
What are some things that folksshould be aware of when they're
first starting to explore theidea?
Which kind of t hings shouldthey be looking for?
Polly Cordle (00:57):
Well, I think in
today's world especially, folks
are really looking at how tomake the most of their business
continuity plans.
They just got disaster recoveryplans, whatever they choose to
call it, and are really lookingat in this world where, we're
not sure if we're all going tobe in one place or all over the
(01:18):
place.
How's the best way for me tomake the technology work for me?
And as I've kind of in the pastlooked at technology choices,
there were questions I asked,and now I think there are new
questions I would ask as I lookto make a technology decision.
The first is, I would alwayslook at the marketing.
(01:40):
I definitely think it'simportant that you look at the
marketing of a couple ofdifferent firms.
And one of the things I'm alwaysstruck by is how many firms
don't actually show theirtechnology in their marketing,
and I think that's odd.
I don't know if they thinkthey're giving away a secret or
they just feel it's not flashyenough for marketing.
(02:02):
I'm not sure what's going onthere, but so I do think looking
at the marketing and then askingfor a demo.
Make sure that you actually seethe system in action.
Don't just see what they wantyou to see, make them do
something in that software sothat you can see it actually
work.
I've worked with lots of clientswho have said, you know,"We
(02:25):
implemented this technology andthen it didn't work.
It didn't work the way they saidit would." And I think that
comes from not really in thedemonstration of the software,
pushing to see what you want tosee, not just what they want to
show you.
So asking lots of questionsduring the demonstration,
actually seeing it play out, Ithink those are, are really
(02:48):
important.
And then always, always tryingto get a list of current users
that you can talk to, somepeople you can reach out to,
just like if you were hiringsomeone.
This is a big decision thatyou're making.
Go out and talk to some peoplewho are actually using the
software and see what they'resaying about it.
(03:09):
I think that's important.
Another thing I think you haveto ask yourself when you're
looking at implementing softwareis, what issues will this
software resolve for me?
What issues do I have on myplate that I want taken off my
plate and can this software ortechnology resolve that issue?
(03:33):
And be open to change.
I think we see a lot of folkswho have a hard time letting go
of an existing technologybecause that's what they're used
to, but be open to change.
If you can replace four systemswith one system, why not?
I mean, it's one contract.
(03:53):
You're probably g oing t o savemoney.
Yeah, you're going to have alittle bit of a learning curve,
but i n the end, I think that'sworth the economic savings, the
efficiencies that you'll getfrom having one place to go and
look for stuff.
I think those are all reallyimportant questions.
Libby Hall (04:11):
How important is
customization when you're
looking at new softwarecustomization?
Polly Cordle (04:17):
To me personally,
I think it's huge.
So, within our firm, we have ourOyster Solutions software.
And what I tell clients is, wedon't want to prescribe your
compliance program.
We want to make your complianceprogram the best it can be, and
that means we need to customizeit to your firm.
(04:38):
I'm not trying to sell you an"off the shelf" product that can
drop in place.
And that's the way it is.
I want you to have flexibilityand customization, and I think
that's important across theboard.
That's another challenge I'veheard from folks who've
implemented software.
"I'm waiting on them to build methese custom things that I
(05:00):
needed and I can't get what Ithought I could get out of it."
Those kinds of things.
This is another thing I wouldconsider, is the hidden costs in
the technology that you'repurchasing.
So a lot of, a lot of technologyfirms will sell you version 1.4
(05:20):
and then they'll come back nextyear and say,"Hey, don't you
want to upgrade to 2.2?
We've made all theseenhancements and look at this
list of enhancements and isn'tthat great?" We don't really
sell our software.
We subscribe- we sellsubscriptions to our software.
So the enhancements come withthat subscription, and I think
it's a really important questionto ask when you're looking at
(05:42):
any technology platform.
If you make improvements to yourplatform, am I going to get
those improvements or am I goingto have to pay for those
improvements?
Because that's a really big dealto me that that if a software
can be better, it should bebetter without me having to pay
for it to be better, if thatmakes sense.
