Why Financial Services Companies Need Incentive Compensation Management

There has never been a better time than now for financial services corporations to modernize their current technology or adopt new technologies. Throughout the last few years, the landscape of financial services sales has changed quite a bit. Many firms learned during the pandemic their systems weren’t equipped to handle programs like the Payment Protection Program (PPP). They also struggled with the added demand of individuals and corporations needing loans, extensions, or other forms of financial relief. Not only that, but with the increased acceptance of remote workers, the need for robust, automated processes is greater. One way financial services organizations can optimize their processes is with an Incentive Compensation Management (ICM) solution. This can add significant value by improving incentive compliance auditing, performance management, and resource optimization.

Compliance Tracking

With the creation of new programs like PPP to support those financially impacted by the pandemic, concerns for suitably managing the elements of those programs have multiplied. Simultaneously, maintaining accurate, secure and compliant compensation/incentive data has grown more complex. The potential for government audits is higher for financial services companies to ensure the funds, loans, or other aspects of financial relief activities are being monitored and distributed appropriately. It is risky for firms to rely on manual or outdated processes to handle compliance issues. By adopting an ICM solution, financial services companies can rest assured that their incentive data is managed accurately. They can also feel prepared for any potential audits of sales activities associated with product offerings to their clients.

Performance Management

Recently, the increase of remote workers has reduced visibility to the day-to-day activities of employees. The ability to seamlessly evaluate sales employees’ performance has become more complicated without those daily interactions. A comprehensive ICM solution can be customized to include both sales and activity measures for performance management. This allows leaders to establish goals and expectations for their employees. Leaders can then monitor performance against those goals electronically, providing visibility at all levels of the organization. Ultimately, this will help drive the right behaviors across the corporation. At the same time, it will motivate employees to improve performance, even with remote workers being a reality beyond the pandemic.

Resource Optimization

Imagine being able to reduce the amount of time your sales personnel spend on tracking their own sales numbers, monitoring spreadsheets to ensure that all activity is accounted for and verifying that they are compensated correctly. According to Kofax, 34% of financial services corporations rely on manual processes. What if instead, that time is spent focusing on what they do best, which is selling. Not only would you increase employee productivity and job satisfaction, but your organization would likely realize higher close rates. This could yield greater revenues. By adopting a tool that automates your incentive compensation planning, you can begin these improvements. 

Automated ICM solutions can dramatically improve your financial services firm’s operations by eliminating manual processes that can inject risk and uncertainty into your business. Once live, your ICM tool can improve performance management efficacy, compliance tracking and resource optimization, all of which will positively impact your bottom line.

If you have concerns about how your organization addresses incentive compensation management and are considering automated solutions, learn more at themotivator.com.