The Impact of Information Technology on First Command Financial Planning

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The Impact of Information Technology on First
Command Financial Planning

• By Ronald Stuart, Jr

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Slide overview

• Introduction/General overview of First Command
  Financial Planning.
  
• How First Command organizes and transmits
  information before and after information
  technology.
  
• How an agent compiles info that is relevant to
  giving a client financial advice.
  
• How does First Command keep its clientele
  informed.
  
• First Commands future applications of
  information technology.

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Introduction to First Command Financial Planning

• First Command Financial Planning (formerly USPA
  IRA) is an International Organization committed
  to assisting members of the United States Armed
  Services and their families, in managing their
  finances and investing for the future.
• First Command has been serving the Armed Forces
  since 1958. The founder, Carroll H. Payne, had
  the foresight to create an organization that
  could help military families deal with the
  financial void left by wartime casualties.
• The headquarters for First Command is located at
  Ft. Worth, TX, and there is an office here in El
  Paso located at 7400 Viscount.

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Introduction to First Command Financial Planning

• First Command deals with thousands of clients at
  a time.
  
• Each agent deals with hundreds of clients
  simultaneously.
  
• Each client has specific information that is
  vital to the agent in order for him/her to
  properly advise the client. This information
  includes pay grade, date of promotion, social
  security number, etc.
• Serving a large number of clients, being able to
  communicate intra-organizationally between the
  home office in Ft.Worth, and numerous offices
  around the world is a hard task, even with
  information technology.
• These reasons are exactly why First Command
  decided to integrate information technology into
  their daily operations.
  

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How First Command organized, and transmitted
information before and after information
technology.

• Before Info. Tech.
• 5x7 cards were used to keep track of client
  names, ssn, unit, etc.
  
• Information was transmitted by phone, regular,
  and overnight mail to the home office.
  
• Before it took a 4 or 5 day turnaround to send
  info and receive feed back to and from the home
  office.

• After Info. Tech
• A windows DBMS called WINUSPA is used to keep
  track of over 1650 clients (in El Paso alone).
  
• Now all information is sent to the home office
  via e-mail.
  
• Today the turnaround is only 2 or 3 days.

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How an agent compiles information that is
relevant to giving a client financial advice.

• Before Info. Tech.
• Agent had access to old client information only,
  and reference materials were used to discuss
  client finances.
  
• The clients transaction file was updated on a
  weekly basis.
  
• Client banking activities could not be tracked.

• After Info. Tech.
• Today the agent has immediate access to
  information relevant to the client via e-mail,
  and the internet (DSL).
  
• The client transaction file is updated
  instantaneously with the WINUSPA DBMS.
  
• WINUSPA has a tab to click on that allows agents
  to view bank account balances at a clients
  request.

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How First Command informs its clients.

• Before Info. Tech.
• First Command would keep thousands of newsletters
  on file.
  
• Some of which were never used, took up valuable
  storage, and became wasted overhead.

• After Info. Tech.
• First Command updates its website
  http//www.firstcommand.com periodically .
  
• First Command has a magazine that comes out every
  month.

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First Commands future applications of
information technology.

• A high quality printer, that prints out financial
  presentations to be shown to clients. At this
  time only the home office has this capability,
  and turnaround for this information is a few
  days. Once the high quality printer is
  integrated into First Commands system, the
  turnaround will be a few hours, or less.
• Presently an Insurance examiner has to take
  urine, and blood samples, along with other data
  for a person to be considered eligible to receive
  insurance. Soon the Insurance examiner will only
  have to take a DNA sample (saliva swab, hair,
  etc.) to determine if an individual can be
  insured. This will cut the decision making
  period down from a few weeks to a few days.

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First Commands future applications of
information technology (cont.)

• Allow the client to make money transfers from one
  account to another, deposit money in a mutual
  fund, or money market via the internet, and the
  First Command website.
• Allow agents to access, update, and adjust
  investment principles, and allotments via the
  internet, and the First Command website (at the
  clients request).

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Thats all folks!!!!

• For more info log on to http//www.firstcommand.co
  m
  
• HOLLA!!!!