Taking IT head on

Even for IFAs used to rapid technological change, the past year or so has been unprecedented. At times the changes have been unsettling, but not unwelcome for advisers who see IT as playing a central role in their future success.

The adviser sector is linked more than anything by a common aim to elevate its professional status. Technology providers have been responding to this need, offering solutions designed to help move the industry forward.

Advisers'technological requirements encompass broadly two aims: to achieve a more streamlined advice process and to articulate their skills through a full and seamless integration of information resources. Simply, but importantly, this is expected to add to the value of professional advice.

However, some advisers seem to value their own evolutionary take on technology for their businesses. They select the products and services considered most familiar, reliable and cost-effective, with little forward thinking.

Causes have been well documented. A 2006 e-adviser survey noted that there is extensive daily use (40%) of quotation services, extranets, portals and research services, but little else. Poor product coverage, reliability and difficulty of use compared with paper-based methods were reasons cited by advisers.

Mixed reactions

The bulk of IFA front and back office systems in use originated a decade or more ago and for a very different market from that of today. Piecemeal improvements and extended applications have continued to be the norm for a great number of firms whose systems have been expected to accommodate a mixed bag of challenging business issues: consolidation, regulation, competition.

Steve Pearson, Swift Solutions'director at Sirius, outlines the typical evolution of the average adviser system. "The core system, once installed, almost immediately invited enhancements," said Pearson. " The simple data storage functions of the back office migrated steadily to front office/point of sale applications to develop the efficient use of information in the service area. Here, today's adviser will be concerned to include a number of research and planning tools in his armoury in addition to effective quotation engines. Just how well the technology works will depend upon the type and level of integration chosen. Many smaller firms can be selective over their requirements".

In the past, selectivity has been more a practical consideration than sheer pernicketiness. "The market servicing IFAs has been over many years something of a large cottage industry numbering scores of small suppliers," says Graham Coxell, business and commercial development director at Capita Financial Services. "This has led in places to an adviser firm employing a dozen or more different systems to process business, with little or no integration which could provide audit trails, for instance".