OMAHA, Neb.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Orion Advisor Services, LLC ("Orion"), the premier portfolio accounting provider for registered investment advisors, connected advisors more deeply than ever with the people who build the technology they use during its Tech’s Got Talent contest, a showdown challenging Orion’s technology partners to bring their most innovative integration ideas to life, at the firm’s Ascent/FUSE 2018 conference held on Sept. 5-7 in Miami Beach, Florida. Advisors and judges alike chose SaleMove as the winner of Orion’s annual competition.
Now in its fifth year, FUSE — the industry’s largest gathering of financial services technology developers, programmers, and integration partners — was held in conjunction with Ascent, Orion’s flagship user conference with more than 750 in attendance, providing a unique opportunity to more directly involve the advisor community in FUSE’s traditional hackathon challenge.
Following a marathon poolside coding session at a private residence, Tech’s Got Talent finalists pitched their ideas on the Ascent mainstage, vying for votes from heavy-hitting industry judges, including Joel Bruckenstein of Technology Tools for Today; Ryan Beach, CEO of CLS Investments; Heather Fortner, CCO and COO of SignatureFD; Billy Oliverio, senior vice president and CMO of United Planners; Aaron Schaben, executive vice president of Carson Group; Spenser Segal, CEO of ActiFi; Shannon Spotswood, president of RFG Advisory; Min Zhang, head of Digital Products at United Capital; and Bill Winterberg, founder of FPPad. And for the first time, Ascent attendees as well, who had the opportunity to vote for their favorite idea in a new “People’s Choice” category.
The 2018 Tech’s Got Talent awards included:
Best in Show & People’s Choice: SaleMove, for screen-sharing
and video chat integrations
Best Newcomer: InterGen Data,
using AI to predict and identify client life events
Judges’
Pick: MoneyGuidePro, for client single sign-on and mass integration
of Monte Carlo
Hackathon Award: Redtail, creating a Slackbot
that allows advisors to initiate actions in Orion without leaving
Slack’s application
As the winners of both the People’s Choice and Best in Show awards, SaleMove impressed Ascent attendees and FUSE judges with an integration allowing advisors to use SaleMove’s CoBrowse, screen-share and video chat features at no additional cost to more easily collaborate with clients in real-time. SaleMove’s integration also lets advisors use its full-service digital communication suite, built on Amazon Web Services technology and including artificial intelligence.
“Consumers are used to customer experiences powered by Apple, Netflix, and Amazon. Our integration offers digital communication tools that keep up with clients’ rising expectations for digital-centric experiences,” said Dan Michaeli, CEO and co-founder of SaleMove. “We’re proud to see our efforts recognized both by FUSE’s industry-leading judges and by the advisors in the audience who voted for us.”
Judges bestowed this year’s Hackathon Award on Redtail to highlight the fintech firm’s commitment to the spirit of FUSE. Redtail CEO Brian McLaughlin earned the respect of judges by personally taking part in the competition. “It’s not every day you see the CEO of a tech company join his developers at a FUSE retreat to create something from scratch,” said FUSE judge Joel Bruckenstein.
Other partners and clients who participated include SalesForce, AdvisoryWorld, BlackRock, CLS Investments, Dimensional Fund Advisors, eMoney, Everplans, FinMason, Investment POD, Junxure, Quik!, Riskalyze, Schwab, TD Ameritrade, and Wealth Access.
“All of the integrations we saw at FUSE offered forward-looking solutions based on real feedback from advisors,” said FUSE lead judge Ryan Beach. “These are developers who understand the day-to-day realities of Orion’s users, and each of the entries has found novel ways to save time and add value to an advisor’s practice.”
“We saw more substantial development come out of Tech’s Got Talent than any other FUSE event to date, and each of these integrations will greatly benefit the advisors on our platform,” said Brad Burgess, Orion’s CTO. “Congratulations to SaleMove and the rest of the FUSE winners and participants, who all worked hard to create truly inventive solutions for the benefit of our advisor community.”
Click here for more on SaleMove’s winning integration and others presented.
About Orion
Orion Advisor Services, LLC is the premier portfolio accounting service provider for advisors. Our firm has unique insights into the advisory profession because it was founded for investment advisors by an investment advisor in 1999. Orion frees advisors from back-office tedium so they can enjoy their business again by devoting their time and energy to better serving clients. Orion provides the integrated and fully customizable technology solutions that advisors need to help grow their businesses over the long term. The firm's technology solutions empower more than $700 billion in AUA and over 2 million accounts. For more, please visit www.orionadvisor.com or follow our news and insights via our blog.
