While the COVID-19 pandemic has presented immense challenges, it’s also created opportunities for many companies to re-invent themselves. Here are some learnings from our experience.
Supporting your clients
Given the widespread impact of the pandemic, we were eager to do whatever we could to help our clients continue to operate their businesses efficiently. We partnered with several of our clients to develop a powerful business insights platform tailored to their needs that provides the certainty they’re future-proofing their business. For example, our AI-powered Investor Retention Model predicts investors’ likelihood of leaving and provides advisors with actionable insights they can use to retain their most valued clients.
PureFacts was also one of the three companies featured in a recent Globe and Mail article about how we’re helping financial advisors successfully adapt to the new reality of working remotely. In our case, we provided greater access to our Cascades Retirement Income Insights Solution that empowers financial advisors to enter the lucrative retirement decumulation space and grow their AUM. We extended a free trial offer from 15 to 45 days so that advisors could try it out with little risk.
Strengthening your support network
It’s also valuable to surround your company with a strong and diverse support network. We were fortunate on a number of fronts.
BDC, the only bank devoted exclusively to entrepreneurs, selected us for their Growth Driver Program for Canada’s High Impact firms. We’ve partnered with the MaRS Discovery District to be part of their fintech research ecosystem. We’re also part of the Microsoft Partner Network, which provides resources and tools to help us build and deliver successful solutions for our clients and drive our AI strategy forward.
We were selected for the NRC IRAP Innovation Assistance Program (IAP), which helped us partner with McMaster's Computing Infrastructure Research Centre and participate in events such as I2D New-Product Workshop led by Robert Cooper. We also recently worked with MILA, a Montreal-based research institute for artificial intelligence, to help us refine our approach to developing deep learning tools.
Reinventing your business
Maintaining business continuity is a priority during times of crisis. But there’s also the recognition that a crisis can spark innovation.
In our case, we looked at how we could enhance our solution suite to accommodate shifting client needs as a result of the pandemic. So we acquired VennScience, a full-service Salesforce consultancy headquartered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. By combining our wealth management expertise with VennScience’s in-depth knowledge of Salesforce, we can now help our clients gain valuable insights to make intelligent business decisions quickly.
To ensure we created a winning culture across the board, we developed a new vision, mission and values approach. We call our vision “worldwide wealth” – a world where the opportunity to create wealth is accessible to all. Our new Strategic Roadmap points the way for providing exceptional service throughout every stage of a project implementation or upgrade, with ongoing support for a rewarding experience.
We were honoured this year to gain recognition as an innovative technology pioneer when we were named a WealthTech100 Company and a Great Canadian Innovator. While the recognition is important, what’s even more rewarding is knowing that our vision and product innovation is resonating with our clients and other industry professionals who believe in what we’re working so hard to achieve.
Focusing on your people
With the stress and uncertainty of the pandemic, we felt it was a top priority to support our team – and help others do the same.
We hosted a panel discussion with our clients “Prioritizing Employee Well-being in the Virtual World” where we looked at the impact of work-from-home isolation and discussed strategies for how we all could support our employees. Some of those suggestions helped shape the employee engagement activities we rolled out: One team. One community. Together in well-being.
In times of uncertainty, it’s important not to compromise your plans for strategic hires. These kinds of investments will not only help you weather the storm, but will support your team and set your company up for future success.
We augmented our team by bringing in business transformation expert Rajini McRae as our new President to build scalable, client-centric operations and champion our company’s global growth plans. Her strategic brilliance and boundless enthusiasm has already galvanized everyone around her into action. We also invited Jim Roche to join our PureFacts Advisory Board as an Independent Board Member. As a successful entrepreneur with a track record of helping innovative companies grow, we knew Jim’s strategic guidance would further strengthen our company and support our team.
For the first-time in PureFacts’ history, we also welcomed three high-profile, outside investors to enable us to accelerate our global growth plans. These highly-acclaimed individuals include leadership expert Dr. JP Pawliw-Fry, author and TV personality David Chilton, and entrepreneur and venture capitalist Bruce Croxon. Read our news release and see why they believe so strongly in our high growth potential and capacity for innovation.
And we’re not done yet – there’s so much more to come! We’re always on the lookout for ways we can use the spark of innovation to solve pressing challenges for our industry.
“This has been a difficult year for so many, but we’ve remained focused on providing the wealthtech solutions our clients need to help their clients live their best lives,” says Rajini McRae, PureFacts President. “Through ongoing innovation and strategic investments, we’ll continue to evolve our solution suite to provide certainty for our clients, even during the most uncertain times.”
About us
Ranked a WealthTech100 Company and Great Canadian Innovator, PureFacts provides wealth management solutions for the financial services industry in Canada, the USA, and Europe. We use AI, big data, and our industry expertise to help firms realize value, increase productivity, reduce costs, and create an enhanced customer experience. Get in touch: info@purefacts.com.