by Paul Holland, Managing Director, Webline

Paul Holland, Managing Director, Webline

Owning the very latest all-singing, all-dancing mobile phone appears to have become the 21st century’s version of ‘keeping up with the Jones’s’.

More than two thirds of the British population use a mobile phone whilst I suspect none give any thought to the integration between the mobile phone network operator and the handset manufacturers – without this integration, life would prove very difficult.

Independent advisers by their very nature accept that not every company can be good at everything – tied representatives may of course disagree!

As such it is reasonable to assume that whilst advisers may source their research from one or two providers, they are likely to source their fact-find / back office and quote / submission systems from alternative providers.

Integration between these systems is imperative, particularly for the para-planner or administrator, allowing him / her to efficiently pass information from one system to the other? without the need for re-keying lots of data, with all the room for error this brings.

Integration of such utilities enables the intermediary practice to construct an end-to-end proposition, including the ‘best of the best’, and, importantly, with the tools of the intermediaries’ choosing.

The level of technology integration in an adviser’s office, whether that firm is commission or fee based, is likely to significantly affect the profitability of the business.

Let us consider the day-to-day workings of a new enquiry as it moves from a prospect to a completed piece of new business.

Firstly, the process begins with the fact-find, which have traditionally been conducted on paper. With the use of an electronic information gathering system, administrative time, costs and errors can all be minimised.

If the new enquiry is from an existing client whose details already exist in the back office database, pre-population of the client’s personal and policy details into the fact-find can save considerable time. Many advisers have taken to emailing such information in anticipation of a ‘face to face’ meeting, with some, even receiving returned and updated details before the meeting takes place – again this is very conducive with efficient work practice.

The take up of needs-analysis software has been slow in the past, possibly due to the concern that this can detract from the sales experience of the adviser / client meeting. But, assuming a need for a certain product type has been established, the next step is to import the relevant data into the research utility of your choosing – whether this be a comparative mortgage, life, pension or investment service.

Having configured the user’s ID / access details (for example, within the maintenance menus of ‘Adviser Office’) a simple click on the e-business link from a client record allows selection of the Webline service.

This useful functionality logs the user onto the integrated service automatically and pre-populates the client’s personal details, allowing fast access to the comparative selection of the desired product. Following a few seconds’ delay, a tabulised comparison from the leading providers is then displayed. If the quote is accepted, there is then the opportunity to complete the whole transaction online, with a simple click taking you through to your chosen provider’s new business capability and, again, pre-populated data helping the process.

This completed quotation, personalised illustration and e-submission can then be saved behind the client record to form part of the compliance audit trail - as can a rendered version of the submitted application form. Similar pre-population into the Trigold system allows an intermediary to quickly choose an appropriate mortgage product.

Retaining a compliance audit trail in this way is considerably easier that maintaining paper copies and a vital back-up to help firms comply with the legislative requirements of the FSA or Mortgage code.

Servicing client business requires integration on a grand scale – 1st Software has led the field in this respect with integrated valuation and policy servicing high on the priorities list. Indeed there are more client-specific valuations integrated into the new Adviser Office system than even the ‘big name’ portals .

The ability to short-cut the endless telephone queuing systems implemented by the product providers, and obtain accurate valuation information quickly and easily, is revolutionising the IFA work place. No longer is there a necessity to rely upon the ‘good old’ fax machine to produce an illegible statement to present to your client and no longer is there a need to employ staff whose sole purpose seems to be to wait for a provider call centre to access client information for an update on a bespoke spreadsheet statement.

The technology revolution that is taking place in the intermediary sector is likely to drive the relative successes and failures of the various distribution channels as they evolve under the new regulatory framework. Taking grasp of all the efficiencies which integration provides will not only play a major role in helping cut costs, but also will ultimately lead to the streamlined use of data which is so vital to the healthy valuation of a business.

About Paul

Webline, the UK’s first provider of comparative quotations to Origo standards, was founded in 1995 by Paul Holland, a fully qualified IFA and the managing director of the company. Following a re-write of the system to embrace the Origo XML message standards, Paul and his team have taken the company’s user base to over 1,500. With over 20 years experience in the financial services and technology sectors, Paul has a close understanding of system requirements, a broad understanding of the industry and its needs.