On Monday, as most of our readers will know, we announced the AT8 team will be joining IRESS and forming its UK branch.  IRESS is a company with whom we have been impressed over the last few years and we are all looking forward to working with the team.  Its practice management software, XPLAN, is both impressive in the reach of its functionality and the ability to configure it quickly to customer needs and we are proud to be associated with it.

The launch of IRESS in the UK will cause a number of ripples within the industry especially as the first client is Sesame, the largest of the UK’s network.  IRESS could not ask for a better first client and are excited to be helping them to bring a differentiated technology offering to its members.

The reception of the news of the AT8 team moving to IRESS as been heart-warming.  We have had so many good wishes and emails of support all of which we are grateful for.  The press has been positive here and in Australia where the financial press have picked up on the UK entrance of IRESS with feverish delight.  It even made Sky News over there!

We have also been at the Sesame and Bankhall Symposiums this week, where the deal was first formally announced.  The response from the Sesame members and Bankhall firms has been hugely positive and we look forward to working closely with the Sesame Bankhall team over the coming months.

Mark, Nigel and myself will continue to offer our thoughts on the market via our blogs (after a short break), twitter feeds and press activity but under the IRESS brand.  We look forward to seeing many of our readers face to face to discuss our move in more detail.

Between the conference, the press calls, answering emails and phone calls and project work it has been a busy week.  Now the real work at IRESS begins.

So, hopefully, its more of ‘à bientôt’ than ‘au revoir’.

We are now delighted to announce that the directors of AT8 are moving to form the nucleus of the IRESS Wealth Management business in the UK.  IRESS is a company that offers an impressive Practice Management solution to advisers and is one that we have assessed as part of market validation and has impressed many of our clients that have reviewed it in recent times.

Today IRESS has announced its first UK client – Sesame Bankhall Group (SBG).  This is a fantastic business opportunity for both IRESS and SBG but needs a local delivery capability. The directors of AT8 have accepted IRESS’ proposal to form IRESS Technology Limited, dedicated to the delivery to SBG and its many and varied member businesses, and expansion of the XPLAN advice platform to the wider financial services market.

More details of IRESS Technology Limited will be provided in the near future but if you should have any questions about the move please feel free to call anyone of us.

We have not taken the decision to move on from AT8 lightly.  We are proud of the work we have done as AT8 and the reputation and brand that we have developed.  The opportunity that IRESS presents the three of us however is too exciting to turn down.  We believe IRESS will raise the bar in Adviser Technology to a new level and with the support of SBG as a first client we are convinced IRESS will have a substantial impact in the UK market.

Being AT8 I thought I would make 8 predictions:

1)      Portals will evolve – specifically re-writing their quotation systems

I have started with a safe prediction as regulation will force change in the portal market.  The EU ruling on sex equality will force a rewrite of protection systems while RDR will force changes to Investment and Protection quotes.  The drive to support the more stringent Independence rule will potentially get more providers on to the systems to make whole of market analysis easier

2)      New financial planning software fragments will appear

With devices like the iPad now quite common place in the adviser community we expect more financial planning apps that exist as isolated sales aids appear.  This process has already begun with applications like LifeCash being launched but we expect more to come to market.

3)      The larger back office systems will bring more product modules to market (but later than originally anticipated)

We have had promise of mortgage systems, client portals and improved financial planning tools from the big vendors for several years now.  Now is the time for them to deliver against these promises.  Avelo have stepped up to the mark this summer with the launch of their client portal and their financial planning tool and we expect these to evolve while others like Intelligent Office will deliver their offerings

4)      Fee charging modules will be rewritten

The full impact of the move to fee charging will become clearer and the large software houses will bring out new improved fee capabilities.

5)      New entrants will come from overseas

We have written about the ambitions of BrokerCRM from Ireland and Figlo from Holland to enter the UK market.  The UK financial services market remains one of the largest markets in the world and is undergoing unprecedented levels of change.  This represents a huge opportunity for overseas vendors – expect to see several new entrants.

6)      New business models will appear

Business models between Software houses, service providers, networks and platforms will start to mix with confusing results and many new pricing models.

7)      Client portal capability will be more widely deployed

Client Portal functionality that allows secure communication between adviser and client and shared access to data and documents will gain acceptance and popularity.

8)      Platforms will undergo pricing pressure

This is of course already happening but as costs become more transparent this will only increase.  Platforms are fighting back trying to get people to focus on service rather than price but while it is the Client that is paying the fee and the adviser than gets improved service it is right that price stays a key focus unless adviser fees or service to the end client can be demonstrably improved by the higher charges.

