GRENDEL INC.
BRADENTON, FLORIDA

 The company’s Veo Open Access is considered by many to be the gold standard for an “open architecture” ecosystem—a platform that supports third-party technology integration.  to help advisors make sense of it all. Yet Grendel, a relatively small CRM technology company, is pushing the envelope by taking advantage of nearly every integration point Veo offers to show the full  The result, according to Grendel CEO Aaron Guidotti, is a complete system that combines CRM with portfolio management, performance reporting, trading, and supervisory controls. All from within the Grendel interface, advisors can manage client relationships, execute trades, perform cash transfers, and generate reports and fee billings. Grendel includes a client experience as well as as “command” functionality for office managers and compliance. Guidotti added that in the process of building as tight of an integration as possible, Grendel engineers unlocked functionality in Veo that even TD’s team didn’t know existed, such as the ability to pull in the management fees the advisor receives to let firms view a full fee history. “Advisors have been telling us that they need more efficiencies in their businesses and want a more streamlined approach to managing service requests for their clients,” Guidotti said in a statement. “This more deeply integrated solution is going to change how advisors interact with their clients’ accounts and relationships.” Information moves in real-time between the two platforms. So, any action made in Grendel updates instantly on Veo and vice-versa. Grendel also uses aggregation technology to pull in outside accounts, and Guidotti said the technology is designed to build integrations with other custodians in the future. Jon Patullo, the managing director of TD Ameritrade Institutional technology solutions, said technology like Grendel’s will be increasingly important as advisors look to integrate and consolidate the various technology firms they employ. His sentiments echo a report from the Aite Group, which found that improved integration is what advisors are most looking for from their custodians.  “This is especially important for advisors doing business on multiple platforms to achieve a client-centric view. Vendors and service providers alike must respond by facilitating an integrated technology ecosystem as opposite to point-to-point connectivity.” Guidotti said this is exactly what Grendel does. Whether it’s a client looking at their portfolio, an advisor drilling into a single household or client account; a firm manager looking at the entire book of business or a single advisor’s accounts, the integration with Veo creates a consistent user experience. Guidotti said this makes Grendel useful to independent RIAs or bigger teams with multiple advisor accounts. Along with automatically pushing alerts from Veo to advisors, and nifty features like a trade pre-check that ensures everything is complete and properly filled out before a trade is executed, Guidotti says Grendel sets a new standard for a fully integrated advisor technology stack. “We want [Grendel] to be the first thing they turn on and the last thing they turn off.” Grendel Grendel began as a CRM system. As the application matured, additional major components were added. File archiving, aggregation, direct custodial feeds, integrations with industry platforms, and a client portal became part of the platform. Grendel added First Rate’s performance engine as a fully integrated component and released the COMMAND supervisory application. Then Grendel released trading capabilities for TD Ameritrade Institutional accounts. Classifying Grendel as a CRM is a woefully inaccurate description for the Grendel platform – but what is the alternative? Grendel has a CRM core – but this accounts for 20% of what Grendel can do. When we design our features, our focus isn’t on a specific software category – it’s on helping the financial professional. Because of this, we incorporate a large amount of wealth management and account insights. The clients’ accounts, after all, are a primary focus for any advisor. INVESTMENT PRODUCT TRACKING Advisors have a difficult time running their practices. When they’re faced with a technology decision, they have to wade through a tremendous amount of information to hopefully find a platform that suits there needs. By classifying Grendel and Grendel-like competitors as a WRM, advisors will be able to narrow the field down and make smarter, quicker, and easier decisions. NEED HELP? Grendel is built from the ground up for the financial services industry. We integrate with custodians, performance engines, and financial planning platforms. We understand compliance and how it affects the teams that rely on our software. CRM is the center of our platform, but accounts for only about 20% of what we do. Our tools are flexible and can expand to fit your firm needs – including performance, trading, filing, supervision, and much more. Grendel stores all this information in world-class data hosting facilities spread across the United States. All facilities are audited by third parties and contain multiple levels of physical and digital safeguards. The Grendel application itself follows industry standards of data protection including encryption, management controls, and intrusion detection. Grendel’s focus is on the financial services industry. Our solutions are designed around what it means to be a fiduciary – from tracking due-diligence efforts to giving advisors the tools they need to effectively work in the clients’ best interests. Grendel has created both active and passive compliance controls giving our users the ability to stay focused on clients while meeting requirements. THE STORY BEHIND GRENDEL Bill Winterberg of FPPAD comes to Philadelphia and spends some time getting to know the story behind Grendel. His video presentation gives insight into our company’s foundations in a way that only Bill can deliver.