Point of sales systems in use today typically fall into one of two camps: A comprehensive advice tool or a streamlined retail system. These latter systems are tuned to ensure the fast transaction of business, typically in response to a single need area such as mortgage protection. In short these systems are about maximising efficiency. The advice led systems are typically far more complex and address the whole financial eco-system of a client. They will aim to increase the number of products sold and to improve the case size of. They are in effect focused on effectiveness but their complexity often leads to a poor uptake and slows down the sales process and therefore their efficiency is often poor.
However this traditional split is now beginning to change as the systems converge. Retail systems are adding more functionality and rigour and becoming more holistic in their approach. The Advice led systems are streamlining their approaches and using usability techniques to increase their uptake.
The two approaches will lessen their deficiencies they will never merger completely and in selecting a system the distributor will do well to remember where the suppliers have come from and to match the origins of the supplier to their own needs and requirements.