The frightening reality is December 2012 is not that far off and things are not changing fast enough in the software market to meet the demands and expectations of advisers.  I had hoped that I would be writing about a single integrated solution being available to advisers that covers most of not all their IT needs from financial planning to Client management.  This reality is frustratingly still just out of touch but maybe soon could be achieved.

Martyn Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert, has collected over 100,000 signatures in a petition to make financial education a compulsory subject in schools – see his e-petition page here.  He also references this site from his homepage and at the time of writing the number has reached 102, 284.

One of the dynamics that steers the distribution of financial products in the UK is the social attitude that consumers adopt – in the North American space, there are emerging a number of technology-based initiatives that enable the provision of limited or zero-advice models, using the newer techniques of social media, eg Facebook, Twitter; this is coupled with the acceptance of aggregation engines, such as Yodlee etc. that enable a focused, one-stop shop of everyday finance and the identification and fulfillment of need.

Now, we have yet to see in UK a successful venture of this kind – there seems to be an inhibition that is two-pronged:

1. The well-worn adage of complex products being ‘sold and not bought’, which is manifested by the consumer being reluctant, unmotivated or uneducated to self-serve;
2. The inertia from a regulatory and legislative perspective to draw together disparate threads of financial information and service provision, ie banking, insurances, utilities etc.

There have been attempts to create services that address the needs described above, with established solutions’ providers wrestling with consumer-speak and simplified product tracks – indeed, Yodlee has had a presence in the UK for at least 7 years, but nothing of significance has emerged.

We think the time is ripe, given the direction in which the market is traveling in terms of the regulatory environment post-2012, for the emergence of service providers to drive direct to consumer propositions that bring together modern, social media techniques, simplified advice provide conduits to high-value, advice expertise.

We are aware of a couple of initiatives in the pipeline, so will consumers enage sufficiently to cause the tide to turn and can it be done with minimal consumer risk’?

Thinking through this dynamic further I sought to compare the adviser use of technology to my own, both in providing IT consultancy and in a journalistic context.

For presenting data or findings, technology is the default for me.  Occasionally I still have situations where the client prefers a paper-based report to discuss but the vast majority of the time, I will present finding on the laptop or more and more the iPad.  The iPad has taken the presentation of information and data a step further as it is such a collaborative and engaging device that it is passed around between the participants in the meeting to study the information further.

In talking to advisers, I find this same dynamic occurring with many of them too.

Although, as the data and calculations can be complex, there remains a reluctance by some to present the data electronically.  The advisers that have embraced electronic presentation of information and the exploration of the data can provide huge advantages.  Seeing an expert such as Paul Etheridge of Prestwood Financial, a couple of years ago use interactive cashflow planning with a client, gaining their buy in and ownership of the plan that is created, left me in little doubt that technology can add huge value in this process.

The face to face collection of data and information, in a factfind for example, is very different.  In the context of my own activities, if the meeting is an update meeting I will use the iPad and the Evernote app to take details but if it is a new client or an interview to write an article, I’ll resort to pen and paper.  I believe this reluctance is not dissimilar to the discussions surrounding the last blogs where for new clients a factfind appears largely to be completed on paper.  In the circumstances and with general progress towards using technology, the fact that paper is still a part of the process does not seem to be a major concern at the moment.

From my own point of view, the first efficiency I am starting to gain is the reduction of travel time to each client. When I first started writing articles in Professional Adviser, I would visit the site of each person I interviewed.  Now fifty percent of the meetings I have, including those reviewing the software, I do remotely using technology such as GotoMeeting or Skype.  Sometimes, however, the use of technology isn’t appropriate for all meetings – sometimes a relationship may need special attention, or a sizable project depends on the meeting, then I will of course travel to the client site.  Arguably this does slow down the relationship formation but when complemented with social media like Twitter, I would actually argue the end result can be a very effective long term relationship, as long as the client is treated with respect and I add value in the call.

My use of remote meetings are gaining momentum in the adviser community too.  In the cost conscious fee based world in which we operate, many clients do not want to pay for an adviser to travel to them yet do not have the time to visit the adviser themselves.  Therefore, remote meetings are increasingly coming into play.  I heard from an Australian software company that had built a remote, interactive advice solution to help advisers sell to the prosperous mining community in remote parts of Australia.  The decision was a logical and practical response to the challenging logistics, however, they found that the main users and beneficiaries of this software idea came from the cities were people were time pressured and would use the technology to advise clients that may only be a few blocks away but simply couldn’t afford the time out from work to visit an adviser.  Back in the UK, Scottish Life has now trained up its consultants on using GotoMeeting so they can guide IFAs in this approach – clearly it is gaining momentum.

