Embrace technology to focus on the value of advice
25 July 2023
We know that taking advice early enough can make a huge difference to people’s finances – 2019 research by the International Longevity Centre UK and Royal London found that it could provide a boost in wealth of £47,000 in a decade2. So broadening access to advice is clearly a good thing. But with a finite number of financial advisers, how can advice firms deliver cost-effective, consistent, personalised advice to more people and remain profitable?
The answer has to be technology. Technology is playing an increasingly important role in the financial advice process and the firms that are getting it right are reaping the rewards for the business, its employees, and its clients.
Business benefits
We’ve just released the 2023 intelliflo eAdviser Index and yet again, it confirms that the advice firms who fully embrace technology and embed it into their advice process outperform their peers. In fact, over the last year, the gap between the business performance of the Champions, with the highest technology adoption, and the Explorers with the lowest adoption was even larger than last year, proving the growing importance of technology in driving the success of financial advice firms.
Firms that are most committed to their technology journey are servicing more clients, generating more revenue and increasing their AUM. This year’s Index saw the Champions generating per adviser 54% more revenue and 76% more ongoing revenue, and managing 64% higher assets under advice and 39% more clients than the lowest adopters, our Explorers. This is a significant increase on last year’s figures, when per adviser Champions generated 44% more review and 59% more ongoing revenue and had 48% more assets under advice and 28% more clients than Explorers.
So, what’s going on under the bonnet at the advice firm to allow for these business improvements? Our Champions are intelliflo office users who embrace all the capabilities of the system. They use the full functionality to do a lot of the administration within the firm, to streamline processes and avoid manual workarounds. Technology does a lot of the heavy lifting if you like, leaving the adviser to focus on more meaningful activities that add value to the client experience.
Value of advice
And that is important because a lot of what a client values most about advice is driven by the adviser/client relationship. Recent research by Morningstar3 found 60% of people cited an emotional reason for hiring their adviser, these included not feeling comfortable handling financial issues, needing behavioural coaching, the quality of the adviser relationship and the communication from the adviser. Just 40% gave a financial reason, such as to meet a specific financial need or because of the expected investment performance.
Maximising the use of technology right across the business doesn’t just bring tangible business benefits, and the advantages for clients don’t stop at improved efficiency and the potential for reduced costs. By establishing a technology vision for your firmthat properly embeds technology into your advice journey, you’ll be able to spend less time bogged down with admin, and more time engaging with clients, building relationships and ensuring that they understand the financial plan and are confident in the advice you’re giving them. In short, you’ll be able to focus more attention on the aspects of the advice service that your clients appreciate most.
We transform the advisory experience.
Your advice can be life-changing – our technology makes it possible. Book a demo.
1https://www.flipsnack.com/langcat/the-advice-gap-report-2023.html
2https://ilcuk.org.uk/financial-advice-provides-47k-wealth-uplift-in-decade/
3https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QPKmAHUVc4
