SEI - Relentless Development: What Comes Next for SEI’s Archway Platform

Date:
Publish Date Aug 14 2020

SEI Family Office Services is an award winning, integrated back-office platform delivering a wide range of technology solutions for family offices. With 18 years of experience in serving family offices, SEI has over 220 clients and $365 billion in assets on the SEI platform. They serve eight of the 15 wealthiest American families and 10 global private banks.

Paul Freeland is the Head of Sales & Service at SEI and shares innovations around SEI’s award winning Archway PlatformSM and the enterprise philosophy, including initiatives for 2020 and beyond.

In the early years, SEI showed a relentless philosophy to development and to serving the family office industry. They adopted a long-term perspective and still maintain that vision today, which has led to trusted and stable relationships with clients.

SEI is known for reacting to client needs as tech trends evolve. The existing Archway user interface has been around for many years, requiring an update to its front-end technology. As such, for the past two years, SEI has rewritten and reimagined the entire front end of the Archway PlatformSM.

This new 7.0 version will be released in Q4 of 2020 and was developed with mobile-first design and usability focus. It is fully compatible with all devices including computer screens, tablets and smart phones. This technology represents years of effort and investment, and now testing.

Archway version 7.0 is completely redesigned and based on the most current technology framework and client feedback. It is quicker and more efficient. The new portal provides financial data summaries for quick navigation and easy viewing. SEI is in research and development to add progressive web applications to Archway 7.0.

Freedland addresses SEI’s malleable roadmap for the future, and shares their four areas of focus for 2021 and beyond:

Cash Management Straight Through Processing is a more seamless method of processing cash payments and transfers. Many industries are now ready to work on automation around processing cash. This includes tightly integrated capital movement transactions and documented work flows, all processed inside the Archway platform and in the client portal. This results in improved banking connectivity for wire transfers and other payments.

Next Level Data Aggregation and Connectivity. Data aggregation in back-office systems never stops, and SEI has a proactive vision to integrate other platforms with Archway. This means the ability to process large amounts of data for clients with hundreds of legal entities, daily. The focus is on improving efficiencies and removing manual touchpoints, as well as better connectivity with complementary solutions that clients use. This allows for integration with tax prep software, portfolio analytic vendors, and machine learning vendors.

Enhanced Digital Workflow Processing, including expanded workflow for all accounting transactions needed to digitalize the processes and be completed remotely. SEI knows these types of features help with job satisfaction and improve turnover within offices.

Bespoke On-Screen Reporting provides clients with essential controlled query tools. With the Archway 7.0 release, the new front-end technology offers enhanced opportunities for controlled on-screen report writing, providing new ways for clients to get the answers they need.


Glen Johnson is Chief Operating Officer at Family Office Exchange (FOX). In this role, he is responsible for all aspects of the member experience, ensuring that each family member, family office executive, and trusted advisor has an unsurpassed experience partnering with FOX by providing unique industry knowledge and insights coupled with a safe and confidential environment where members can share best practices. In addition, Glen oversees the operations of FOX and is charged with establishing and executing systems to execute FOX’s strategic plan, promoting it’s vision and service-centric culture, and enabling the FOX team to work together to exceed our member’s expectations.

Areas of Expertise: Business Owners, Business Transition, Wealth Advisors


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