According to Ian McKenna - director of the Finance & Technology Research Centre, financial advisers are not evolving as fast as they need to in the context of the wider economy.
- Research by comScore has identified that the over 55 age group is now the largest single segment of the UK Internet audience. They also identified that 82 per cent of mobile devices purchased in December 2012 are smartphones, for the over 55’s the figure is 71 per cent. The reality is traditional adviser clients are increasingly using technology.
- Last year the Boston Consulting Group (BGC), arguably the most prestigious consulting firm in the world, identified the UK as having the largest e-commerce economy on the planet when measured as a percentage of GDP.
- BCG projects that by the same measure by 2016 the UK e-commerce economy will be twice the size of that in the average G-20 country.
Whilst adapting to a post RDR business model can reasonably be seen as a major evolution in advisers operating models, if in practice firms fail to adapt to the wider changes that are taking place in society they could leave themselves struggling to compete in the near future.
In reality wealthy people are early adopters of technology and as they increasingly use digital devices to manage their lives is it reasonable to assume they will not expect to use such services with their financial advisers?
If a financial services business sees itself in wind down mode expecting to exit in the next five years it may just still be a viable strategy to not have a comprehensive online service for all your customers. This would, however, severely limit the amount any new owner might be prepared to pay to the exiting principals.
Any organisation looking to continue to operate five years from now should be identifying how they can put in place an extensive online presence that enables them to service all their clients digitally.
The full article from Money Marketing is available here.
Ian McKenna is director of the Finance & Technology Research Centre
