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Firms Must Integrate iPads into Sales Process

By Rubesh Jacobs

A kasina survey from December 2010 revealed that firms recognize the value of mobile devices and apps. It further revealed that access to information, enhancing productivity, and enhancing the sales processes are critical to wholesaler's use of mobile devices. These observations will be confirmed in kasina's forthcoming 2012 update to the study, based on December 2011 data.

Mobile Technology Capabilities that Firms Value

Recognizing this value, during the past year wholesalers at JPMorgan, Ivy Funds, Dreyfus, Lord Abbett, and John Hancock, among others, have all rolled out iPads to their sales teams. Starting with JPMorgan and The Hartford, firms even rolled out an iPad app specifically for their wholesalers. This trend will continue to gather momentum.

Still conversations with advisors, data from research, and executive discussions at kasina roundtables, reveal a troubling trend; wholesalers bring the iPad to the meeting but use brochures for the discussion with advisors.

Among the root causes of this issue are:

• Apps and mobile websites ill-suited for a point-of-sale conversation
• Poor integration of the iPad into the sales process
• Lack of structured training for wholesalers on how to use the device with an advisor
• Little to no measurable goals related to iPad usage

It is obvious that these issues are intertwined with each other. For instance, if the apps are not good enough for a wholesaler to use with an advisor, they are more likely to rely on good old brochures. Or, if wholesalers are not trained on how to bring an iPad into the conversation, they are more likely to revert to tried and true approaches of old.

Hence, we recommend the following:

• Modify existing apps in such a way as to enable a smoother conversation between wholesaler and advisor
• Revisit existing sales processes and marketing campaigns and make changes to how the iPad should be used
• Utilize existing sales training time to inculcate iPad usage with wholesalers
• Set up measurable goals for e-Business, marketing, and sales in order to measure the usage and effectiveness of iPads

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Branded Presences on Social Sites Cannot Exist in Silos

By Jesse Mark

Asset managers continue to adopt social media and create branded presences on sites like twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and company blogs. These dynamic, content rich digital channels present enormous potential to engage with and listen to valuable clients and prospects.

But these online capabilities must be seamlessly integrated so that advisors can access all information from an asset manager easily from any of the firm's online pages. Branded presences on social sites cannot exist in silos. They must be highly integrated, provide intuitive and easy navigation to the firm's other online outlets, and most importantly, support the firm's overall digital strategy.

Here are five steps firms can take to integrate their social media efforts to drive increased engagement across all of their social media presences:

1. Provide links to firm's branded social media pages on public and advisor homepages.

2. Bring the social media discussion to the website with a live Facebook or twitter stream.

PUTNAM'S ADVISOR SITE HOMEPAGE

3. Create Facebook tabs to showcase firm's other social feeds like YouTube and twitter.

AMERICAN CENTURY'S FACEBOOK PAGE & TABS

4. Use the twitter bio as an opportunity to link to the firm's website, blog, or other social outlets.

iSHARES TWITTER BIO

5. Brand firm's YouTube page with recognizable firm icons, background, and imagery, and offer advisors the ability to connect on the firm's other outlets.

OPPENHEIMER FUNDS' YOUTUBE CHANNEL

In preparation for our upcoming e-Business report on social media leaders in asset management and insurance, we will continue to review and evaluate best practices on company blogs, twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. If you are an e-Business executive or Social Media Manager, we welcome you to participate in our research by taking this short survey. Survey participants will receive complimentary research and a summary of findings.

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Compensating Sales People on Net or Similar Proxies

By Steven Miyao

Compensation is a powerful tool for firms to align their sales goals with a company's profitability objectives. When structured optimally, it motivates wholesalers to spend time with the most valuable advisors, rewards wholesalers for balancing sales across products, and compensates wholesalers to sell specific products. Yet, most firms continue to implement sales plans that fail to drive profitable behavior, activities and ultimately, results.

Firms should use net sales or a similar proxy to tie the firm's goals with those of the salesperson by factoring redemptions into variable pay. Using net sales in addition to gross sales and other measures of success helps to manage sales costs and acknowledges that saving a dollar of redemptions is cheaper than identifying new sales opportunities. Though net sales can be difficult to accurately measure, firms should still consider tying some measure of net redemptions into sales compensation. The practice serves to underpin the fact that wholesalers have a role in redemption rates and aligns compensation with corporate profitability.

