Posted in In the Press on: 05/07/2010
Money Marketing's Adviser Evolution 24 June 2010
Technology providers have spent many years extolling the virtues of connectivity to their users. Straight-through processing has often been proclaimed as the utopia that will streamline business, increase efficiencies and create more time for advisers to do client work. This may be true but the focus here has always been about connecting advisory firms with their suppliers, passing transactional data from one system to another. But what has been missing is how we make better connections with our clients.
Today’s advisory process is not about selling financial products, it’s about having conversations with clients, it’s about the advice, the relationship and this is a model that should be carried through to technology. This is set alongside the regulatory impetus for change with RDR and TCF, initiatives such as Financial Capability and the huge growth of internet use amongst consumers. The advent of the RDR means that firms are now focusing their business models absolutely around the client, and looking for ways to provide the services to their current client base, at the right level that is profitable for their business. In particular, to ensure that they have the ability to service those clients for whom ongoing income is received but for whom a regular face-to-face review process is not always profitable. Technology has a huge part to play here. New, innovative ways to service clients are now possible using the web as a platform to deliver regular ongoing services, high quality information and to keep a conversation ongoing with the client.
True online collaboration with clients is something that until now technology has not delivered. Our industry keeps building solutions starting from its needs rather than the client's needs and this is why online portfolio reporting services may typically only be visited by clients once every six months. Clients are now happy to do some of the work themselves, take the growth of internet banking as an example, but in return they expect more value from services and a better user experience. That means access to meaningful information 24 hours a day, information that is well presented, where complex data is made simple and your client is encouraged interact and engage with your service. To keep your brand at the forefront of your clients mind as their circumstances change requires a different kind of service; a service that is designed for your client but that gives you the results you need.
Moneyinfo, a new online client servicing technology from Sammedia is all about letting the client drive your interactions with them. For the first time Moneyinfo gives clients what they are actually interested in on a day-to-day basis. It makes their personal finances meaningful, displaying all of their bank balances, credit card, loan and savings statements all in one place, no matter who they bank with. Your clients can see a breakdown of their spending across all of their accounts and as their adviser; you receive real-time information on your client’s balances, income and expenditure. This, combined with daily valuations of their wrap and portfolio investments gives the client a complete picture of their financial life, in one place, under the brand of the advisory firm.
By delivering a service that is truly focused on what the client needs, Moneyinfo delivers to the adviser the information they need, allowing them to focus on chargeable advice work rather than the administrative burden of transactional and servicing work. For the first time factfind information is created automatically as data from banks, credit cards or loan accounts is categorised and displayed in spending charts or income graphs. Portfolio valuations are fed in and kept up to date daily by price feeds and valuation links to wrap platforms or other data sources. Once static factfind data is now brought to life for the client; and for the adviser this means they are kept informed as their clients financial circumstances change so that they can offer the appropriate service at the right time. The advisers time with the client is now spent on what really matters; the review, the advice, the conversation.
Online client servicing solutions like Moneyinfo change the dynamics of traditional Client Relationship Management (CRM) processes. The client is brought into the process; they have control of their own data. The focus is shifted so that the advisory firm collaborates with a client who is engaged in the ongoing servicing process rather than simply managed by it. This is the new approach to client servicing. Client-centric technology that delivers adviser-centric results, letting your client’s lives direct your interactions with them.
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