I am also looking to use remote electronic communication to improve the preparation for meetings, particularly interviews for articles we write, so will often now send a questionnaire to be completed before a meeting.  This advance information gives me a more focused view and audit trail of information in the interviewees own words that can reduce the time the meeting takes to complete and strikes me as being similar to an adviser sending the client a factfind to complete prior to a meeting.  Returning to Prestwood as an example of effective financial planning, the Prestwood team send out a factfind to clients before each review meeting so they can update their information prior to the review.

Currently, for my pre-meeting questionnaires, I usually use a spreadsheet or word document, which is relatively unsophisticated.  However, we have started to use Survey Monkey for some questionnaires because it provides validation of the data as it is entered and provides a means to aggregate and analyse the information if there is more than one company involved in the interview.

Eventually we may look at a more integrated means of doing this where the interviewee goes to our website to complete the data (and maybe browse other information on AT8).  This method would enable the completed data to be stored automatically on our contact management system – I can dream about having such integration but in the IFA world the back–office solutions are promoting client portals to do just that (although the commercials and functionality still need to be refined).

There is no doubt that technology can be a barrier and it is important to understand this reality and only use it where it adds value.  Many of those involved in the follow up discussions I had on the recent blogs are the most advanced users of technology in the industry and use technology to massive benefit.  What was clear from the discussions is that even these pioneers steer away from using technology for factfinding.  Some are still looking to break down this barrier and experimenting with new technologies, but few, if any, have cracked this to enable it to become a core part of their process.  In the same way, I am experimenting with taking notes on iPad apps like Penultimate but I am yet to be convinced that these are appropriate for long interviews.  However, I will keep pushing the use of technology, as I have no doubt the Adviser community will.

I have written in the past about my own financial adviser and shared that he doesn’t use any technology as part of the factfinding or advice process.  He is even older than I am, and Mark Loosmore thinks I am old!  However, his issues of not wanting the laptop (or iPad) to get between him and the customer is one that is shared by many in our industry and is not always a generation thing.  From the comments that we had last week, it is apparently not about being a technophobe, as many ardent technology fans seem to share the reluctance to use technology as part of the face-to-face data gathering exercise.  Having said that, there are some advisers that are resolute in their view that technology can and should be used in client factfinding/goal discovery meetings.

I was involved in a conversation with someone outside the industry who said that most people are now part of the ‘PlayStation generation’ and as such, claimed that advisers must surely demand the ability to do the factfind using both on AND off-line technology in front of the client.  I pointed out that people often say they use technology when they don’t and some insist that ‘off-line’ factfinding is an essential part of a technology solution.   However, even those that say they must have the off-line capability rarely, if ever, use it!  I referred to one firm that had been talking to its own advisers and found that  95% refuse to use technology for factfinds in front of the client – so much for the PlayStation experience!

Going back to my own adviser, as the client, I use a spreadsheet with my personal details (hard facts) and I e-mail a version to him before we meet – I find it frustrating that he doesn’t use the technology capability that is available elsewhere within his business practice.  I am certainly not prepared to spend my time sitting with and paying for my adviser to gather information that I can independently put together in an electronic format to ensure the actual face-time’ is productive in getting advice on actions and outcomes.

I can and do go on at length about how it would be more useful if I was able to go online to a Client Portal within the wider Practice Management solution so that the data is entered and maintained in a common environment (by me or the adviser firm).  That data can be used to quickly and effectively model my scenarios and create proposals.  Instead, there is re-keying of my spreadsheet data at best or filing the A4 paper notes in the drawer that can result in ignoring the wider use of client information for providing a better and ongoing service.

If advisers allow inefficiencies to affect the fees that they charge, they may become prohibitively expensive.  Being expensive could cause the self-fulfilling prophecy that customers can’t afford adviser charges/fees and so don’t get advice.  Whilst I am an advocate for the use of technology, I understand and accept that customers don’t always want to work in set ways.  There are a number of approaches to capture and present information and there should be a number of options to suit the capability and needs of those involved.  However, there are advisers that claim the customer will not use technology when the reality is that the reluctance often rests with them.  If the process is relatively easy, is cost and time effective as well as being of added value in an engaging way, then it is likely to be used.  Implementations so far have not always delivered what the user wants (e.g. influenced more by compliance or technology limitations) and we should remember that paper and technology are not mutually exclusive (there are ways that they can be used together effectively).