Advances across tablet and mobile devices, software applications and data connectivity provide financial services firms with a golden opportunity to engage consumers using the channels of their choice, and ultimately make communications more efficient.

That’s the premise behind Broadridge Fluent, a new service by Broadridge Financial Solutions, a technology provider, that enhances customer engagement by enabling firms to distribute marketing, transactional and regulatory communications to their clients’ preferred delivery channels.

“The emergence of many new consumer-focused channels provides significant options for firms in how they communicate with their client base,” said Rob Krugman, vice-president of digital strategy at Broadridge Financial Solutions.

“Unfortunately, the integration of these new services and capabilities often requires redundant development efforts to support each channel and, as a result, firms tend to be hesitant to support the channel and continue to drive clients to preferred channels,” he said.

The Broadridge Fluent platform integrates traditional channels like print, e-delivery and websites with emerging channels like advisor and client service platforms and digital mail.

“As new channels continue to emerge, the platform will expand to support these channels without requiring additional development or added expense,” said Krugman.

The Fluent service allows firms to take advantage of the interactive nature of new communication channels such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

While firms recognize the value of social media, there are also real concerns with regards to compliance and security.

“Buy-side firms more and more frequently have the same regulatory responsibilities as sell-side firms, and that also applies to long-term recording of business activities,” said Chris Pickles, head of industry initiatives at BT Global Banking & Financial Markets, a provider of networked-based services. “That can also apply to all client-facing communication, including email, IM [instant messaging] and voice.”

Broadridge is developing strategies that address how these channels can be used to distribute regulatory and transaction-related financial documents.

“What we have determined is that the key to enabling this is identity management, or more specifically being able to validate the authenticity of the consumer on the other end of the conversation,” said Krugman at Broadridge. “The good news is that many solutions around identity management are coming to market and, when integrated into our platform, will enable us to facilitate communications across social channels on behalf of our clients.”

Fluent is delivered as a Platform As A Service, or PaaS, meaning that Broadridge hosts and supports it, eliminating the need for firms that use it to dedicate hardware or software resources.

“They connect through web-based interfaces and are provided with control over the platform and how their communications are distributed,” said Krugman.