Envestnet BillFin has modernized how advisors bill their clients. Our billing solution for RIAs addresses the immediate complexities and then goes beyond that in aiming to deliver long-term results. BillFin now has over 800 RIA active users with that number steadily rising.1
Over time we’ve heard several misconceptions about BillFin, including who it’s intended for, its capabilities, and even its impact. In this blog, we’ll debunk the three most common misconceptions about BillFin.
Myth #1: BillFin is limited to RIAs
One of the most common misconceptions is the belief that BillFin is designed to be used only by RIAs. Indeed, BillFin’s focus was initially on RIAs. However, today’s BillFin is much more comprehensive. BillFin’s laser focus on billing makes it a potential solution for various types of companies looking to replace or upgrade their in-house billing platforms. As a result, broker-dealers, custodians, and FinTech platforms are also turning to us.
BillFin saw a dramatic increase in adoption from broker-dealers following Fidelity’s decision to end the development of its billing solution. While the source code was available, many broker-dealers did not want or have the manpower to build a solution on their own.
We’ve also seen adoption increase in the FinTech space, where development teams already have their hands full. Key players like CircleBlack, Blueleaf, and Raymond James RIA Custody Services have all turned to BillFin for our expertise in billing.
Plus, advisors with books at different custodians can now use a single billing solution no matter where the client’s assets are held.
Today, more than half of all new clients are from these resellers.
The Facts
- While BillFin was created with RIAs in mind, today our software also fully supports Broker-Dealers, custodians, and FinTech platforms.
- BillFin is a great alternative for FinTech companies looking to outsource the development of billing functionality, so they can focus on their core efforts.
- Today, many of our new clients are IARs, Broker-Dealers, and Hybrid RIAs.
Myth #2: It’s a set it and forget it billing solution
Some advisors may believe that BillFin is simply a piece of software that gets used a few days out of the year to bill customers and that’s it.
While we’ve made BillFin simple and easy to use, that doesn’t mean its usefulness ends after your invoices have been sent to a client and your fees have been collected. A billing solution should drive efficiency across multiple facets of your business – feed valuable insights into billing your set up, assist in forecasting and maintenance tasks, and provide an easy-to-follow audit trail of household and fee schedule changes.
These insights are generated from various reports such as Billing Details, Billing Exclusions Report, Check Funds, Billing Payments for audits, and forecasting so you can preview future revenue.
We’ve also made it simple and quick to maintain your setup, including editing fees and billing schedules, or even add mid-period fees to help ensure clients are accurately billed. Additionally, our advisor compensation tool, Payouts, allows users to split fees based on set payout rules each billing period.
Plus, BillFin’s notification functionality to set up reminders, such as to update a fee schedule on a certain date or terminate an account after a given date, allows users to ditch post-its or manual reminders. This intuitive, easy to use software notifies you when your reminder is due or if it spots potential errors or items for review.
The Facts
- Billing and invoicing are only part of BillFin’s functionality.
- Our customers are using BillFin not only to bill clients, but provide insight into past, current, and future billing setup for individual accounts and client households, assist in audits, and forecast future revenues.
- BillFin’s intuitiveness proactively alerts you to potential issues, but you can set up the software to alert you to other exceptions or situations as you see fit.
- Payouts fee splitting capabilities allow users to automate their compensation splits based on set firm, client, and advisor-level splits.
Myth #3: Billing solutions aren’t necessary
While some custodians have a built-in billing solution, they may be less comprehensive than standalone software. Suppose your fee schedule is more complex or you use multiple custodians. In that case, a built-in billing solution may not be the answer, since many are built for use with a single custodian and lack flexibility.
Our experience has shown that many firms using custodian billing or comprehensive platforms also use BillFin for this reason. It provides an alternative that prevents vendor lock-in, and in most cases is much simpler to use, and reduces the time spent on creating invoices since we’re platform agnostic.
The Facts
- Firms using built-in billing solutions may find themselves locked into an all-in-one solution due to the difficulty transitioning from one billing platform to another, zapping advisor productivity.
- BillFin can complement other billing solutions for held away accounts which firms or advisors do not want to include in their other platforms due to cost.
- BillFin is simple to use since we’re solely focused on your billing workflow.
BillFin is more than just a billing solution
BillFin may have started as an easy-to-use billing solution for RIAs, but it has grown into a much more comprehensive and flexible tool serving a wide range of audiences. Modern advisors use multiple software platforms and aren’t necessarily tied to a single custodian as they were in the past.
This requires a nimble billing solution. And when you use a third-party billing platform, it makes the already cumbersome process of switching that much easier. BillFin can be used with all the most popular platforms, applications, and custodians through our integrations or file templates.
Our reporting functionality makes audits easier to deal with and can provide valuable insight into how your firm generates revenue. BillFin can even forecast expected revenues to help you plan for the future and grow your firm.
See how BillFin can help solve for your billing needs by setting up a demo today.
