When operating as a tech provider, the most essential elements in this process, alongside trust/relationships, are experience and expertise. This is not just in regard to the technology itself but also when it comes to understanding the intricacies attached to the market that it’s serving.
As I’ve said more times than I’d care to remember, successful technological integration can be a real game changer for many firms but only if it aligns with their individual business needs and when it provides the ability for users to place real trust in the system, solution or platform they are using and, as importantly, the people behind the tech. As a business which has a family history spanning decades within the intermediary sector, we understand the importance attached to the strength of client relationships and in being adaptable enough to maintain these through both the good and not so good times. Relationships which can span generations if implemented with the best intentions and outcomes.
This was evident in research from M&G Wealth which outlined that 33% of advised families use the same financial adviser as another generation of their family or in-laws. Of those who have an adviser, well over half (57%) share them with their parent(s) - including biological, step and adopted. Two in three (65%) share an adviser with their grandparent(s), and a third (34%) with their partner’s parent(s).
Well over a third (37%) admitted they would feel relaxed sharing an adviser as their parent(s)/family trust them, while 34% said they’d feel good that all family finances are in one place, and they can review together. Despite being comfortable with sharing an adviser, a third (33%) admitted they want boundaries and so wouldn’t share all their details and situation.
So, what can we take from this?
The fundamentals of the advice process remain largely the same but the ways in which we service the needs of the current generation in comparison to past generations has changed, and the best advisers have adapted accordingly to maintain and even improve these generational relationships.
This is largely down to technology but it’s not always been smooth sailing for technology and the adviser community. There were times in the past where the perceived threat of roboadvice cast a large shadow on the mortgage market and skewed many views around the impact of technology on the advice process.
Thankfully, a host of tech providers have managed to turn this ship around and a vast proportion of intermediary firms, large and small, are benefitting from a range of online tools to help their business run more efficiently and effectively whilst simplifying the mortgage journey for their clients.
This is a process which feeds back into the value of trust and relationships. In order to get the best out of technology, advisers need to place their trust in being able to generate the best outcomes for their clients to build longstanding relationships.
And the deeper this trust goes - beyond the pure tech aspect and into the people behind it - the more these relationships are likely to flourish.
