FAQ

What is the WealthTech Integration Score?

The Ezra Group WealthTech Integration Score was developed to simplify building a reliable and compatible tech stack. However, it is also an effort to bring transparency to a topic that is not well communicated by many application vendors.
One of our goals in developing this scoring system is to be transparent on the methodology that involves prioritizing three areas – breadth, depth, and usability. Our reasoning is detailed below.

How are product scores calculated?

Here’s how our scoring methodology looks at applications’ integration support across three criteria:

Criteria	Description	Weight
Integration Breadth	How many other applications are integrated with this one, and are they applications that are popular among wealth managers?	25%
Integration Depth	How “feature rich” is each integration? Is it simply a “Single Sign On” or something deeper?	50%
Technical Capabilities	Security certifications, presence and functionality of GET and POST APIs, authentication protocols, developer support including developer portal, sandbox, quality of documentation, etc.	25%
Total		100%

What is integration breadth and how is it calculated?

Breadth measures how many integrations that an application has, regardless of their depth. This criteria makes up only 25% of the total score, which we deliberately kept low to avoid vendors gaming the system by creating lots of single sign ons (SSO) to increase their score.

Breadth is the only criteria that is a relative calculation within each category. The highest number of integrations in each category becomes the denominator for the rest. This means that an application’s score could go down even though they didn’t make any changes if the #1 application in the category builds new integrations since the breadth denominator would increase, slightly lowering everyone’s breadth score in the category.

We also provide a boost for integrations to the list of key applications, which are listed below.

What is integration depth and how is it calculated?

Depth measures the robustness of the integrations and is worth 50% of the total. Each integration is assigned a depth rating of 1 to 5 based on the following:

Rating	Description
0	No integration
1	Single Sign On – After having signed on to the application being scored, it is possible to sign on to the other application with a single “click”. The login information is transferred from the scored app to the integrated app without the need to provide additional credentials. However, the two applications do not share or transfer data. This is the most common “integration” (in part because it is easy to implement).
2	Ability to perform one or more functions from either of the applications while “inside” the other. Typically allows for creation/viewing of reports or iframes. Data is not transferred between the two applications.
3	Transfer of (some) data from either application. The assumption is that the integrator will have determined which direction the data should move based upon the categories of the applications they are integrating with. For example, since CRMs are usually the golden source for contact data, this information should into other applications like financial planning, digital marketing, etc. Similarly, the score generated by risk tolerance applications should flow out and into CRM, financial planning, etc.
4	Transfer of (some) data both to and from the applications (aka bidirectional sync). For example some client data entered into a CRM can be transferred to a financial planning app, which could also send data back into the CRM. Bidirectional transfers are almost always implemented via GET and POST API calls.
5	This is the highest level of integration. But this may differ from category to category. Striving to make every integration a “Level 5” is likely not an effective use of development resources.

We originally considered calculating an application’s total depth score as a simple average of all its individual integration ratings. However, this penalizes those applications with a large number of integrations, when some are not of the highest level.

Consider two apps, one with 5 integrations at level 5 and another 5 at level 1, and the other with 5 integrations at level 3. If we just took the average they would both get the same score! So what we did was use each higher level integration to offset a lower level integration if one exists.

What is usability and how is it calculated?

Usability measures the level of developer support provided by the vendor and includes documentation, tools, sample code, etc. as well as authorization and security protocols. This criteria counts for the final 25% of the total score.
We check the certifications of each vendor (i.e., SOC2, PEN tests, ISO 27001) and the specific authorization software they have implemented, along with questions about their developer support.

What are the key applications in the scoring?

Consider two applications, X and Y. Both integrate with 10 other applications, but those that X integrates with are used by far more advisors than the ones that Y integrates with. All else equal, it seems reasonable that X should receive a higher integration score than Y because their integrations will be useful to more advisors.

As part of our scoring methodology, Ezra Group developed a list of two dozen applications and custodians that are popular with advisors. These include the big three custodians (Schwab/TDA, Fidelity and Pershing), CRM apps (Redtail, Salesforce and Wealthbox), financial planning apps (eMoney, MoneyGuide and Right Capital), plus other apps such as Albridge, Black Diamond, Morningstar Advisor Workstation, Orion, Tamarac, etc.

We created this list based on several surveys including T3, Kitces, Financial Planning Magazine and others, and we intend to revisit it on an annual basis.

Category	Key Applications
All in One	Black Diamond, Envestnet Tamarac, Morningstar Office, Orion Advisor Services
CRM	Redtail, Salesforce, Wealthbox
Custodian	Fidelity (National Financial), Pershing, Schwab, TDA
E-Signature	Docusign
Financial Planning	eMoney, MoneyGuide, Naviplan, Right Capital
Forms Management	LaserApp
Investment Analytics	Morningstar Advisor Workstation
Office Application	G Suite, Office 360
Portfolio Management	Albridge
Rebalancing Only	iRebal
Risk Tolerance	Riskalyze, Risk Ecosystem (Finametrica)
Stress Testing	Hidden Levers (Orion Risk Intelligence)

What are the Integration Score badges?

Ezra Group has developed two badges to recognize products that have integration scores of Excellent or Superior. When either badge is awarded, vendors are encouraged to display them on their websites or in marketing materials.

Vendors must complete the Ezra Group Integration Vendor Survey for their products to be awarded a badge regardless of their score. If you have completed a survey within the previous 12 months, you will receive a separate email with your badge image and information.

The badges are assigned for Superior and Excellent scores according to the following table:

Score – Rating reference
Superior Badge	8.0 – 10.0
Excellent Badge	6.0 – 7.99
Average – No Badge	4.0 – 5.99
Needs Improvement – No Badge	0 – 3.99

Why did my integration score change?

As part of our commitment to improving the accuracy when comparing application integrations, we have updated the underlying methodology of the Ezra Group Wealthtech Integration Score.

These changes include revamping the algorithm for calculating the depth criteria as well as expanding the useability criteria with more questions about API support. We believe these changes will make the scores more useful for both wealth management firms and software vendors.

In order to ensure your application’s score is accurate, please fill out this product integration survey so that all of your integrations can be properly evaluated. We’re requesting that all vendors fill out the survey no later than May 1, 2023 so their correct scores can be included in our next database update.

Why are my scores not updated on the Kitces AdvisorTech Directory?

All changes made to the Kitces AdvisorTech Directory are synchronized to our database with a one month lag. This means that when the Directory adds/changes/modifies any product, we will mirror those activities as well, which may require rescoring multiple products.

When new products are added to the directory, we will calculate their integration scores and send them to Kitces.com one month later.

How can I improve my score?

The best way to increase your score is to build more integrations to the key applications (see list above) and/or expand your API set and improve support. You can also fill out the Ezra Group Vendor Integration Survey to help us recalculate your score more accurately.

Ezra Group’s experienced team can assist your firm with increasing your score by building new integrations and APIs, enhancing existing code, documentation and testing. Click here to learn more about our integration development services.You can also increase your score by filling out our vendor integration survey, which you can find here.

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