Industry
Services
Impact
Executive Summary
When a financial services firm migrated from one wealth management platform to another, they discovered that technology alone wasn’t enough. The organization needed to transform how 15+ departments, multiple member firms, and thousands of clients would work together. Partnering with Lantern for comprehensive change management, the firm set a goal to deliver customer self-service, standardize 500+ policies, and successfully launch their new platform. Most importantly, their executive sponsor declared she would “budget double the amount” for employee experience after seeing how critical people-focused change management was for their transformation success.
The Strategic Transformation That Changed Everything
The financial services firm recognized an opportunity to fundamentally enhance how they served their member firms across the United States. As a wealth management company that had built strong relationships through personalized service, their leadership saw the potential to leverage technology to deliver even better experiences while positioning for future growth.
Their existing approach relied on a dedicated operations team of more than 15 people who handled every transaction with careful attention to detail through an established wealth management platform. While this high-touch service model had served the firm well, leadership identified an opportunity to empower member firms with greater autonomy while improving accuracy and speed.
The vision was clear: migrate to a new wealth management platform, which offered advanced automation and self-service capabilities. This would allow member firms to handle transactions directly when they preferred, while freeing the operations team to focus on higher-value advisory services. However, the firm’s leadership team understood from the outset that successful transformation required more than just new technology.
When Vision Meets Execution
The scope of strategic transformation was ambitious and comprehensive. With 23+ concurrent workstreams spanning every department—from wealth management and compliance to IT and operations—this represented a complete evolution of how the company would deliver value to its member firms.
They didn't just move from one platform to another platform. What they needed to do was update all of their processes and automate all the ways they did things to better serve their member firms.
The transformation would empower member firms with self-service capabilities while maintaining the firm’s commitment to exceptional support.
Leadership recognized the complexity of managing change across multiple stakeholder groups simultaneously. Internal departments would need to collaborate in new ways, role definitions would require clarity, and most importantly, member firms would need support transitioning to enhanced capabilities they’d never experienced before.
The firm approached Lantern because they knew they had team members that do parts of this kind of work, but they recognized that bringing in experienced transformation specialists would accelerate their success
This strategic decision demonstrated leaderships commitment to executing their vision flawlessly.
The Solution: A People-First Transformation Strategy
Lantern’s approach began with comprehensive stakeholder engagement, conducting executive-level interviews across all departments and with key member firm owners. The goal was to understand each group’s needs, concerns, and vision for success, ensuring the transformation would deliver value for everyone involved.
From this analysis, Lantern developed detailed personas representing the full spectrum of users—from internal operations champions to member firm staff with varying levels of technical expertise. These personas became the strategic foundation for tailored communication, training programs, and the inspiring internal brand they created called “Future Ready.”
The breakthrough methodology came through Lantern’s innovative process simulation workshops. These sessions functioned like flight simulators for business processes—allowing teams to practice new workflows without the pressure of learning complex software simultaneously. Cross-functional participants performed handoffs to each other, experiencing firsthand how collaboration would work in the new environment.
These workshops focused entirely on optimizing workflows—who would do what, when, and how information would flow seamlessly between departments. The simulation approach proved invaluable for identifying opportunities to enhance processes and defining requirements before implementation, preventing costly adjustments later.
Lantern’s comprehensive methodology also addressed the critical need for knowledge management transformation. The team mapped current processes, designed optimal future workflows, and tackled the strategic documentation initiative—standardizing over 500 policies and procedures into a sophisticated, centrally managed system.
The documentation transformation addressed the firm’s goal of moving from distributed document management to a centralized, templated system with proper governance. Lantern created an elegant solution featuring document stewards, structured review processes, and a SharePoint repository designed to scale across the entire organization’s future needs.
The Results That Validated the Strategy
The transformation delivered measurable results aligned with the firm’s strategic objectives. Most significantly, the company systematized over 500 policies and procedures, creating a comprehensive knowledge management foundation that would serve as the backbone for consistent, efficient operations across all departments and member firm interactions.
The firm established two critical KPIs to measure transformation success throughout the next year: increased member firm satisfaction and reduction of information submitted “not in good order” (NIGO). The NIGO metric will be particularly telling – as it focuses on reduction in processing errors directly translated to faster transaction times, fewer delays, and significantly enhanced member firm experiences.
The standardized documentation system ensured that all stakeholders—from the internal operations team to member firm staff—had access to clear, consistent procedures. This consistency became a key driver of the improved accuracy rates and positioned the firm to deliver more reliable service to their member firms.
But the most meaningful validation came from the firm’s own leadership. During the project close out meeting, the Head of Broker Dealer Services made a statement that captured the strategic value of their approach. She acknowledged that employee experience is often underestimated in strategic change initiatives and declared she would budget double the amount for this critical component because of how important it proved to their success.
This wasn’t just appreciation—it was a strategic business assessment from a senior executive who had witnessed firsthand the ROI of investing properly in organizational change management.
The Strategic Advantage Delivered
The firm’s transformation succeeded because their leadership understood that technological capability requires organizational capability. The platform migration created new opportunities for member firm attraction and retention, enhanced operational efficiency, and established a foundation for continued innovation. Most importantly, it demonstrated that employee experience isn’t an operational expense—it’s a strategic investment with measurable returns.
The value we brought was being able to see opportunities for connection and optimization, We could identify where different initiatives could work together more effectively and help create continuity across the organization.
After a carefully planned four-month soft launch that allowed for refinement and optimization, the firm successfully launched their enhanced platform and processes. They had not just implemented new technology—they had built organizational change capability that positioned them for ongoing transformation and growth.
The strategic lesson for other organizations is compelling: when executives recognize the value of comprehensive change management enough to double their investment, it’s because they understand the competitive advantage it delivers. Transformations that prioritize people alongside technology don’t just succeed—they create lasting organizational strength.
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