In studying 2011 wholesaler compensation plans, only 25.0% of firms use net sales as part of commissions to calculate external wholesaler variable pay. 33% of firms completely ignore redemptions and 19% of firms consider net sales as a determinant in bonus calculations. Firms would be wise to make sure that they are not completely ignoring redemptions through the use of net sales, or indirectly through applying offsets. One firm has a large trade policy where sales over $5 million are paid commissions over six months (instead of up front), so that short-term redemptions can be excluded from wholesaler commissions. Another firm that uses gross sales has started to take redemptions into account by factoring redemption metric into bonuses with the hopes of further increasing the importance of redemptions on compensation in the future.

Compensation can be a great way to influence redemptions, either through using net sales or through emulating net sales. What tactics have you used to influence net sales?

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Making Market Commentary Valuable

By Lee Kowarski

According to a kasina FA Vision survey on financial intermediaries' usage of marketing materials from asset management and insurance companies, 90.8% of advisors read firms' market commentary/outlook and 67.4% of advisors think that such information is important (rated 7-10 out of a possible 10). And while most firms offer market commentaries and outlooks, not all firms do so as effectively as others.

As firms look to develop market commentaries and outlooks, they should:

• Be Timely: 32.5% of advisors check market commentaries and outlooks from asset management and insurance companies on a weekly basis (including 5.2% that read them daily), making them the most regularly accessed materials. It is critical that any commentary posts promptly as advisors (and their clients) are looking for insights that relate to the latest news. Unfortunately, too many firms struggle to produce content, have it approved by compliance, and have it posted to the website in a prompt fashion. JPMorgan Asset Management, however, is consistently a leader in this area - its renowned "Guide to the Markets", for example, was updated through year-end by the first business day of 2012.
• Be Digital: 53.9% of advisors prefer to access market commentaries and outlooks online as opposed to 36.9% that prefer hard copy versions, according to the kasina FA Vision survey. Rather than simply posting a link to a PDF file, firms such as BlackRock and PIMCO recognize that it is important to provide multiple options, including HTML, PDF, audio, and video formats that make the content more engaging and easier for advisors and others to consume.
• Be Substantive: When asked what differentiates one firm's commentary/outlook from another, the most common response was "content quality" (cited by 45.9% of advisors). While timeliness and ease of comprehension are both important, it is most critical to have something meaningful to say. Too many firms' commentaries lack true insights and simply provide a backwards-looking view of what happened in the markets - information that advisors already receive from industry news sources, such as the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, or Yahoo! Finance. Valuable commentaries provide the asset managers' views on what has happened and, ideally, what the firms' investment experts expect to happen in the future and the impact of those activities on the investments.
• Be Social: Given that nearly a third of advisors share market commentaries and outlooks with their clients, it is important to make it easy for advisors to pass along the material (either via e-mail, hard copy, or social media). Similarly, as social media continues, firms need to incorporate the ability for advisors to provide feedback, as Pioneer has done with its new blog.

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Advisor Education Is Key To Alternative Funds' Success

By Saadiah Freeman

With economic and political uncertainty creating ongoing instability in the markets, leading mutual fund companies are recognizing the need to move beyond traditional products and investment approaches. Two headlines in this week's financial press shine a spotlight on the changing landscape of asset management: "Just 17% Of Big-Cap Funds Beat S&P 500" and "Spate of New Absolute-Return Funds Hit the Market". In order to succeed in this environment, firms not only need to create innovative products, but also need to educate advisors effectively on how this new breed of products can help them meet their clients' needs.

Historically, well-understood products - in particular large-cap domestic equity funds - have formed the backbone of major asset managers' product lineups. However, over the past several years advisors and investors have become more and more disaffected with mutual funds' offerings in this space. Last year's lackluster performance by the vast majority of large-cap mutual funds is unlikely to help reverse this trend. Continuing sideways markets have raised concerns that traditional strategies may not create the capital growth needed to finance investors' retirement needs. In the wake of the credit crisis, many advisors' confidence in their own (or their home office's) abilities to design robust investment portfolios for their clients also suffered a blow. In response, advisors are increasingly looking to alternative funds to help them address their clients' investment requirements. Morningstar data indicates that, as at the end of 2Q 2011, 40.7% of advisors had assets in alternative funds, compared with just 26.9% at the end of 2Q 2009.