(06:05):
And then I really think it'simportant that you look to the
training you're going to get onthe software and the ongoing
support you're going to get onthe software.
So, just like we don't believethat we should prescribe your
compliance program, we alsodon't prescribe your training.
We do it however the firm wantsit done.
(06:26):
And I think that's your friendbetter than anybody else.
So if you know that your folksare not going to take the time
to watch a 20-minute video,don't send them a 20-minute
video.
They're not going to watch it,and then they're not going to
know how to use the software.
If you know that your folks dobetter with checklists, give
them checklists for thesoftware.
(06:47):
And then pay attention to whatyour ongoing support is going to
look like.
Some softwares will launch, theylaunch, you're on your own, and
there's an 800 number you cancall and ask general questions.
We tend to stay with ourclients.
We believe a compliance calendarruns basically on a quarterly
(07:07):
schedule, so almost everythingis g oing t o happen at least
quarterly.
Some is going to be monthly,some weekly, some daily, so we
stay with them.
And, u h, for that first quarterwe have regular meetings and we
are launching w orkflows withthem, watching processes happen
with them, so that what theyconceptualized as they were
(07:31):
designing the software actuallyplays out the way they meant it
to.
And I think that is important-that whatever technology firm
you choose to go with offers youongoing support, that adds value
to your compliance program, yourOps program.
(07:52):
We constantly refer to Solutionsas a compliance program, but it
could do any process.
And I always, always tell folksduring an implementation,"Look,
this is limited by yourimagination, so you come up with
what you've wanted to do andI'll see if I can make it do
it." I think that kind offlexibility, that kind of
(08:12):
customization is really, reallyimportant.
You can get locked into these long-t erm contracts.
Some of these firms will havethree-, five-year contracts and
you're signing on, y ou'repaying a huge implementation
cost up front, and you're stuckin that contract for three to
five years with software you maynot be able to use the way you
(08:35):
thought you were going to beable to use it.
So look for the flexibility inthat contract.
What happens if I'm not happy?
How do I get out of it?
How do I get my data back?
How am I going to be able toaccess that data going forward?
Am I going to be paying apenalty if I drop out of this
contract?
All of those are reallyimportant questions to ask as
(08:55):
you're looking at any sort oftechnology.
Libby Hall (08:58):
So Polly, what are
your thoughts about change
management when it comes tosoftware implementation?
Polly Cordle (09:05):
You could do 16
blogs and 15 podcasts about
change management, no doubt.
When it comes to a technologychange management, you're not
going to make everybody happy.
There going to be people whowant the old software.
You have to look to the biggerpicture, in my opinion.
(09:25):
and that is, what kind ofefficiencies from a cost
perspective and from a processperspective am I putting in
place with this softwareplatform?
What kind of, in a Complianceworld, kind of risk mitigation
do I get out of the software?
In an Ops world, then it's moreall about efficiency of process
(09:48):
and really, you have to look atimpact in each of your areas.
So your users, your typicalbranch users, what's going to be
their impact?
How destructive is this going tobe on their day?
Then look at your technologyfolks, how Tech is going to have
(10:09):
to be involved in theimplementation.
And then look at your Compliancefolks or your Ops folks,
depending on what kind of systemyou're looking at, and what is
the impact to them during theimplementation, and is that
impact ultimately worth whatyou're going to get out of the
technology?
Libby Hall (10:29):
So we've talked
about the operations and the
implementations a little bit.
What does a Solutionsimplementation look like from
your perspective?
Polly Cordle (10:40):
So I can't speak
to how other technology, in
particularly compliancetechnology firms, handle this
because we have a consultingarm.
We end up giving a lot ofconsulting during an
implementation.
So we start with the policiesand procedures of firm, and we
really pick those apart- and Imean, we pick those apart.
(11:01):
If you say you're going tostaple two pieces of paper
together, we put it on the listand say,"you're going to staple
two pieces of paper together,"and we're going to put a
workflow in to make sure you do.
We really pick that apart, andwe ask a lot of questions about
inconsistencies and things thatyou may not have thought of.
