Platform integration with financial planning software and products still has further room for improvement as advisers rely on technology to substantially benefit their businesses, a research industry expert said.
“The biggest area of dissatisfaction for them at the moment is still integration,” Investment Trends principal Mark Johnston told delegates at the 12th Annual Wraps, Platforms and Masterfunds Conference yesterday.
“They’re after electronic signatures, better pre-populating platform application forms and they still want more hybrid solutions, something that combines what my platform does to what my planning software does.”
According to the Investment Trends April 2012 Planner Business Model Report, 77 per cent of advisers want more streamlined electronic transactions from their platform.
In addition, 48 per cent of advisers want platforms to feed data to and from their planning software, while 40 per cent of advisers want their platform to have integration with insurance products.
Johnston said these trends were strongly continuing, thus platform providers must start thinking of how to address them.
The report found the lowest areas of satisfaction were the ease of transferring data to and from planning software into the platform, timeliness of tax reports, practice management reporting tools, online functionality for clients and client review tools.
Despite the watering down of the Future of Financial Advice’s (FOFA) opt-in requirement, there remains a strong demand for platform tools to help manage opt-in, Johnston said.
“[When it came to] what tools advisers need from platforms specifically to help them deal with the FOFA reforms, the number one thing they need help from the platform is administering opt-in,” he said.
“Whether it’s through opt-in or forcing really clear disclosure fees, planners are very aware that client relationships are at risk and in order to be able to keep them they want platforms to help do that.”
However, only 17 per cent of advisers felt that their current system was adequate to manage the process around opt-in.
Johnston said the platform market was showing rapid consolidation in the number of systems advisers use.
“There’s also been very high churn levels for the last few years; advisers are very willing to dump platforms that aren’t performing quickly and the big drivers of that tend to be around price and newer [products entering the market],” he said.
