Archiving & Compliance Leader Smarsh Integrates CRM Into Suite of Compliance-Based Services

PORTLAND, Ore.–Smarsh®, a leading managed service provider of innovative, secure and reliable archiving and compliance solutions, has introduced smarshCRM, its state-of-the-art, Web-based customer relationship management (CRM) service designed for financial advisors and other sales professionals with long-term, relationship-based practices.

smarshCRM is a high-touch, client-centered, total workflow solution that systematically creates, simplifies, and facilitates the advisor’s practice management processes. Using the web-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, it offers users secure anywhere, anytime access to vital client data in real time.

“smarshCRM gives advisors the technological platform to manage their practices with efficiency, which in turn leads to greater productivity and, ultimately, greater profitability,” said Stephen Marsh, founder and CEO of Smarsh. “It was designed by financial advisors, to help financial advisors streamline total workflow with process-based automation. Whether your company’s goal is to grow aggressively or simply to create more time and efficiency in the workday, smarshCRM will deliver increased productivity.”

For relationship-based practices, rich and frequent client contact is the key to keeping customers satisfied and loyal, and in turn, builds a fruitful client referral base. Qualified referrals lead to additional clients, resulting in increased revenue.

“Every minute counts,” said R.G. Capital’s Robert Graham, the 2007 Boomer Market Advisor of the Year and an integral force behind the development of the smarshCRM solution. “Time wasted on the day-to-day administrative details of practice management is time that could be used enriching and cultivating client relationships. By using smarshCRM to systemize all of your workflow processes, you can simplify your business and focus on the people and relationships that are essential to your company’s success.”

With slick, drag-and-drop simplicity and an intuitive, user-friendly interface, smarshCRM integrates customer data from several locations – email, a global address book, calendars, real-time tasks and events, customized campaigns, contact data – into the single application that manages daily workflow. smarshCRM adds efficiency for advisors with the ability to:

• Create, manage and replicate successful outreach campaigns;
• Use the system’s customizable outreach campaign templates, designed by Graham from his best-practice, real-life examples;
• Customize the entire application, including data fields, to suit the specific needs of every advisor and leverage every data point for cultivated client and prospect relationships;
• Automate, share and/or delegate administrative activities and immediately communicate client requests, schedule changes and project or task updates with real-time access.

“We all are looking for ways to ‘work smarter’ in the current environment,” added Graham. “It is crucial to keep in contact with all clients and communicate openly and reassuringly through the instability and uncertainty in the markets. It is also important to be as efficient as possible, to make sure that your staff’s time and effort are not being wasted. With all the distractions, using smarshCRM will offer peace of mind in knowing that tasks are being executed, everyone is accountable and critical responsibilities aren’t falling through the cracks. ”

In addition, users will be able to remove the barriers that have traditionally existed due to multiple, incompatible vendor solutions. The platform integrates with third-party software (Albridge®, Laser App® and Quik!®, for example) and synchs effortlessly with mobile messaging devices.

“Not only does smarshCRM solve many of the frustrating compatibility problems that have caused advisors to scream out for vendor collaboration, but we’ll also be able to introduce some innovative functionality from integration with our suite of services,” said Marsh.

smarshCRM leverages Smarsh’s archiving and compliance experience as well as its policy enforcement and messaging security expertise into a streamlining resource that will save advisors, broker/dealers and compliance officers time and money associated with compliance-related concerns. The tool features automated electronic approval/disapproval processes (for documents, campaigns, email marketing, etc.) to foster necessary interaction with clients’ compliance departments. The ability to create and replicate campaign correspondence not only develops best practices, but also reliable compliance-approved templates for campaign management that mitigate risk for advisors and broker/dealers.

Gartner Research reports that its clients are experiencing project savings of 25% to 40% by deploying customer relationship management solutions via the SaaS model. With Smarsh’s managed service, there is no software to install. All software and hardware upgrades are included as part of Smarsh’s managed service, allowing internal IT personnel to refocus on core competencies.

Meanwhile, storage bloat on internal servers (and the subsequent cost of adding additional storage) is significantly limited by off-loading data to Smarsh’s managed infrastructure. The use of multiple, mirrored data centers and security safeguards ensure that all mission-critical data – client and customer – is preserved, protected and available.

With its rapidly growing client base, Smarsh has developed custom plans for a variety of system integration scenarios. The company’s integration team manages the entire deployment process.

For more information on smarshCRM or the Smarsh full suite of solutions, visit www.smarsh.com or call 1.886.SMARSH1.

About Smarsh Inc. (www.smarsh.com)

Smarsh® is a leading managed service provider of innovative, secure, and reliable email-archiving solutions for message compliance and records retention, proactive litigation readiness and mail server data management. Founded in 2001, the company has built its trusted reputation by handling the sophisticated archiving needs of the financial services industry, and has produced a flawless regulatory audit track record to show for it. Customizable solutions fit the needs, budgets and technological infrastructure of any organization – big or small – and are matched with unrivaled customer support and service.

Smarsh’s growth has been recognized at both the local and national level. In 2008, the company was named to the “Inc. 500”, Inc. magazine’s annual analysis of the fastest-growing companies in the United States, while The Portland Business Journal ranked Smarsh second overall in its growth rankings for the state of Oregon.