IFA Portals enhances its online offerings
A website provider has revamped its IFA service with new features and tools to make life easier for advisers in the run-up to the retail distribution review, Mark Barry has said.
The managing director for IFA Portals said the new version of the proposition had been structured to help advisers get through RDR by putting client communication at the forefront of their services.
He said: “Regular contact is likely to be a part of most client service agreements, but that contact needs to be simple and efficient to be cost-effective.Delivering information, tools and feeds that clients can rely on is key.”
The platform itself was conceived and built by Mr Barry’s co-director Oliver Phillips, and gives advisers a client-facing website that they can personalise and administer. The new version, Centro, will allow IFAs to send out personalised newsletters, emails and group clients to their service proposition.
It also offers online calculators, links to wrap providers and personalised inquiry forms. IFAs with their own websites will also be able to buy parts of Centro’s managed content, such as calculators, to add on to their own sites, rather than buying the full service.
Mr Barry described the technology as a “half house between back-office and front-office system” and said he wanted to double the number of clients who use the service to more than 1000 in the next 18 months.
Andy Holder, director of West Yorkshire-based JM Glendinning Life & Pensions, said: “We are rebuilding our website to launch probably by the end of the year. We want it to be more interactive and a gateway for business.
“Our network offers website templates, but we’ve gone externally because we need a site that can link to the insurance side of the business.”