Use Automation, Checklists to Create Efficiencies
It’s been a long time since David Edwards, president of Heron Financial Group, has had to code anything. But in the years since he stopped working in IT (he began his career in systems at Morgan Stanley in the 1980s), Edwards has never forgotten certain key principles, notably the importance of having in place a system that lends itself toward creating efficiency.
Efficiency gained by using checklists to streamline and automate essential elements in his firm enable the business to grow, he said.
“Pilots and doctors need checklists, and so do we in the financial services industry, because when you use checklists, nothing falls through the cracks, especially when you think of how this business has evolved over the past 20 years,” he said. “Back then, there was no Google. Now, clients can get quick answers to easy questions, which means I have to answer the complex questions. If I don’t have a practice that is checklisted and systematized, I am acting in chaos all the time.”
