Client-facing technology is confusing and in need of more innovation, say advisers during a webinar hosted by Apricity.
The hour-long discussion on Friday (21 October),‘Reimagining financial advice for an ever-changing world', featured Timeline and Betafolio founder and chief executive Abraham Okusanya who called the client's experience of technology when using an adviser "just horrible".
"My sense is that as an area that we are way, way behind as a profession, and indeed, as an industry, in terms of client experience is technology," he said. "I really think that the state of technology in the delivery of advice hasn't kept pace with the experience that clients have in other areas of their lives."
Echoing this sentiment, Herbert & Webster operations director Marina Gabas said: "I think what's missing is a piece of technology. That means the whole client journey can be on in one place. And by that I mean that for onboarding, we have one set of tools for the attitude to risk questionnaire, we've got another link.
"We've got different things and the technology available out there which sometimes can enhance the clients experience and us to an extent, is nice, but it's so many little things that you've got to explain to the client. Not all of them will receive that well and it can be confusing."
Self-employed financial coach and money mentor Cathy Brennan pointed to the need to make things easier, more accessible and inclusive.
"I think that clients need to be able to visualise their future and understand how pensions and investments will help them so I do think that the cash flow and the visualisation is important, but the overwhelm from financial questionnaires, risk profiles, I think that individuals can be quite detached," she said
Okusanya added that seamless integration of the process in the way that was required was "not going to happen".
"Part of the reason is that vast majority of the tools that you use in the delivery of advice today were created in the earlier days of the internet, ten to 20 plus years ago. They cannot talk to newer technology," he said. "This applies to platforms and tools in many cases."
Okusanya also pointed out that the business was hard to scale.
"This is why money is going into platforms, or into investment management, because that's the part of the advice that actually scales. Now, these things rely on financial advisers to scale successfully.
"The ‘aha moment' that I had 24 months or so ago is what if you do this differently - what if you monetize through some sort of investment management, and you take as much of that revenue and profit, and you put it in building technology for advisers."
"This is the way that I can think of that you can actually get capital flowing into building technology that helps advisers do what they do best," said Okusanya.
French Duncan Chartered financial planner Andy Reynolds called out Transact and said he was "appalled at how difficult it was to place business" with the platform.
"And the paperwork involved was frightening. I just was blown away. I was like, why is this platform consistently winning award after award after award?"
He added: "That will absolutely have an impact on where I decide to place business because there are younger, and newer entrants using modern technology, totally online, totally paperless with a better client experience, that will have an impact."
The Financial Conduct Authority too, could be more involved in helping advisers, said Gabas.
"The platforms are easy to criticise. But actually, we could look a bit higher up and the regulator could make an effort to make technology better so that how we communicate with them is easier.
"They could offer to plug into our back-office systems, there's not that many out there. And they could say, well, twice a year, we want to know all of this about your business," she suggested. "We seem to be doing a lot of the work for them between the surveys and the returns, I think well, you can help me a little bit more rather than asking all these questions. Because the time not spent doing that I spend on my clients."
But Okusanya quickly dismissed the chance of that kind of regulatory involvement.
"I agree broadly, with the directional thinking, but I don't think it's going to happen."
He added: "I'm glad though, that people are voting with their clients assets, because it's the only language that this industry understands. I see a lot of the innovation in the technology space for advisers coming from the upstarts, from smaller start-up companies called early stage companies, like Fundment and Seccl."
"I don't expect any innovation to come not much from the established players because if you're a company in late stage of growth, well, you basically take advisers businesses for granted."