Mutual fund firms are increasingly recognizing the appeal of alternative strategies to advisors, as evidenced by the fact that two new absolute-return funds have already been launched this year (by John Hancock and Schroders). However, as more and more alternative products hit the market, firms that are able to explain how these products work - and more importantly, articulate how advisors can use them in client portfolios - will have a distinct advantage over firms who simply release products and leave advisors to figure things out for themselves. The dramatic growth of the ETF market in recent years illustrates the value of effective education, with leading players investing significantly in initiatives to inform advisors and investors about the products and the benefits they can deliver - last week's ETF Virtual Summit (www.etfvirtual.com) being a case in point. As mutual fund companies expand their product offerings into the alternatives space, engaging and high-quality educational materials will be key to winning over advisors and capturing market share.

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Making Social Media Use Easy and Compliant

By Julia Binder

The SEC used a recent case of alleged fraud perpetuated on social media sites, including LinkedIn, as a springboard to issue alerts on the appropriate use of social media by investment advisors, including asset managers and insurers. Among the charges, the SEC alleges that the financial advisor promoted fictitious products in LinkedIn discussions. The medium is almost a side note, given that this type of scam can be perpetrated on- or offline. But it is a reminder to firms to revisit compliance procedures, monitoring and training programs to ensure common understanding of what is permitted and appropriate.

kasina's research shows that the majority of financial advisors are using social media . As the oldest professional networking site, LinkedIn is particularly popular. Firms should assume that their employees are on social media, at least for personal use. They should want employees to build rich, personalized customer relationships to enhance brand loyalty, retain and build assets. Leading firms are working hard to build a robust presence on LinkedIn, with rich profiles of the company, its products and wholesalers, to generate advocacy and loyalty among advisors with business-building support, thought leadership and commentary.

Compliance and IT must be key business partners in this effort to implement effective processes and technologies that allow firms to reach customers and prospects while managing risk and keeping firms protected. The SEC alert should be a rallying cry to firms to get sales, marketing, media relations, compliance and information technology around the table. Examine compliance procedures for clarity, simplicity and efficiency and develop effective policies. Review technology options to monitor and ease compliant use of social media as well as record-keeping. Enable key personnel in customer-facing business units to become certified to review content. Develop training programs to teach customer-facing employees best practices for communicating online. Make it easy to use social media to reach advisors where they are with communication that build loyalty, advocacy and, ultimately, assets.

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Opportunities and Threats: Predictions for 2012

By Steven Miyao

This post by kasina's CEO Steven Miyao first appeared on Ignites, a preeminent source for news about the mutual fund industry.

2011 was a tumultuous year, one that left most industry executives deeply uncertain about the future. The following predictions are meant to provide the industry with ten key insights that should help clarify some of these uncertainties.

Overall Industry Trends:

• Profit margins will slightly decline as a result of sideways markets and increase fee pressure from large distributors. With Europe continuing to grapple with economic upheaval and quite possibly sliding into recession, as well as continued economic challenges in the US, markets will not provide any support for increased margins. A number of distributors, including Morgan Stanley, have started or continued to increase fees for funds distributed through their brokerage platforms. We anticipate this approach from a majority of large broker dealers as they struggle to operate with margins that are less than half of those in the asset management industry. Based on our analysis of publicly available asset managers, kasina predicts that 2012 operating margins will dip from 30.5% to 29%.
• M&A activity will increase as European banks face pressure to raise capital in order to meet the requirements of Basel III. Some European banks with large capital shortfalls -- including Societe Generale, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, UBS, ING, and others -- will likely need to make serious capital divestitures to avoid FSB surcharges. We anticipate that at least three European banks will put their US asset management arms on the auction block in 2012 to raise capital. This will further consolidate assets among the top fund families, but also provide mid size or insurance players to gain the necessary scale to compete in the US market.
• Investors will also replace core U.S. equity mutual funds with equivalent ETF strategies. At least one of the large US players will add ETFs to their product lineup to diversify their offerings. Advisors will continue to be frustrated with active U.S. equity funds, which fail to produce significant alpha to offset higher fees. Core U.S. equity mutual fund strategies will see significant fund outflows (>$35BN) while core U.S. equity ETF strategies will see significant inflows (>$25BN).

