Technology viewpoint: New Year’s Resolutions

Nick Eatock, chief executive officer of IntelliFlo, looks at how advisers can manage their workload more effectively in 2011.

Working smarter, not harder is often one of the most difficult actions to undertake on a daily basis. Undoubtedly, we have all experienced situations where we never seem to complete our daily tasks, as other obstacles seem to get in the way.

Most of us are familiar with the 80/20 rule, when Italian Vilfredo Pareto in 1906 stated that:

“80% of the results come from 20% of the actions you take, while 20% of results are produced by 80% of the actions you take.” This concept is also known as the ‘Vital Few’ and ‘Trivial Many Rule’. So, in essence how do you put this theory into practice and how can we maximise our time?

Undisputedly, technology can be thanked for saving us time and making our working lives more efficient. Technology has progressed at an astonishing rate over the last ten years – indeed it is hard to remember how we communicated prior to email and mobile technology.

In the workplace, most of us rely heavily on computers not just for emails, but for task management, calendar and contacts. Most of us would agree that without access to such software, we would all be a lot less organised and therefore not able to function in the most effective way. In the work environment, this leads to unhappy clients and unprofitable actions.

For financial advisers juggling many activities – such as new clients’ requests, meetings, research, servicing, commissions and MI reporting – inefficient or out-moded technology can cause the financial practice difficulties. This inefficiency is tanta­mount to unprofessionalism and can have huge implications on client service and indeed client retention. We are after all in a recession and so now is certainly not a time to be losing clients. This is when the age-old mantra comes into practice that “it’s easier to keep and build an existing customer relationship than attract a new one.”

Where does the answer lie, and how is it possible to amalgamate these issues into a seamless, end to end solution?

Most financial practices will have some kind of CRM system, varying in complexity, from spreadsheets to full blown solutions with all-encompassing functionality.

However, to reap the full benefits, advisers need to ensure that the system works for them and in the way that they choose to work with their clients. It also needs to be simple to use, with the minimum impact on their organisation, from usability to infrastructure and maintenance costs.

Once in place, a comprehensive technology solution can bring about many time-saving benefits which in turn enables advisers to focus on the most important parts of their business – face-to-face client services and targeting and winning new clients.

A bespoke, web-based technology solution offers advisers functionalities such as valuations, fact finds, access to research tools, email integration, compliance, tasks & diaries and document management. These are all necessary administrative tasks that can be exceptionally time-consuming.

The right technology can free advisers’ time and reduce this administrative burden, thus allowing them to focus on the ever important client-­facing work.

With RDR fast approaching, servicing clients in the most efficient way is vital in order for a business to thrive. To maintain and grow their businesses, advisory practices will need to embrace a time management solution that ensures the highest levels of productivity, service and communication with their clients. If the clients are happy, then this ensures that the advisory practice is both efficient and most importantly, profitable.