Is technology the silver bullet to boosting access to advice? This was the topic of a panel I chaired yesterday at the Money Marketing Interactive conference, where the use of technology was a common thread throughout the day.
Growth rates for US robo advice providers has flattened, according to a cornucopia of stats from Mark Loosmore of Iress. Petronella West from Investment Quorum and Anthony Villers from First Wealth discussed how automation has changed the way they do business — but they don’t foresee a standalone robo proposition.
Indeed, this is where many robo-propositions fall down. There are over 40 robos in Germany with total assets of around €100m. We will no doubt see a (ahem) “system reboot” in the industry.
Financial advisers at the Money Marketing Interactive event argued that technology can help them streamline processes that are less valued by the customer. But they stressed that technology won’t replace the human interaction.
Anthony Villers referred to the need for an “emotional connection” between adviser and client. Richard Goodall from Parmenion talked about how technology can enhance the advice process. Another adviser said that she uses technology to reduce cost but doesn’t expect it to replace advice. She adopts technology where she can, but at the end of the day, clients want to see a person.
Jane Hodges from financial adviser Alexander House advocated a virtual approach. They famously use Skype and digital signatures. But the advice is delivered by a human – it’s just that the human might not be sitting directly across from the client.
Carl Lamb from Almary Green said that he still goes into a client meeting with an A4 pad and a pen. “This may seem old fashioned, but it works.”
A challenge for advisers is that they need to adopt new technology but financial planning is their real job. The test for industry professionals will be how to balance these forces in order to serve customer needs.
At Platforum, we believe that technology is iterative; so how advisors bring it into their business must be iterative as well. Yet the whole point of a silver bullet is that it doesn’t really exist. Still, the fact is that we can use technology to help us do our jobs faster, better, cheaper.
When I asked attendees how many had ever owned a Nokia phone, nearly everyone raised their hands. When I asked who regretted having owned a Nokia phone, no one put up a hand. We use the best technology that is available at a given time and we embrace subsequent iterations. It is natural. The financial advisers who should be worrying are those who refuse to evolve and adopt the available new technologies.