What's your Reg BI policy goingto be?
(11:22):
What's your senior investorpolicy?
You still say you sign off on apaper trade blotter.
Is that true?
I don't know whether othercompliance technology firms get
into that level, but because ofour consulting experience, and
someone gave me this quote froma comedian that said,"I have the
right to remain silent, but notthe ability," so, because I I'm
(11:46):
a consultant too, I am not goingto be able to keep my mouth
shut.
If I see something weird, youend up getting a lot of
consulting in our process, andthen we make a lot of
recommendations forefficiencies, how you could do
these things differently, what'sreally required by the
regulation.
We see a lot of advisory firmsthat used to be broker-dealer
(12:09):
firms, and so they carry over alot of FINRA requirements, not
realizing that they're FINRArequirements.
So we point out,"Hey, look, youknow you don't have to do that
anymore.
There's no reg that says youhave to do it this way.
You could do it this other way.
It would be much more efficient,much more effective." So we do a
lot of recommendingefficiencies, and then when we
(12:32):
get to the end of ourimplementations, we feel like
we're so in the weeds with theirprogram, that we also offer them
their Annual Review for theyear.
So that's kind of a uniqueaspect of what we do as well.
I think it really just comesdown to a lot of technology is
built by a technology firm, andthen they go and find a
(12:55):
consultant to weigh in on it.
We kind of flipped that script.
We had a consulting firm thatwas encountering challenges with
its clients, and we wanted tosolve those challenges, so we
built our technology.
We designed our technology tosolve the challenges we were
experiencing with our clients.
And so bringing that experienceto the software, I think,
(13:19):
changes that picture a littlebit for us.
Libby Hall (13:24):
That's a good point.
So is finding out what themotivation for the development
of any technology or softwarethat you want to explore is a
great question to ask in thedemo?
Or even when you're just pokingaround on the website, ask why
did they do it?
Polly Cordle (13:40):
Absolutely.
We actually talk to why wedeveloped our software and what
challenges we're trying to solvewith our software, and we
believe we've solved thosechallenges.
But you'll see a lot oftechnology is built by a
technology firm.
I think that's an importantquestion to ask: Who's helping
(14:00):
me ultimately, in thisimplementation?" Because if it's
a tech person who's just goingto build me what I tell them to
build me, okay, that's fine, aslong as I understand that going
in.
But if I need more help thanthat, then I have to find a
technology firm that also offersme that help and that consulting
piece to that implementation.
Libby Hall (14:26):
Well, Polly that is
a lot for people to think about.
I think those are all goodthings that they need to
consider.
Do you have any final thoughtsthat you want to share with
everybody before we go?
Polly Cordle (14:36):
Yeah, sure.
We actually just launched a newsite for our Solutions software.
If you go to www.oysterllc.comand click on the software link
there, you'll see a lot ofinformation we posted- some
frequently asked questions.
And I think those frequentlyasked questions, whether you're
(14:57):
talking to us or you're talkingto someone else, I think that's
a great list of questions tolook at and get the answers from
the technology f irm that you'reusing.
So even if you don't ask us fora demo, go out to that website,
check out the frequently askedquestions and use those as kind
of a jumping off place to talkto any technology firm.
I think there are some reallygood questions in there that
(15:20):
deserve being answered as you'remaking what really ends up being
a major decision f or y ourfirm.
So that would be my best adviceto anyone, is to get your list
of questions in place and usethat site to jump off and cheat
off our work, steel our list ofquestions.
We don't mind.
(15:41):
Thanks Polly for taking the timetoday.
I really appreciate it.
And thanks everyone else forlistening.
Have a great day.
Oyster (15:48):
Thanks again for
listening to the Oyster Stew
podcast.
Don't forget to subscribe so wecan continue to bring you
resources to help you make thebest decisions for your firm.
If you're struggling with atopic and you'd like us to do a
podcast on it, or you'd like afree consultation, feel free to
reach out to us at(804) 965-5400or by visiting our website at
www.oysterllc.com.