How advice firms can use tech to create efficiencies

Speaking with ifa, Glen Hare, co-founder and financial adviser at Fox & Hare Financial Advice, said his firm is currently moving to a completely new customer relationship management (CRM) platform to improve efficiency on both the adviser and the client side of business.

The first reason for the change, he explained, is to consolidate the number of systems his team is engaging with to minimise process inefficiencies that can inherently come from using a large number of digital systems.

“One is from an internal perspective. It actually enables us to get rid of six or seven other pieces of software that we currently use. So often, firms talk to a tech stack. It’s all well and good having a tech stack but I’m a huge believer in trying to consolidate as much as possible,” Hare said.

“Being across either 20–30 different systems creates inefficiencies, where if we can get rid of seven or eight of those and plug that with one that can do what all of those other software providers can do, that’s a huge advantage.”

The second, he said, is to expand their online service offerings to clients, allowing them to stay more engaged with their portfolio and potentially freeing up advisers’ time by allowing clients to track their progress without having to contact their adviser.

“Rather than them coming to us when they need something, [we’re] creating a front end member portal, a portal where they can access information on call so they can see how their investments are going on an ongoing basis,” Hare said.

“They can see whether they’re on or off track to achieve that property deposit goal. They can also direct message us through the platform if they have any specific questions around their financial position, rather than having to email us or pick up the phone.

“So, it’s not only about being efficient internally. It’s also about being efficient in terms of how we engage with our members.”

Highlighting the necessity of improving advisers’ digital capabilities, Hare said modern clients have come to expect this kind of access from their service providers.

“Think of when you want to find out something about your phone or the gym or any service provider, the last thing you want to do is call somebody,” he said.

“You want to have any information at hand online and that’s challenging to deliver in our space, because there’s so many aspects to what we do, but that is certainly the direction that we’re heading.”

Reaching an audience

Some advisers have begun to utilise technology to provide educational content to help meet the needs of clients who may simply need to improve their financial literacy.

Chief executive and financial adviser at Financial Edge Group, Martin McGrath, said his firm offers a number of free resources to the public in an effort to improve the financial literacy of clients who may not be able to access advice.

“We aim to provide clients who don’t need full advice a free 15–20 minute conversation where we can help give them factual information which may be all they need,” he said.

“We aim to increase the financial education levels of every day Australians through educational videos that we have done for many years and, more recently, through the ‘Retire Right’ podcast that we host and release weekly.”

To help attract new clients, some firms are working to improve their business’ search engine optimisation (SEO) to make them more easily found on a web search.

Verse Wealth CEO Corey Wastle noted how difficult it can be to attract new clients via search engines in place of a client referral.

“In the absence of a recommendation from a family member or friend, consumers find advisers online, generally via Google. When they do, if you’re not on page one, they likely won’t find you,” he said.

“In fact, of those searches, 57 per cent of clicks go to the first three results, and if you’re on page two, you’ll get less than 1 per cent of advice seekers clicking on your website.

“The benefits of being on the first page of Google are pretty clear, but the path to get there isn’t an easy one. Google’s algorithm is based on what users do, not what businesses do.”