Intelliflo will use the investment from its new owner Invesco to bring into reality more of what advisers want.
Nick Eatock, executive chairman of Intelliflo, said the back office technology provider has an ideas portal which allows advisers to make suggestions for changes to the services it runs.
He said: "One of the first things we will do is accelerate that development. We have done pretty well so far but we are really going to turbocharge it."
Mr Eatock said he was not in a position to give an exact quantum for how much more investment Intelliflo would receive following the deal but he said it was "significant".
An example Mr Eatock gave of the developments Intelliflo is working on which would be accelerated by the investment was a "gamified fact find".
Gamification is the concept of applying game mechanics and game design techniques to other spheres to make them more engaging.
Earlier today (6 June) Invesco announced it had bought Intelliflo from its private equity owner HgCapital for an undisclosed amount.
Intelliflo, which offers the Intelligent Office software platform to advisers across the sector, provides its services to around 30 per cent of UK financial advisers.
Mr Eatock reassured advisers who already use Intelliflo's technology that they would not notice any immediate changes.
He said: "From their perspective I think they will think it is the same as usual but hopefully they will see the benefits pretty quickly."
As well as the extra investment, Mr Eatock said the acquisition would help Intelliflo expand its services around the globe, though he could not yet say which countries the company was looking at expanding into.
He said: "We have always had expressions of interest from advisers across the globe to use our technology and about a year and a half ago they accelerated quite dramatically which meant we started kicking off an investigation into which geographies might be best.
"We are very close to finalising that now but it was important for us to get this new owner to help allow us to do that. It is something that is really important to them too."
Ian McKenna, managing director of F&TRC and founder of DigitalWealthInsights.com, said the acquisition of Intelliflo by Invesco provides welcome comfort for Intelliflo customers, their business partners and their staff.
He said: "The market has been aware that Intelliflo has been going through a process for some time, which always brings inevitable questions. The business has grown substantially during the period that HgCapital were investors, however they were coming to the end of their natural investment cycle.
“Large customers will be reassured that the firm has not been snapped up by another major financial advice firm and as a global investment provider Invesco is a relatively benign new owner. The deal parallels ownership of Focus Solutions by Standard Life Aberdeen and Plum by Parmenion as well as Schroders’ investment in Benchmark Capital which includes the Creative Technology adviser software system. All of these have benefited from significant investment since these deals were done.
“Invesco’s track record in allowing their Jemstep acquisition to continue to operate independently demonstrates that Intelliflo can be expected to continue as an open architecture solution facilitating the delivery of 21st Century financial products to consumers via their financial advisers. The new owners’ commitment to substantial additional investment in the business is also a very positive sign.
“This deal appears to be that rare situation where the deal is good for everyone, even Intelliflo’s competition, as the deal will drive up the appetite of other institutions for key significant adviser technology players.”
damian.fantato@ft.com
