Designing an intelligence platform for relationship managers
Designing an intelligence platform for relationship managers
Helping relationship managers spend less time preparing and more time advising — by bringing fragmented client data into one complete, actionable view.
Overview
Overview
WealthScapeRM is a relationship manager platform built from the ground up to serve as a single system of record for client portfolio visibility across multiple financial asset classes. This project focuses on building an intelligence platform for RMs, bringing client portfolio data together in one place, surfacing where to focus, and scaling across every level of the organisation. I worked as the sole designer alongside product, engineering, and business stakeholders.
WealthScapeRM is a relationship manager platform built from the ground up to serve as a single system of record for client portfolio visibility across multiple financial asset classes. This project focuses on building an intelligence platform for RMs, bringing client portfolio data together in one place, surfacing where to focus, and scaling across every level of the organisation. I worked as the sole designer alongside product, engineering, and business stakeholders.
Role
Role
Product Designer
Product Designer
Timeline
Timeline
2 months
2 months
Team
Team
6 people
6 people
Understanding RM Workflows
Understanding RM Workflows
Relationship Manager
Relationship Managers manage books of 500–800 clients, conducting portfolio reviews and advising on investments, reallocations, and new opportunities. Their performance comes down to two things: AUM growth and client retention which are typically monthly reviews or event-driven reallocations. Both depend on the quality of the client conversation, and that conversation is only as good as the preparation behind it.
Relationship Managers manage books of 500–800 clients, conducting portfolio reviews and advising on investments, reallocations, and new opportunities. Their performance comes down to two things: AUM growth and client retention which are typically monthly reviews or event-driven reallocations. Both depend on the quality of the client conversation, and that conversation is only as good as the preparation behind it.
RM's current workflow
CAS statements → spreadsheet → internal platform with in-house investments → meeting
RM's current workflow
CAS statements → spreadsheet → internal platform with in-house investments → meeting
Industry averages of 10-20 hours/week per RM spend that accounts for 30-35% of their week on admin tasks like spreadsheet consolidation, as per Cerulli Associates and SEI studies.
Industry averages of 10-20 hours/week per RM spend that accounts for 30-35% of their week on admin tasks like spreadsheet consolidation, as per Cerulli Associates and SEI studies.
What the problem is
Fragmented portfolio visibility as there is no single tool that shows a complete picture.
Fragmented portfolio visibility as there is no single tool that shows a complete picture.
Manual spreadsheet consolidation is repetitive, error-prone, and slow.
Manual spreadsheet consolidation is repetitive, error-prone, and slow.
Advisory quality depends on the individual RM, not the system.
Advisory quality depends on the individual RM, not the system.
Business consequence
Business consequence
As books grow and teams scale, these individual RM problems compound. Advisory quality becomes RM-dependent. Growth opportunities are missed because no one is looking at the right signal at the right time.
As books grow and teams scale, these individual RM problems compound. Advisory quality becomes RM-dependent. Growth opportunities are missed because no one is looking at the right signal at the right time.
Constraints & Considerations
Constraints & Considerations
The realities that shaped every design decision.
The realities that shaped every design decision.
The platform serves five levels of RM hierarchy and an admin role. Each with a different mental model and a different job. Every surface decision had to account for who was looking at it and why.
No existing benchmark. Built from scratch, no prior tool, no usage data, no existing user behaviour to design around. Every decision was grounded in domain research rather than precedent.
SoA vs. Demat data asymmetry; Mutual fund holdings can exist as both SoA (via CAMS/KFIN) and Demat (via NSDL/CDSL).
Goals
Goals
Give RMs a complete, real-time view of every client's portfolio, including external investments
Surface growth opportunities and risks proactively, without manual preparation
Standardise advisory quality across RM experience levels
Give managers live visibility into team and client coverage
Support scalable RM hierarchies and role-based access across the organisation
Give RMs a complete, real-time view of every client's portfolio, including external investments
Surface growth opportunities and risks proactively, without manual preparation
Standardise advisory quality across RM experience levels
Give managers live visibility into team and client coverage
Support scalable RM hierarchies and role-based access across the organisation
Process
Process
Building the architecture
Before designing any surface, the architecture had to be defined; what each role could see, how deep the navigation went, and what was in scope for the current build vs what came next.
Before designing any surface, the architecture had to be defined; what each role could see, how deep the navigation went, and what was in scope for the current build vs what came next.
Two architectures, two mental models: Keeping them separate prevented one interface from serving two fundamentally different jobs.
RM architecture is built around the client
Admin architecture is built around the organisation
Two architectures, two mental models: Keeping them separate prevented one interface from serving two fundamentally different jobs.
RM architecture is built around the client
Admin architecture is built around the organisation
Consent and assisted journey as top-level of the RM architecture, distinct workflows for onboarding and data acquisition, separate from ongoing portfolio management.
Consent and assisted journey as top-level of the RM architecture, distinct workflows for onboarding and data acquisition, separate from ongoing portfolio management.
