Earlier this year, we announced that industry innovator Jon Patullo joined our executive team as Chief Product Officer. Since then, Jon has been busy meeting advisors, fine-tuning TradePMR’s product roadmap and third-party integration plans, and working with our deep bench of dedicated technologists and product specialists.
Jon, welcome to the team! What’s your approach to technology here at TradePMR?
TradePMR Chief Product Officer, Jon Patullo: Based on my experience of working with advisors over the years, we want to create a personalized, intuitive, and automated experience for advisors working with TradePMR. Essentially, making it as easy as possible for an advisor and their staff to work with their clients and TradePMR through our innovative technology.
I’ve worked on a lot of advisor platforms in my time. TradePMR’s Fusion is very impressive. The billing is one of its strongest features.1 In my opinion, the Trading on Fusion is superior to anything I've seen; there’s a lot of great functionality, with complex trade types and different allocations and solid rebalancing capabilities.
From an integration perspective, advisors want choice and flexibility across the third-party systems they use. We’re applying those insights in real time. We want to tightly integrate third-party systems with TradePMR’s Fusion to create a seamless experience for advisors and improve key workflows.
TradePMR has about 130 different integrations. We want to take those to the next level, deepen those integrations and make them more meaningful.
In my role, I will work to bring that into a more cohesive, intuitive experience. We do not want advisors to have to swivel chair. We want to make it easy for them to get the information they need, on the page they're on. We want to make it as straightforward as possible for different people in the advisor's office, whether that’s the ops person, the principal, or the trader. We want to make sure we're personalizing the platform, to allow each of those roles to do their job as efficiently as possible.
It sounds like you’ve got some important projects ahead.
JP: Yes, but it’s about more than just technology.
One of the things I love about TradePMR is the can-do attitude. Everyone here wants to do the right thing for clients, which is critical for the success of our advisors. You can have the best strategy in the world but if you don’t have the right culture and people, it’s difficult to execute.
TradePMR stands out from the crowd because we’ve got the right alignment. We’ve got a culture that wants to make an impact and the right people executing on that strategy.
On the topic of strategy, what is your take on artificial intelligence?
JP: Artificial intelligence is set to automate monotonous tasks so that advisors can focus on growing their businesses.
We’re working with AI in ways that will make it easier for advisors to transition business to TradePMR. We’re also building ways to combine data and AI — it should be easy for an advisor to go to their desktop and see all their accounts and their required minimum distributions without having to go account-by-account, for example. We can leverage AI to pull that information, using natural language processing, within a closed environment.
We're also looking to provide a higher level of service by implementing chatbots and making more data available for advisors on Fusion to put more information in the hands of advisors. This is critical to help us grow and scale our service.
Many advisors are likely familiar with your contributions to the industry, given your focus on making it easier for advisors to use technology. What attracted you to TradePMR?
JP: I wanted to work for a company that’s serious about growing the business and making a significant impact in the RIA industry. Culture was also an important deciding factor to work at TradePMR, and I couldn’t have joined a better team.
It starts with [TradePMR CEO] Robb Baldwin. He has been fantastic and willing to invest in the right areas to create a better experience for advisors.
The leadership team is steady with great longevity at the company, which is critical for advisors looking to find the right custodian. Advisors really appreciate that.
There’s a huge opportunity in the custodian space today. Advisors want an innovative custodian focused on the client experience, and that’s what we provide at TradePMR. But that’s not the only reason advisors come to us. We’re not competing against advisors by offering a retail channel. All everybody does here is focus on the advisor experience, the service we provide, and the technology we build.
The service experience is so important. TradePMR has a culture of service. I mean, answering calls within 13 seconds?2 That’s unheard of in the space we’re in today.
Speaking of service, Robb talks about providing advisors with a direct line to his phone. Is that something you’re doing as well, now that you’re at TradePMR?
JP: Yes. My number is on my business card. Folks can call me. Advisors know they can come to us directly to get things done.
Not only that, but I’m putting together a panel of advisors to gather feedback and keep us focused on the right projects. A good, cross-functional group of advisors is critical to help ensure we are hitting the mark for all of them. It’s something I’ve done in the past to deliver innovative solutions and strategy, and something I intend on implementing here.
For as much as technology has been the focus of my career, service is number one. We can leverage technology to help us continue to elevate the great service, but service is front and center.
We strive for continuous improvement. We always want to get better at everything we do: with service, technology, and the product we are delivering to the market.
We’re excited that you’re a part of our team at TradePMR! Once again, welcome and thanks for your time.
JP: The sky’s the limit here at TradePMR. Thank you!
For more than two decades, TradePMR has worked with growth-minded independent registered investment advisors (RIAs), providing innovative technology tools and support designed to transform their businesses. The privately-held brokerage and custodian services provider (Member FINRA/SIPC), based in Gainesville, Fla., works to streamline investment advisors' operations through comprehensive custodial, operational, and trading support. For more information, visit www.TradePMR.com.
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1 “Vantage Point Peaks for Custodian Platforms – TradePMR,” The Oasis Group LLC; H2 2024
2 Based on TradePMR’s average call-in wait time from 1/2/23 to 10/31/23