Product Trends:

• In 2011, the increased demand for alternative funds was not matched by product development trends. Only 12% of new fund launches were in alternatives. But as distributors (both home offices and advisors) start to demand more products that better mitigate risk or provide higher returns, many more asset managers will make alternatives a major strategic focus. Based on historical trends and heightened demand, we expect alternatives to represent roughly 18% of new fund launches in the coming year.
• Insurers are poised to grow and seek out new business opportunities. In 2012, insurers will focus on restructuring their business and investing heavily in asset management. Insurers will seek out further investments in their asset management businesses (i.e. John Hancock), acquire mutual fund firms from European banks looking to raise capital, and lastly create new forms of guaranteed products in partnerships with asset managers. This means greater competition in the asset management space from firms that are well capitalized and have experience selling to financial intermediaries.

Distribution Strategy Trends:

• Gaining scale in Distribution will be the theme for the year. In 2011, 58% of asset managers and insurers used hybrids. That number will increase to 65% next year as more firms realize that hybrids can, on average, produce over 80% of the gross sales of externals at just 40% of the cost. In addition, we will see at least 15% of firms go beyond a 1 to 1 coverage model by adding internal wholesalers.


• Firms will become more effective through segmentation. Going beyond today's simplistic A-B-C approaches, 8 out of the top 20 asset managers will have sophisticated strategies to segment their advisors. These approaches will be based on a calculation of future value potential to determine WHO to interact with, along with a review of advisor preferences and behavior to determine HOW to interact.

e-Business Trends:

• Traditional wholesaling leaves most advisors untouched. A mid-size firm can typically reach only 5% of the 300,000 US financial advisors. While firms need to segment and prioritize wholesaler interaction to make sure they reach the right 5% of advisors, that still leaves over 286K advisors with valuable potential assets beyond the firm's grasp. In 2012, over a dozen firms will have developed a strategy to use the Web to sell to advisors who are not covered by wholesalers.
• In 2011, 69.9% of financial advisors used mobile devices to access business content, and advisors are spending more time on mobile platforms than ever before. To meet the demand for mobile access and increase productivity, at least 50% of the top 25 asset management firms will rollout tablets to their wholesalers. A few leading firms will join the ranks of JPMorgan to develop enterprise apps for field wholesalers.
• All four wirehouses will announce policies to give advisors access to social media tools in some capacity. Pressure will come from advisors who demand it as a business necessity. Broker/dealers need to stay competitive with what they are offering their advisors. Advisor usage of social technologies is inevitable, and in 2012 we will see the continued adoption of social media as a platform to engage and interact with advisors.

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2011 - A Transformational Year in the VA Market

By Jesse Mark

In the beginning of the year both ING and Genworth exited the VA space. Other firms, including John Hancock and Amerprise, cut back on their distribution efforts, and just last week Sun Life abruptly announced their intention to stop selling VAs.

Despite strategic decisions by some firms to scale back or wholeheartedly exit the VA market, VAs as a product are here to stay. The 2008-2009 financial crisis is still fresh in investor's minds and increased market volatility is creating a surge in demand for insurance-like products that offer downside protection.

VA providers can't control market movements, but they can control their distribution strategy. To be successful in this challenging and ever changing environment, VA providers will need to focus on selling and servicing via the Web, the ideal scalable resource. Whether providers are looking to ramp up VA sales or cost-effectively service existing contract holders, online content, not traditional wholesalers, is the tool that can be leveraged by an unlimited number of advisors at minimal cost to the firm.

Advisors expect the Web to deliver instant information. In fact, our latest research report Top 5 Variable Annuity Websites for Financial Intermediaries shows that 51.1% of advisors that do significant business in VAs would rather go online than meet with a wholesaler. Unfortunately, there is a notable disparity between the user experiences on most VA provider sites and those found on other financial services sites.

While some VA providers have launched new sites or implemented major web enhancements, a number of firms' websites are causing frustrated advisors to find answers from their competitors.

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Communicating Changes to Wholesaler Compensation Plans

By Rubesh Jacobs

Sales executives recognize that compensation is a strategic management tool. As the economy rebounds, wholesaler compensation is returning to pre-recession levels. But the continuing market volatility, coupled with strategic changes firms are making to product, channel, and segment focus, continues to drive changes to compensation structure.

