Technology adoption rapidly rising, but digital tools won’t replace the adviser

Appearing on a new episode of the ifa Show podcast, financial adviser and co-founder of Plutosoft, Vincent Holland said the COVID-19 pandemic is “probably the biggest event in recent history” in regards to changes to the workforce and how people interact and the advice industry is no exception.

Mr Holland said the changes throughout the pandemic, such as moving to an all-digital capacity and technology adoption, has “shifted the clients”.

“Clients now are a lot more receptive to technology. It's almost become what they expect,” Mr Holland said.

“That's clients of all demographics. It's not just young tech savvy clients. But even in your retiree market, you're seeing a consumer that's much more tech-focused, much more tech-enabled. And sometimes we don't give clients enough credit for that. So I think clients are much more willing to use digital tools to interact with their adviser.”

However despite the growing interest in digital, and recent debate about the role of robo-advice in the industry, Mr Holland said this adoption should not be feared.

“I don't think digital tools are going to replace the adviser. I think that's often been talked about as a threat. I don't think that's going to happen,” he said.

“I think it's more, how can advisers use technology with their clients to make that advice process more seamless and to make sure that they're actually spending time on adding value for the client.”

Mr Holland’s comments come after Investment Trends announced last month that, alongside independent global technology consultancy Finura Group, it will deliver new research into financial services technology.

The three key areas of research will include examining advisers’ evolving technology needs and key platform and planning software trends, a review of recent developments in the Australian technology space and the latest developments in digital technology used to deliver wealth services to Australian retail consumers.

Listen to the full podcast with Mr Holland here.

Neil Griffiths

Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.

Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.