I sat at a conference back in April and watched as an audience of financial planners was asked, "Are you happy with your current technology set-up?" Zero hands were raised. Since then, the NextWealth team has spent months conducting in-depth interviews and surveying over 480 planners about their technology infrastructure. We believe we've got to the bottom of what they love and will sing the praises of to their peers, and what makes well-mannered professionals get quite sweary.
If I had to distil down everything we've learned into one key takeaway, it would be this: financial planners want technology that is designed for the specific job they do and that facilitates the conversations they want to have with clients.
We've made all this information available in a new directory to help financial planners learn from the successes - and mistakes - of their peers to run more efficient, profitable and sustainable businesses. By shining a light on what's working and what's not, we hope that the directory will also push the industry to adapt and innovate. At launch, the directory had over 1,400 reviews of various components of the adviser technology stack and more are being added every day.
The biggest complaints we hear are about a lack of integration and that there isn't enough focus on tools that help with the actual financial planning process.
Back office systems are the most widely used (88% of our survey respondents have one) but the least loved of all the software categories when we asked users to score their willingness to recommend their system to peers. We think their history has something to do with this. The adviser back office traditionally was for accessing live valuations with providers. Since the advent of platforms, planners could do this direct for themselves via the platform, but what they did need was a CRM system and a central repository for client information within the business. The result has been back offices with CRM systems bolted on, and vice versa, and a legacy of advice businesses with a mish-mash of tech that hasn't be configured for how the business actually works; a "messy ball of string," as one CEO told us.
Cash flow modeling, on the other hand, appears to be winning the technology battle with financial planners, receiving the highest scores based on willingness to recommend. Reviewers praise these tools for facilitating client conversations, and for helping businesses move forward from a product-based approach to goals-based financial planning journey for clients.
Voyant in particular, which has attracted the highest-scoring reviews (4.4/5 at the time of writing), is valued as being absolutely integral to the client conversation. "We couldn't provide our service without it," says one reviewer. Another praised it for being, "An excellent way to interact with clients and engage them in financial planning." "It's easy to use with clients live," says a third.
One of the financial planners I interviewed at length concluded that when technology is good, "it's re-emphasising the power of the human connection and relationship". And that is where cash flow modelling is winning.
Financial planners can review their tech, read peer reviews and compare their options for free at nextwealthdirectory.co.uk.
Julie Best is NextWealth's qualitative researcher and joins the team with 12 years' experience in retail financial services. Julie was formerly head of research at business-to-business publishers Incisive Media and Centaur Media, focusing on the financial adviser space and working closely with clients to deliver insight into this rapidly changing market.
At NextWealth, Julie focuses on broadening and deepening our knowledge of financial advice businesses through structured interviewing and knowledge gathering. Julie also supports the delivery of NextWealth's regular and ad hoc research projects and events.
