Technology - the be-all and end-all?

The debate around the utilisation of technology appears to permeate throughout every part of the advisory market at the moment – from how lenders are looking to technology to re-establish their direct to consumer channels, how advisers can combat this and develop strong relationships via technology, to the whole ‘robo advice’ situation and whether there might be a significant read-across from financial advice to say mortgage or protection. These are significant issues to be dealing with and their answers may well dictate how the future of advice might look like in the very near term, let alone over the next decade.

Related topics:  Finance News
Julie Murray
3rd June 2016
julie murray revolution
"Some firms and players in the market appear to want to use technology as some sort of weapon to ‘destroy’ their competitors with; others appear to think that technology is the be-all and end-all when it comes to conducting business."

It’s always been interesting to me how some firms and players in the market appear to want to use technology as some sort of weapon to ‘destroy’ their competitors with; others appear to think that technology is the be-all and end-all when it comes to conducting business, rather than perhaps the enabling force that we consider it to be.

Don’t get me wrong, we fully believe that having the right systems and processes in place, married up to the very best technology is absolutely crucial in this day and age. We certainly wouldn’t have invested so heavily in our own system, Revolution, if we didn’t think this. But I also believe that, from an adviser perspective, there can be little to be gained from chasing the ‘newest’ pieces of kit, signing up with newest technology entrants and their latest systems just because they’re new, etc. It isn’t necessarily the right way to go about things.

For instance, part of our focus with advisory firms is to initially show them just what they have in place already. It’s often a real eye-opener to go through our system with a firm and for them to be shown just how much it can do. Understandably, many firms use certain parts of their own CRM system a lot, but I suspect there will be tabs that have never been clicked, tools that have never been engaged and services that remain unseen within most systems. Just establishing a level of re-engagement with the system you already use might well open up a number of possibilities and cut down on, for instance, a number of administrative tasks that currently take up way too much time.

After doing this, and utilising these ‘extra’ options, it may be time to look at the newer additions to your existing system and to look around the market to see what might also be on offer. This might be particularly useful for product sectors which you currently do not advise on but are looking at potentially adding to your overall proposition.

Clearly, in recent months there has been a considerable focus on second-charge mortgages – because of the requirements that were introduced with the Mortgage Credit Directive – but increasingly advisers (and lenders) are becoming more active in a whole manner of niche/specialist areas as borrower demand dictates. So, we have heard a lot about, for instance, growth in the equity release market, but also growth in the lending to older borrowers sector – indeed you might say that there has been something a combination of these two as providers/lenders active in this area look at the provision of ‘hybrid’ type products.

Due to the nature of these sectors, it might be that you need a specialist sourcing system in order to adequately provide the right products and quotes to clients. Second-charge master brokers have been particularly active in the technology space in terms of offering specific second-charge sourcing systems, and we have recently seen the launch of AIR Sourcing which is specifically for sourcing both equity release and retirement lending products – a real step forward for the market because this is one area where, up until now, it has been incredibly difficult to cover all potentially suitable products.

Engaging with these new systems and understanding how they can be added to your own, and the benefits they might well bring, is an important part of developing your technology footprint. And the important part is, if you’re unsure, to take advice – not all advisers have the level of technology knowledge they would like and we are certainly available to our AR firms to help them through their requirements and any potential systems they may be thinking of adding. Never be afraid to ask for a second opinion because having a clear view on what technology can do for you, and whether the system is the right one, could make all the difference in terms of developing your business.

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