Information architecture
Key Decisions
Unified portfolio view
Unified portfolio view
Aggregating client portfolio across multiple data sources
Aggregating client portfolio across multiple data sources
Internal RM tools at most institutions were scoped to in-house investments only. External holdings existed in the client's ECAS data if shared.
Internal RM tools at most institutions were scoped to in-house investments only. External holdings existed in the client's ECAS data if shared.
Data from AA, MFC, and ECAS surfaces immediately regardless of reliability, gaps flagged inline, layouts designed to accommodate multiple data states
Information architecture prioritised by RM role and actions
Internal and external holdings visible portfolio-wide and per asset class
Data from AA, MFC, and ECAS surfaces immediately regardless of reliability, gaps flagged inline, layouts designed to accommodate multiple data states
Information architecture prioritised by RM role and actions
Internal and external holdings visible portfolio-wide and per asset class
Impact With a unified view of the client's complete portfolio, RMs can immediately see where assets are concentrated, where gaps exist, and where there's scope to mobilise funds into their book.
Impact With a unified view of the client's complete portfolio, RMs can immediately see where assets are concentrated, where gaps exist, and where there's scope to mobilise funds into their book.
Guided Advisory
Guided Advisory
Helping RMs have better client conversations with faster prep
Helping RMs have better client conversations with faster prep
Client conversations require preparation, knowing what the client holds, where the gaps are, and what to recommend. For newer RMs this context doesn't exist yet.
Client conversations require preparation, knowing what the client holds, where the gaps are, and what to recommend. For newer RMs this context doesn't exist yet.
Key decisions
Key decisions
Recommendations: Categorising recommendations by intent: Growth, Alert, Tax & more.
Recommendations: Categorising recommendations by intent: Growth, Alert, Tax & more.
Contextual insights: Inline tooltips & callouts for relevant insight at the point of need
Contextual insights: Inline tooltips & callouts for relevant insight at the point of need
Logging Meeting with comments.: Visible to the RM, their manager, admin, and any co-assigned RMs, so relationship history travels with the client.
Logging Meeting with comments.: Visible to the RM, their manager, admin, and any co-assigned RMs, so relationship history travels with the client.
Proactive client alerts
Proactive client alerts
Surfacing risk and priority across the client book
Surfacing risk and priority across the client book
How might we help relationship managers prioritize the right clients to act on across a large book of accounts?
How might we help relationship managers prioritize the right clients to act on across a large book of accounts?
An RM may manage hundreds of clients, making it impractical to monitor each portfolio individually. The question wasn't what to surface - it was what the right unit of attention was.
An RM may manage hundreds of clients, making it impractical to monitor each portfolio individually. The question wasn't what to surface - it was what the right unit of attention was.
The event? Too granular. The individual client? Doesn't scale. The answer was the pattern.
The event? Too granular. The individual client? Doesn't scale. The answer was the pattern.
What's next : Clients overlapping across multiple cohorts are a stronger risk signal. Severity tiers - High, Medium, Low, will surface once the right cohort combinations are validated through usage.
What's next : Clients overlapping across multiple cohorts are a stronger risk signal. Severity tiers - High, Medium, Low, will surface once the right cohort combinations are validated through usage.
Designing for scale
RM hierarchy & manager visibility
Giving managers live visibility into their team's client book
Giving managers live visibility into their team's client book
Toolbar switching - search by name or filter by role to mirror any reportee's exact dashboard
Sticky banner - always shows whose dashboard is being viewed, with one-click revert back to their own
Toolbar switching - search by name or filter by role to mirror any reportee's exact dashboard
Sticky banner - always shows whose dashboard is being viewed, with one-click revert back to their own
Admin & client assignment
Assigning the right RM to the right client
Assigning the right RM to the right client
Client list surfaces context at the list level so the admin can make an informed assignment decision before opening a single record
Client list surfaces context at the list level so the admin can make an informed assignment decision before opening a single record
Impact
Impact
WealthScapeRM is currently in POC across few clients, using data sourcing from AA, MFC and Ecas.
WealthScapeRM is currently in POC across few clients, using data sourcing from AA, MFC and Ecas.
What the platform made possible:
What the platform made possible:
Complete visibility into each client's wealth helped create opportunities to mobilise assets and cross-sell products like insurance, NPS, FDs, deposits, and stocks
Complete visibility into each client's wealth helped create opportunities to mobilise assets and cross-sell products like insurance, NPS, FDs, deposits, and stocks
Advisory quality becomes more consistent across RM experience levels, with recommendations and contextual insights supporting newer RMs in client conversations
Advisory quality becomes more consistent across RM experience levels, with recommendations and contextual insights supporting newer RMs in client conversations
Managers have live visibility into team and client coverage, decisions that previously waited for reporting cycles happen in real time
Managers have live visibility into team and client coverage, decisions that previously waited for reporting cycles happen in real time
Made with care and plenty of coffee
Made with care and plenty of coffee