In part, the success of the plan depends on the mechanics. Being able to clearly articulate the rationale driving the changes to wholesalers is crucial to the plan's success as a strategic tool.

Key "messages" managers should consider include:

The "Big Picture": Senior executives must clearly articulate the state of the company and their belief about what it will take for the company to be successful in the future. The crucial aspect here is aligning changes to the compensation plan to the company strategy. The story must be simple, real, and fact-based. It must be authentic. Salespeople especially can spot HR/PR-spin a mile away!

Wholesaler Autonomy: Wholesalers, like other high-performers, crave autonomy in their jobs. Whether it is defining their Top 50 clients, territory management approach, schedule, or the size of their paychecks, wholesalers want to feel like they control their destiny. It is critical to explain how the new plan continues to accommodate their entrepreneurial-ism, while tying their fortunes to that of the firm's.

Mastery of Job: Every firm has its own unique philosophy and approach to sales. Consequently, most compensation plans incent wholesalers to master competencies aligning with firm values and also those such as cross-selling, territory management, and share of wallet. The pitch must challenge wholesalers to buy into the philosophy as well as excel in the competencies that help them master their craft.

Higher Purpose: Wholesalers must see the higher purpose of their roles. Their purpose at the firm should be unique and differentiated from that of other firms. It should also align very strongly with why the firm exists and why the wholesalers work at that specific firm. Calvert/social responsibility, Vanguard/investor-owned funds and Ariel Investments/patient investing, are outstanding examples of firms whose wholesalers should reflect the firms' higher purpose.

As firms continue to fine-tune their strategies, compensation plans will be a crucial lever for implementation. Clearly communicating changes to the compensation plan is critical to its success. Use the messages above, along with a strong communication plan, to effectively roll out revisions to compensation plans.

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A Look Back at 2011

By Steven Miyao

It's that time of year again, when we look back at our predictions and see how accurate they were. In 2011, I hit 9 of 14. The main challenge in doing predictions is getting the precise timing right, so a number of our predictions from 2011 will pop up again in my forecast for next year. Below, we revisit our 2011 predictions and see what actually transpired.

1. Emerging markets growth continues to outstrip U.S. growth, and U.S. firms start to focus more heavily on international products and clients. We will not only see assets predominantly flow into these categories, but also largely new fund or ETF products come to market in these categories.

Outcome: Asset managers are certainly focused on capitalizing on the growth opportunities presented in emerging markets and internationally-focused funds. In 2011, almost one third of new funds and ETFs were created to focus on emerging markets or international equity strategies. In terms of YTD flows, EM strategies witnessed $19.3BN in inflows, while U.S. equity-focused strategies bled $62.2BN in outflows.

2. Markets will soar next year as corporate profits and the economy improve. Flows will gravitate back to equities from fixed income products as confidence in the economy continues to improve. Late-year concerns over whether governmental fiscal discipline is achievable could hinder the enthusiasm. Interestingly, Year 3 of presidential terms is generally the best year for equity returns.

Outcome: We were on point for the first half of the year: corporate profits improved and reached record levels, and markets surged. We were also right about confidence sagging because of the government’s lack of fiscal discipline, as evidenced by the acrimonious debt battles in Washington and the subsequent downgrading of US debt. But we did not predict that, beginning in the third quarter, European debt woes would have such an impact on markets.

3. M&A activity will increase as firms start to have more confidence in the economy. Foreign as well as domestic powerhouses will make strategic acquisitions to broaden their product offerings. Small to mid-size firms with entrenched brand names or specialized product expertise are attractive targets.

Outcome: M&A activity actually decreased, with total transaction size and average deal premium down. Transactions concentrated more heavily on mid-size asset managers, deals ranging from $500MM to $1000MM. Most transactions were based on strategy initiatives, with only 6 bankruptcy-based deals to date, compared to 18 in 2010. The slowdown in M&A activity was most likely the result of acquirers feeling that relatively high valuations are making acquisitions too risky. We anticipate M&A activity to increase next year.

4. ETFs continue to proliferate, grow and pick up one-third of all mutual fund and ETF flows; ETFs will finally start to gain traction on retirement platforms in a meaningful way. Another top 20 fund family will acquire or start rolling out ETF products.

