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Introduction
Poised for the Internet
Designed for Maximum Flexibility
Focused on Keeping the Project on Track
Built as an Extremely Stable Solution
Introduction
In 1997, Worcester, MA-based Forefield Inc. set out to
revolutionize the way financial institutions and their advisors
deliver advice to their clients. The start-up company prepared a
knowledge bank equivalent to 11,000 pages of text covering more
than 1400 financial planning topics ranging from educational
trusts to retirement planning and the impact of changing tax laws.
Firms and institutions that provide financial advice to their
clients would subscribe to Forefield's centralized information
service-ForeMost Advice-in lieu of conducting their own costly,
time-consuming, and scattered research. What Forefield lacked was
an easy-to-use way to present that compendium of information to
prospective subscribers. Company founders turned to ASG Multimedia
for a technical solution.
"We wanted to get our product out quickly, to ensure a
competitive advantage," shares Ron Newton, president of
Forefield Inc. "ASG Multimedia worked fast to keep our time
to market short."
In addition to quick-to-market, the application had to be easy to
learn. "The financial services industry is notoriously behind
the technology curve," explains Newton, "so we had to
offer a system that was highly intuitive to use." Since most
of the advisors who would be using the product have ready access
to CD-ROM technology, the company decided it would make sense to
deliver the initial version of ForeMost Advice on that medium.
Subscribers, such as financial institutions and financial
planners, would then receive quarterly updates with new content
and software enhancements.
Poised for the Internet
Having decided on a CD-ROM-based solution, the company took ASG
Multimedia's advice to have the application designed as a
Web-enabled program. This strategy was calculated to minimize the
effort it would take to convert the program for Internet delivery
when the time was right.
"The financial services industry might not be up to speed on
Web access right now," says Andy Gelbert, President of ASG
Multimedia. "But adoption is really inevitable because the
Internet offers significant advantages both to Forefield and its
clients." Gelbert cites the lower cost for maintaining and
updating the knowledge base for Forefield as well as reductions in
manufacturing and mailing expenses. For subscribers, it means
immediate receipt of the latest information such as changes in tax
codes and financial planning techniques, ensuring that Forefield's
recommendations to clients are based on the most current data
available.
Designed for Maximum
Flexibility
ASG Multimedia designed a database-driven application with an
intuitive user interface that gives subscribers-depending on their
experience and expertise-a variety of ways to access the knowledge
bank. They can search topics via a table of contents, through a
search function, or by choosing a financial goal. In the latter
case, the search engine presents all the strategies an advisor
needs to consider. For instance, if the financial goal is to
provide for a child's education, should you set up a trust fund or
a tuition plan? What is the impact on financial aid depending on
how you own assets?
"It logically unveils different levels of information, from
high-level goals to detailed strategies" explains Ron Newton.
"It parallels what an advisor might do intuitively if he or
she were very knowledgeable in a given subject."
ASG Multimedia developed the program using standard Microsoft
tools and an easily expandable back-end relational database. The
content is written in HTML and is viewed through a standard
Internet browser. The developers designed the system to enable
Forefield staff to quickly and easily maintain and update content
themselves as tax code laws and conventional wisdom on financial
planning strategies change. ASG Multimedia also remains on-call to
customize ForeMost Advice content for individual subscribers who
wish to incorporate their own products and services into the
database-a key factor in choosing the ASG development team.
Focused on Keeping
the Project on Track
Newton feels the end results have justified his initial confidence
in ASG Multimedia. "After speaking to other software
development teams," recalls Newton, "we felt very
confident that Gelbert and his team had the experience and
credentials to do the job we needed, and to do it quickly."
He applauds Gelbert's ability to galvanize discussion so that
every meeting concluded with concrete decisions being made.
"Gelbert made sure that the project was well-defined,"
states Newton, "so that by the time we got through the
software design stage, development went according to plan because
we knew where we wanted to go. He and his team really listened to
our needs in order to create the best possible solution."
ASG Multimedia's design process focuses on keeping projects
tightly tracked. At the onset, the ASG design team sits down with
the client to develop comprehensive functional specs. Once there
is agreement, the functional specs become the foundation for
writing a detailed technical spec. Only after consensus has been
reached on the technical spec does the ASG team begin writing
code. This approach saved Forefield time, effort, and money as
well as ensured that the project was completed according to plan.
Built as an Extremely
Stable Solution
Forefield's roster of clients reads like the Who's Who of Fortune
500 companies, including familiar industry giants like American
Express, Fidelity, and Payne-Webber. "One of the reasons
these customers were interested in doing business with us was
their confidence in the product's functionality," says
Newton. "ASG Multimedia created a very robust and
comprehensive solution."
According to Newton, "The fact that ForeMost Advice is a
great product doesn't guarantee we're going to have a sale. But if
there was a problem or issue around the functionality of the
software, it would guarantee that we wouldn't even be
considered."
Newton reports that client reaction to ForeMost Advice has been
spectacular. "Subscribers, especially those already familiar
with the Internet, are experiencing virtually no learning curve at
all. They just fire up the software and go," asserts Newton.
He finds financial advisors are particularly appreciative of the
tagging function that allows them to bookmark content as they scan
through the compendium of illustrations, strategies, and advice
contained in the knowledge base. They can view and sort documents,
export them to Microsoft Word¨, even drop them into a Word
template that produces client proposals.
"Our clients like the fact that ForeMost Advice is
well-aligned with other software programs they use," says
Newton. "It makes it easy to turn a wealth of topical
research into concise, practical advice."
Newton spent his entire professional life in the financial
services industry. "The genesis for ForeMost Advice came when
I recognized that financial planners have no consistent place to
turn for quality, financial planning advice," he says.
Partnering with ASG Multimedia has enabled Forefield to turn its
idea into a leading edge product that meets the needs of a highly
receptive market. "As a startup organization without
technical resources and know-how we needed to align ourselves with
outside experts who could transform our concept into
reality," states Newton. "ASG Multimedia brought an
outstanding team to the project. They worked with us to achieve
our goals and continue to be committed to our success."
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