What's the Best Archiving Solution for Financial Advisors?

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This month we are rolling out an exciting new blog series centered around the best tech tools to start and run your financial planning business. Every week, we’ll walk you through every type of tool you may need ranging from archiving to virtual meetings. To start out the series, we will outline a few of our favorite archiving tools (for social media, email, and text messaging communications) from Smarsh , ArchiveSocial , Global Relay , and PageFreezer .

First, we must note that Twenty Over Ten provides a built-in FINRA and SEC-approved archiving and approval process for websites built on our platform. This means that for Twenty Over Ten users, your initial website build, as well as all future changes and updates (including all blog posts and landing pages) will be archived and available via your Twenty Over Ten (as well as sent to you via email). However, we do know that many advisors are looking for archiving solutions for other communications, and these providers are all good choices.

Archiving for email, social media, instant messaging & text messages

It is imperative that advisors are following compliance rules and regulations. Especially on social media as more and more advisors are starting to develop their online presence beyond a website. At Twenty Over Ten, we provide website and blog archiving but a lot of clients require social media archiving as well. We created a list of four of our favorite sites for social media archiving.

1. SMARSH

Smarsh provides cloud-based archiving and compliance tools for business owners in heavily regulated industries such as financial services. Smarsh is the recipient of many awards and one of the most dignified was the 2014 FTF Award: Best Social Media Compliance Solution.

Best Features:

  • Archives information via the cloud allowing you and your team to post from anywhere.
  • Supports 16+ of the most common social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, and many more!
  • High-performance searching feature enables you to find specific dates/time ranges, people, keywords, proximity, and content types.
  • Add and define new policies at any time to minimize risk when rules and regulations change.
  • “Do It Yourself” feature allows you to export your archives in a variety of formats without data-related fees

    • What to Know:

  • Price: Starter Package $75/month, Professional Package $150/month

    • 2. ARCHIVESOCIAL

    If you are looking for an archiving solution specifically for social media , Archive Social is a good option. The archiving site was designed specifically with financial planners in mind. The fully automated tool simplifies complying with FOIA, FINRA, and SEC rules surrounding record keeping.

    Best Features:

  • Collects historical records from each social media account’s entire existence.
  • Add an unlimited number of accounts with unlimited storage of data.
  • Control the retention period of your records.
  • An open archive allows the public to search your sites record, putting transparency first.
  • Every post is archived in its original format in order to capture metadata often necessary for authentic records.

    • What to Know:

  • Price: Economy Package $199/month or Standard Package $399/month
  • A limited number of social media accounts are currently supported by the app.

    • 3. GLOBAL RELAY

    Global Relay provides cloud archiving for more than 45 data types, and is the message archiving vendor in FINRA’s Compliance Resource Provider Program. It captures and archives an authentic and complete record of your electronic business communications in a secure but easily accessible cloud repository. Going well beyond social media, Global Relay archives instant messaging, text messaging, email, voice, web-based chats, mobile, and more.

    Best Features:

  • Automation, ease of access, and rapid search speeds create an excellent client experience.
  • Designed to meet the strict recordkeeping and compliance requirements of the financial industry such as the rules in place by SEC , FINRA , and FRCP.
  • Migration of legacy data so that you have all of your records in one place.
  • Efficient tool to quickly respond to regulatory audits and evidentiary requests.
  • Flexible supervision tools that easy flag prohibited content.

    • What to Know

  • Price: $7.79 per user + set up fees
  • Exclusive discount for members of FINRA: $6 per user, per month + set up fees

    • 4. PAGEFREEZER

    PageFreezer is an archiving site that is built around complying with all FINRA, SOX, and SEC regulations. It securely collects your online content automatically and in the required financial industry format.

    Best Features:

  • Simplicity. PageFreezer’s easy-to-use portal allows for a quick retrieval of important data.
  • Real-time archiving with a timeline view of all of your past social media posts and interactions.
  • Captures Direct Messages on Facebook and Private Messages on Twitter.
  • Keyword filter that streamlines the search process during an audit.

    • What to Know:

  • Price: Bundle of 3 for $75/month or Bundle of 5 for $99/month
  • Can only export archives as an excel spreadsheet.
  • Maximum of 5 social media accounts can be archived.