Confirmed: Advisers looking to licensees for advicetech guidance
Financial planning practices are looking to their dealer groups to help them navigate the deployment of technology, according to new analysis undertaken by platform provider, Netwealth.
The 2022 Netwealth Advice Tech Report reveals that one in three licensees are helping advice firms who don’t have enough time to sort their way through technology offerings and many others would like their licensees to do more.
As in previous years, the Netwealth research confirmed that financial advice firms which invested in technology were generally more likely to be profitable.
The Netwealth analysis also points to licensees playing a significant role in educating advice firms about technology.
It said that, in terms of selecting vendors, almost half of licensed firms (42.5%) are getting help from the dealer group with due diligence and security assessments of IT providers and in selecting the most suitable IT partner (35.6%).
A further one-third of businesses indicated that their licensee or dealer group is not currently helping in these areas, but they would like them to do so (29.4% and 36.3%).
Implementation often takes time, and one in three licensed firms (31.3%) are getting help in implementing technology (with a further 40.0% wanting this support) and are also getting help in achieving a more integrated technology stack (26.9% with a further 46.3% wanting this).
The Netwealth analysis, based on a survey of 303 advice firms, concluded that ongoing support was key to technology implementation.
“Ongoing support improves usage and the actual success of the implementation, and licensees are stepping up here. Over four in 10 (41.9%) provide ongoing training and support and almost one in three (31.9%) help resolve tech issues.”
Asking your licensee for help with tech is like asking your Mum to fix your WiFi.