Outcome: ETFs picked up a whopping 45.9% of total mutual fund and ETF flows. There is limited data available on ETFs in retirement platforms, but a growing (yet still small) number of 401K platforms are opening up to ETFs and we will likely see more in the next year.

5. By mid-year, positive flows into equities will exceed flows into bonds.

Outcome: Equity flows started the year in the positive, outpacing fixed income in the first quarter. But by mid-year, fixed income flows exceeded flows into equity.

6. Assets will continue to consolidate among the top ten fund families. Distributors will increasingly push for the roll-out of exclusive products (branded products only available through a specific distributor) with these preferred partners.

Outcome: While the concentration of assets in the top ten fund families stayed roughly the same in 2011, we continue to believe that consolidation is imminent. Recent announcements from MSSB (as well as likely announcements next year from competitors) will increase distributor revenue sharing and make it more difficult for mid-size asset managers to distribute through large distributors, where the majority of advisors and assets are.

7. National Accounts teams continue to become more prominent, as fewer platforms exist and advisors use fewer providers, and getting on the shelf becomes more vital. Firms will add to their National Accounts teams and will increase compensation for those teams.

Outcome: We were right on point. 96% of asset managers and insurance firms believe the importance of National Accounts teams is increasing. Advisors are using slightly more providers, but getting on the shelf is more vital because more advisors are taking their cues from the home office. National Accounts compensation also increased. 65% of firms are increasing their National Accounts budgets and 73% are boosting staffing.

8. Despite the fact that firms are trying to focus on profitability, most firms will not resist the temptation to staff back up with external wholesalers and ratchet compensation up to pre-recession levels.

Outcome: 81% of firms are planning to increase external wholesaling staff, but economic woes and weak flows have kept compensation relatively flat. Compensation is not quite at pre-recession levels.

9. Several firms invest significantly in segmentation to better differentiate their advisors. These firms will then use this segmentation to direct their wholesalers, website and marketing efforts.

Outcome: Many firms have invested heavily in segmentation to differentiate advisors based on lifetime value, but only a few leading firms have created segmentation strategies to differentiate advisors based on behavioral and interaction preferences. We continue to believe that firms will begin to realize that segmentation is a business necessity, one that enhances profitability and reduces distribution costs.

10. Asset managers will continue to expand their focus on RIAs. 50% of firms will segment coverage of RIAs by AUM. The trend in the industry is increasingly towards segmenting coverage of RIAs by AUM.

Outcome: Our most recent research on the RIA channel shows that 32% of firms with a dedicated team segment coverage by AUM. But 79% of firms target the small pool of mega RIAs, which each manage assets over $1 billion. We expect to see more firms begin to create low-cost strategies to cover the enormous pool of small RIAs, where valuable opportunities exist.

11. Firms look to lower marketing & distribution costs by increased use of the Web as a wholesaler, particularly for lower-AUM clients. A number of firms will set specific website sales goals for advisors who are not covered by a wholesaler.

Outcome: An increasing number of firms are indeed focusing on designing Web strategies with the goal of selling and servicing advisors who are not covered by a wholesaler. We will likely see continued developments in this area in 2012.

12. Social media will continue to become more relevant to engage with investors, advisors, and institutional clients. Over 50 investment management firms will be on twitter next year.

Outcome: This has certainly been the case. Our latest count puts the number of investment management and insurance companies on twitter at exactly 50. Leading firms are integrating their social media efforts with the Web using a live twitter stream.

13. Mobile efforts will expand greatly; apps start to attain dominance over site optimization for Web. Ultimately, there will be competition in the apps space and "app overload", but not short term. We will see enhanced mobile support beyond the mWholesaler platform. Over 35% of firms will roll out tablets to their wholesalers.

Outcome: Many of the large firms have rolled out tablets to their wholesalers. Mobile efforts are expanding with some firms developing apps, but app development is still in its infancy. We are already beginning to see enhanced mobile support beyond the mWholesaler platform. JPMorgan has developed an enterprise app for wholesalers and a number of firms are currently in the developmental stages. Expect to see continued mobile efforts in 2012.

14. We will see many firms make the investment in more intelligent tracking/analytics to better understand their Web traffic.

Outcome: There has been more talk than action on this front. Some leading firms have integrated key systems like CRM, CMS, and Web usage, but most firms are still dragging their heels and putting off the investment until the future.

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