Tech Review: JCS

The recent JCS relaunch has gained a significant amount of attention.

JCS is a brand name that almost disappeared from the technology horizon in recent years. Looking back ten or even 20 years ago, it had far more prominence as an IFA tool that supported the back office functions of the IFA. In the past few months it has emerged once more and readers may well have seen a strange World War II pilot jumping out of the screen on the leading financial services websites (like IFAonline) declaring that JCS is ‘Jolly Clever Software’.

More than just a rebrand

However, the raised profile is more than a simple rebrand, as the JCS team has rewritten the product from the ground up and extended it significantly to include a Cashflow Planning tool, too.

The rewrite is not yet complete but we have already seen the first two modules come to market – Adviser Essential and Adviser Lifestyle. JCS is planning to release Adviser Professional and Adviser Elite later this year.

Adviser Essential is its entry-level suite of products with three core modules:-

● Administration (effectively manage your client, policy administration and core back-office requirements)
● Profiler (produces financial profile reports)
● What if? (looks at hypothetical financial scenarios to help with the decision making process)

When released, Adviser Professional will add e-commissions and e-valuations and publish information to the internet.

Adviser Lifestyle is their cashflow planning tool and Adviser Elite will bundle all these products together in a single commercial package.

Adviser Essential is a credible tool that meets the demands of most IFA firms. It has a client factfind which can be operated as a full financial planning factfind or as a filtered factfind according to the client’s priorities. Shortly, the factfind is being made available as an online system so the client can complete it remotely and will also be made to work with the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and Google Android devices. It supports contact management and management reporting. It also provides RMAR data for submission to the FSA, a function that our recent survey of Practice Management systems showed some bigger systems currently don’t address.

It also has contract enquiry and e-commission links to several product providers and while they don’t have the reach of Adviser Office or IntelliFlo in this area they have significantly more links in place than some of the newer system. They include links to 21 providers, a list that is growing on a monthly basis.

Remote updates

When Adviser Professional is released in the autumn it will provide the ability to expose the portfolio management screens to a website, allowing clients to view their portfolios and requests valuation updates remotely and at their convenience.

As you would expect, the system also has diary functionality, to-do lists, letter creation capability and a document register. It includes a Snapshot facility that can be used during the factfind process to store a copy of the factfind at any point providing an audit trail of interaction and completion. Should the distributor want a more comprehensive document management system, JCS has integrated with both the Lindenhouse Inview and Watermark Volume systems.

The word processor used is Microsoft Word, which requires an additional licence but avoids compatibility problems and font restrictions that other proprietary systems sometimes experience.

The system is clearly designed for power-users that will work on the system on a daily basis. It has considerable functionality but this breadth of functionality may make it harder for more casual users to navigate around.

Adviser Lifestyle

The biggest change for JCS has been the launch of Adviser Lifestyle and its Cashflow Planning system. We have written several articles on financial planning tools recently and a recurring theme has been the need to provide an integrated solution. Data collected in a factfind or in the back office should be brought seamlessly together across to the planning system. There should be no need to rekey data in this day and age.

Many JCS users have previously invested in cashflow planning solutions such as Truth or PlanLabs but have been left with the need to rekey information in each system. The launch of Adviser Lifestyle aims to remove this unnecessary duplicate effort. The system appears well designed with all variables controlled centrally across all need areas in a clear, easy to use manner. However, JCS is not yet proven in this space and from our brief demonstration of this functionality we are unable to comment on the robustness of their financial logic, but we whole heartedly support the underlying principles that have led to the development of Adviser Lifestyle.

JCS has a loyal client basis to which it can upsell its new modules and it currently supplies 300 firms with a total of 1,400 users.

Adviser Essential is priced with an initial licence of £170, with the next 4 licences at £47 and subsequent licences at £36 per month.

Adviser Lifestyle has an initial licence at £150, with the next 4 licences at £75 and subsequent licences at £55 per month.

The pricing is quite aggressive for mid-sized firms but is at the top end for smaller firms, however it should be noted that the pricing is for concurrent licences which may save firms a reasonable amount of money (again more of a benefit for mid-sized companies).

Product extension

The JCS relaunch has gained significant attention and deservedly so. It is not just about a rebrand but a rewrite and extension of their product. The financial planning solution is unproven but the logic of combining a cashflow planning tool and back-office tool together is undeniable. We will be keeping an eye on the JCS proposition to monitor its take up in the market.