The firm discovered DPL as they began transitioning from hybrid to fee-only during the pandemic. With a book of annuities on the brokerage side, Credent leaned on DPL’s technology and team to “lift the burden” of analysis as they evaluated and transitioned annuity contracts to fee-based solutions.

“DPL was a very unique and timely option for us,” Byzka explained. “We really appreciate DPL’s objective annuity review process. They don’t shy away from saying, ‘This doesn’t make sense to transition to fee-only — don’t touch it.’ That’s pretty powerful to go back to the client with a recommendation knowing you ran an objective process based on data and analytics.”

Since adding DPL to its tech infrastructure, Credent has doubled in size and continues on a steep growth trajectory. Byzka appreciates DPL’s growth as well, noting the firm’s expansion of products for principal protection and guaranteed income that deliver “tangible value for our clients.”

“The beauty of the partnership with Orion and DPL is that both firms are constantly innovating,” said Byzka. “Our advisors really value the deeper Orion integration and availability of annuity contract management data and functionality both through the Orion platform as well as DPL’s Advisor Dashboard.”

In Orion, “we found a partner that is not going to constrain us and lets us build the structure the way we want to support our advisors, whether they are fee-only or still hybrid. And, the beauty is, DPL fits right within that. It’s been a great solution for us."