Headlines
- Robo and Digital are very different things.
- The pressures for becoming digital are:
- Operational efficiency.
- Investors are on a journey from Advised to Advised/Robo to Robo.
- Onboarding of clients’ needs to become digital.
- Make sure your technology suits the service your clients want.
- The Robo models that have succeeded have done so by converting existing customers and not in attracting new customers.
- The hybrid models of Robo have been successful and therefore IFAs are ideally positioned should they introduce a digital solution to complement their existing business.
- Parts of the advice process lend themselves to being automated.
- There is no truly digitalised solution in the UK yet.
- A digital experience needs to offer more than just a product.
- It is recognised that there would be a lower cost to providing a digital solution.
- Behaviours are changing.
Key challenges
- When should you make the investment to incorporate more digital into the business?
- Cost of implementation.
- Pain of switching technology, particularly back office systems.
- Trusting that the technology will be relevant in the future.
- How to deliver two types of service.
- The definition of a ‘Digital Solution’ and of ‘Advice’ is not consistent.
Conclusions/Solutions
- If you don’t make a decision to become more digital now, you will get further and further behind the service offered by your peers.
- Look towards modern technology that has good integrations and can support your business in a post RDR world now and in the future.
- Implement technology that can be bespoke to your business.
- Don’t underestimate the importance of DATA and the power of having one truth.
- Digitalisation should be encouraged, it will create efficiencies to improve profits, but also it will enable employees to do the tasks that they enjoy and really make a difference.
- Businesses should be indifferent to their advice offering as long as price and services are appropriately aligned.
- Consideration should be given to providing a digital solution to compliment Advice. Care should be given to how this is introduced to clients.
- We may see the larger providers of Digital Solutions providing white labelled versions to help strategic partners.
Expert: Paul Morley, Intelliflo
Facilitator: Paul Miles, Silverback Consultancy
