Cerulli Associates says it has teamed up with asset manager Invesco for a new tool aimed at helping financial advisors assess their practices.

The Practice Innovation Index, as the new offering is called, benchmarks various characteristics of an advice practice across four areas: business development, wealth management, client service and practice management areas, according to Cerulli.

The index acts as a benchmarking tool to rank a practice in comparison to its peers and then provide a roadmap for growth through taking advantage of various relative strengths and opportunities, the research firm says.

The benchmarking taps "more than 10 years of Cerulli survey data," while the index itself "is powered by Cerulli's data from over 3,000 financial professionals," according to the research firm.

According to a Cerulli study, advisors most commonly identify new client acquisition (52%), compliance (40%), and managing technology (30%) as their practices' primary challenges.

The Practice Innovation Index can help financial professionals by identifying opportunities to enhance all aspects of their businesses and increase their value to clients, according to Invesco. The tool goes beyond benchmarking a practice based on assets and revenue, and it holistically evaluates a financial practice with the goal of identifying relative strengths and opportunities to help deliver better business and client service outcomes, Invesco says.

In addition to using the new index, advisors will also be able to get guidance through Invesco's coaching offering, according to Cerulli.

The index is part of Invesco Total CX, a platform of tools, coaching and content aimed at helping financial professionals connect with clients, grow their businesses and optimize portfolios, Cerulli says.

"Advisors today face the challenges of addressing demands from investors, financial markets and regulators, all while striving to scale their businesses," Asher Cheses, associate director of U.S. wealth management at Cerulli, said in a statement.

"To help them confront those business challenges, Cerulli and Invesco built the Practice Innovation Index, backed by the industry's longest-running advisor survey, to provide a quantifiable tool designed to benchmark the attributes of the industry's leading financial practices and ultimately enable advisors to help their clients achieve their financial goals," he added.

The Practice Innovation Index begins with an assessment of the financial practice, benchmarking the top performing financial professionals in the four key areas of their practice. Responses are scored and benchmarked by the Practice Innovation Index's proprietary methodology, which is powered by Cerulli's data from over 3,000 financial professionals. Each question is scored against the benchmark, and results are shown for each of the four categories and in aggregate, highlighting how the financial practice ranks among peers.

Financial professionals are then shown a customized roadmap designed to leverage their strengths and address opportunities for improvement. For more complex financial practices, advisors could be eligible for access to Invesco's dedicated coaching to help create actionable plans.

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