Nick Eatock, founder and executive chairman of technology provider Intelliflo, has come a long way since developing video games in his youth.
Starting his career in computers writing for Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum video game consoles helped fund his way through university, where he studied business accounting.
His affinity with technology first manifested itself when his parents gave him a Sinclair ZX81 home computer at the tender age of 11.
“It was a very simple home computer which came out before desktops,” Mr Eatock recalled. “It did not do very much and had around 16KB of memory, which is probably smaller than the size of a Word document.
“I learned machine codes and started to write stuff on a basic level on these types computers.”
In 2004 Mr Eatock created Intelliflo – a web-based business management system for financial advisers, mortgage advisers, network providers, service providers and those in the enterprise sector.
Its flagship software, Intelligent Office, was created as a software service solution (SaaS), which is hosted by the firm and managed centrally, and can be accessed by a third–party through the internet.
The software was first thought up in 1998 amid the dotcom boom. Advisory firm Inter-Alliance had approached the business software firm Mr Eatock had founded along with two friends to create a bespoke software package designed to streamline the services of an advisory firm.
From humble beginnings, Intelliflo has grown from having 26 day one users to attracting around 12,000 users to date, who in turn deal with 7m end customers, Mr Eatock said.
“Web-based software has not only been accepted but is now recognised as the way forward. When we entered the market in 2004, there were 26 different software suppliers in the marketplace, all of whom – apart from ourselves – were desktop-based. We were very different from anyone else.
Demand for his company’s software has never been higher, according to Mr Eatock, adding that the previous quarter had been the company’s most successful ever for new business.
This is partly due to a post-RDR environment, which has highlighted the benefits of implementing technology to help streamline the advisory process, Mr Eatock added.
Also the recently implemented pension freedoms have opened up a host of opportunities for advisers.
Mr Eatock said: “It is good news for the financial advisory industry. On the flipside, they have to work out how to take advantage of that fantastic opportunity, and some of that is making sure they have world-class technology.”
In a bid to further develop and innovate its offering, Intelliflo has worked with more than 100 firms across the marketplace, the most recent team-up being with financial adviser collaboration suite Voyant.
“Our philosophy is one of openness,” said Mr Eatock. “We believe in working with third-parties that are great at whatever their particular specialism is. It creates the operational efficiency our users need.
“We also listen to our customers. We have something called ‘communities’, which is about allowing our users to put forward ideas on what to include into our Intelligent Office system. Other users can vote for them, and we build the stuff that gets the most votes.”
Intelliflo is set to launch the next version of its personal finance portal in July, according to Mr Eatock. The Personal Finance Portal v2 will allow the end consumer to view their entire portfolio including pensions and investments, as well as short-term aggregation such as bank and credit card transactions, in one place. It will be accessible by smartphone.
“We think it is a really powerful piece of armoury that we are bringing to the financial advisory world,” Mr Eatock said.
Last November Hamish Purdey replaced Mr Eatock as Intelliflo’s chief executive. The latter said: “The business has grown very rapidly and continues to do so. Bringing in Hamish, who is a fantastic and smart guy, has allowed me to focus my time much more on client interaction, and it gives me more bandwidth to look closely at really important stuff for the business.”
It has not all been smooth sailing for Intelliflo. Time and costs are among the rigours of running a Saas business, according to Mr Eatock, who added: “When you are going through the market as innovators, there are no models for you to look at. You have to learn a lot of lessons yourself.”
With the announced closure of the Sesame Financial Adviser School, one of the greatest challenges facing advisers is to ensure that new blood enters the sector.
“It is an issue that we need to address,” said Mr Eatock. “There is a lot talk in community blogs about resurrecting financial adviser training. Someone will have to ensure that the next wave of adviser comes through.”
Outside the office, Mr Eatock’s hobbies include travelling, spending time with his wife and two children, and watching a range of sports.
Nick Eatock’s career ladder
2004-present
Founder and executive chairman,
Intelliflo
1997-1999
Founder,
Eatock Young consultancy
1994-1996
Freelance IT consultant
1991-1993
Freelance screenplay writer
