By Susan Caba
Tablet Computers Help
Students and Edward Jones
Advisors Work Smarter
At Edward Jones, the personal touch—the face-to-face meeting—is an "nearly sacred" tenet of prospecting for clients, says Penny Pennington, an Edward Jones principal responsible for new financial advisor training. Caution is the watchword when it comes to changing any aspect of the process.
Nonetheless, the company has just outfitted new financial advisors with tablet computers to use while meeting potential clients and says the change will improve the speed and quality of business.
"It's a pretty whiz-bang device—essentially a smart piece of paper," Pennington says. "And it generates all sorts of interesting conversation."
The tablet computers allow advisors to enter client information on the spot, as they meet with clients. Previously, they transcribed their notes from paper to computers after the meetings.
The St. Louis-based financial services firm also replaced its training manuals—two binders, each seven inches thick—with a download-able custom program for the tablet computers. In the 10 months since the switch was made, the "pass" rate for new advisors taking required exams has improved, Pennington says.
Tablet computers, along with Blackberry phones and PDAs, are increasingly being used by business and schools to replace not only pen and paper, but also laptop computers. A National Education Technology report released in 2005 recommends a move away from textbooks to the use of multimedia or online information.
A tablet PC is a notebook or slate-shaped wireless computer that uses a touch screen rather than a keyboard or mouse to enter information. In addition to reading handwritten notes, the tablet accepts drawings and other graphics. They are used more like pieces of paper than computers with their tilted screens.
Because the tablets are connected to the Internet, students or business associates can easily share information. And, as Edward Jones found, a tremendous amount of information can be downloaded and conveniently carried around.
New financial advisors come to Edward Jones generally without required licenses, she says, and undergo a 10-week training program to pass two essential tests. To pass, they need to absorb "a voluminous amount of material."
The tablet computers not only make the study guides more physically manageable, they alleviate anxiety. "These are mostly folks who haven't been in school for years. Not being faced with those two textbooks relieves their anxiety. They have no idea how much information they have to absorb.
"The advantages are portability, easy access and the ability to connect with their teachers," Pennington says. "It's a 'smart' book that allows them to take notes and exams that are sent back to their instructors.
"The results have been very, very positive since we started the program last October."
Medical and nursing students are increasingly using tablet computers or PDAs, says Carol Eckert, director of the nursing program at Southwestern Illinois College. While SWIC doesnÕt provide the technology, as some schools do, tech-savvy students are downloading textbooks and updated pharmaceutical information.
“In one case," says Eckert, "a patient asked a student a question and the student pulled out her PDA to look up the answer. 'Don't you know that?' asked the patient. 'I think I do, but don't you think it's best that I check to be sure,' the student answered."
Medicine changes so quickly that being able to update and access information constantly is becoming more important, she says. Many health professionals also use the portable devices to maintain patient records, much as Edward Jones uses them to create and maintain client records.
In fact, says Eckert, nursing infomatics—the creation, structuring and management of information, to make it more useable—is an up-and-coming field. She adds that it's still important for nurses, particularly, to have human contact: "You don't want the doctor or nurse sitting outside the patient's room consulting algorithms, rather than being in the room talking to the patient."
The need to maintain Edward Jones' "good old-fashioned, shoe—leather, face-to-face networking" was the reason the company moved into the use of tablet computers cautiously, says Pennington.
"It took a while to make the change," she says. "Anything that changes or affects that first meeting with someone is going to get a lot of consideration to make sure it enhances the conversation. In the end we decided it's still a personal, face-to-face meeting." The company conducted a small pilot project before proceeding.
There have been minor glitches—"wind, weather, rain, battery life, the glare on the screen when an advisor is standing on a porch talking to someone." And some veteran financial advisors are still wary about changing a process that's worked for years and years. Others, though, have just one question: "Where's mine?"
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