Social media the next phase of planning software

Speaking ahead of the group’s national roadshow, which runs from 17 September to 8 October, Midwinter managing director Julian Plummer told ifa the move from Midwinter’s desktop Reasonable Basis software to the cloud-based AdviceOS would incorporate far greater social platform accessibility.

Mr Plummer pointed to the recent Investment Trends Planner Technology Report, which found four in five planners use smart phones or tablet devices and the use of iPads has doubled from 21 per cent to 38 per cent in the past year. The report also found more than two third use social media to some extent, with LinkedIn and Facebook usage among planners on the rise.

“We’ve made it so an adviser can look into AdviceOS and can configure it to read their LinkedIn account and import their contacts to the CMS and data mine it, [for example] search by age, gender, or occupation. That’s all integrated within AdviceOS,” Mr Plummer said.

“It will let you segment your clients more easily as well. You can split clients up based on various criteria, so you can segment your clients easier using social media.”

Advisers will also be able to help populate a fact find from LinkedIn, he added.

He said the roadshow had crossed 1,100 registrations and is aimed at advisers “who are interested in how their peers are tackling fee disclosure statements, data mining, scaled advice, client engagement, social media, scaled and complex product & strategy advice modelling.”