Financial Planning has traditionally been a people-focused profession but technology is transforming the way that planners engage with clients. Nicola Brittain asked planners to share their views on the future and their tips in the July edition cover feature of Financial Planner Magazine.

With the help of technology, Financial Planning firms have been transformed from paper-based to, if not paper free
then less reliant on paper and increasingly more cloud based. Technology has enabled planners to increase the size of their businesses, deliver services remotely and at different locations, deal with clients with more speed and share increasingly detailed information via online presentations. Similarly, email, client portals and most recently social media have enhanced communication with clients.
Adrian Pickersgill CFPCM from Chatfield Private Client believes Financial Planning firms can no longer function without embracing technology: "Like many other professionals, Financial Planners are now utterly dependent on their systems. If the internet goes down, the entire office goes down," he said.


{desktop}{/desktop}{mobile}{/mobile}

Cash-flow modelling
One technology constant throughout the history of Financial Planning has been cashflow
modelling software and although there are a number of systems on the market many planners say that the main choice for them is between Voyant and Prestwood's Truth.
John Lang CFPCM and owner of Surrey-based Towerhill Associates has used Voyant, which was set up in 2008, for the last three years. Mr Lang said he chose this over Truth because it seemed less complicated. He pays £200 per month: £125 for a one person license and another £75 which allows him to provide clients with internet access to their plans.
He said: "I am a non-technical person and I learnt Voyant from scratch, we were early adopters of the technology and were impressed with its visual aspects, we use it to present to clients via a big screen."
Mr Pickersgill runs a lifestyle practice comprising two planners and moved to Voyant from Truth at the beginning of the year. He said that visually "it is in another league". He added: "It simulates real world events such as stock-market crashes and is actually cheaper than many of the alternatives."

Dhan Sharma CFPCM at Maze Wealth uses the longest established of the two main cashflow planning tools, Truth from Prestwood (an IFP Corporate Member), and has done for eight years. He said: "It is a comprehensive tool that provides the level of detail demanded by our segmented client base. It also provides good quality analysis, by examining assets, income and tax calculations and provides "before and after" analysis recommendations helping clients with "what if" scenarios. It is also cloud based, meaning you can use it remotely and know you are always working on the most up-to-date version."
He added: "We have considered other tools over the years, but are happy with Truth. In my view, Voyant is less detailed." The company pays £300 a month for two licenses.

{desktop}{/desktop}{mobile}{/mobile}
Gemma Davies CFPCM, Financial Planning director at Uniq Family Wealth, also uses Truth, citing the "excellent technical assistance and training from the Prestwood team" as the main reason for staying with the company.
Where the cashflow modelling tool is part of the back-office system a planner can avoid duplication of data entry. Ajmer Somal CFPCM from Aurora Financial Planning has used the True Potential cashflow modelling tool as well as True Potential in the back office for four years and said that one of the main benefits is that the cashflow software pulls fact-find information from the back office automatically and this might not be the case where two different systems are used.
Aside from Truth and Voyant, other cashflow planning tools on the market include Distribution Technology's Dynamic Planner which includes risk profiling and asset allocation tools and Moneyscope, a low-cost alternative that requires less initial financial data than other systems to generate a forecast.





Back office systems

Back-office systems are another big technology element of most Financial Planning firms. They help with record keeping, lead management, fee reconciliation and compliance. There are a number of solutions on the market and

Intelliflo, 1st software (now Iress, a new IFP Corporate Member) and Plum are among the best known. However, a number of planners are sceptical regarding the efficacy of off-the-shelf systems for Financial Planning. Mr Pickersgill said: "There is no perfect back-office system in my view because system providers tend to focus on products rather than holistic planning."

And Mr Lang may echo the feelings of other planners when he said that he feels that many of these systems are over engineered for the purposes of the Financial Planner. He said: "We did use 1st Software, but we were only using a small proportion of the system's capabilities. We have now decided to build our own based on the Zoho CRM system.

"It currently holds client information and we are working on developing a client portal."

He added: "In my view, with all a client's investible assets and the information related to these held on a platform (we use Wealthtime) there is much less need for one of the bigger back office systems than there was 10 years ago." Joseph Kingaby CFPCM at The Fry Group, a company with five offices, said the company has just moved away from a bespoke system to Best Practice's Enable off-the-shelf solution. It has an integrated cashflow modelling tool. Mr Kingaby said: "Enable manages client data and fees. It allows for compliance checks and activity management. Being able to monitor staff activity using the system is a useful tool for a big company like ours."

As mentioned, Mr Somal uses the True Potential system for his back office as well as cashflow modelling and although he is generally happy with the technology, he said: "The system automatically takes a percentage turnover out of our fees; on a good month, this can end up being a big chunk of our profits.

"We are coming up to the end of a four-year contract and plan to keep all our options open."

{desktop}{/desktop}{mobile}{/mobile}

Business support

Online business support is also a burgeoning area for Financial Planners. Ms Davies uses ThreeSixtyServices for online and face to face training of Financial Planners and the professional support team.

Like many other Financial Planners, Ms Davies uses the Institute of Financial Planning's online CPD tool to log professional development training.

As already stated, the complexity of many of the solutions on the market can be daunting and Mr Sharma said for this reason, taking on a new technology is something that must be navigated carefully.

He advises other planners to make sure that any new technology suits their business before buying it. "If you only use 10% of the system it's not working for you," he said.

Ms Davies said that planners should make sure they receive technology training as soon as a new product is purchased. "Failure to receive this will lead to inefficiency and general confusion," she said. "Where possible, technology companies should be asked to provide practical demonstrations immediately."

Mr Kingaby said that planners should be careful to trial technologies before buying them.He explained that the company experienced teething problems following its recent purchase of Best Practice but might have avoided these had the company conducted an initial trial.

Mr Pickersgill said it was essential that a planner makes sure they have investigated the exit route before taking on any new software. "We flirted with Intelliflo last year but found it difficult to get data out of the system.

"The contract features a standard six month tie-in, which would have caused us problems, but fortunately we found a get out clause in the small print," he said.

He added that for the vast majority of Financial Planners, using a tried and tested system, and one recommended by peers is essential. "Being a technology pioneer is a lot of effort. It is more sensible to opt for a known solution," he said.


{desktop}{/desktop}{mobile}{/mobile}
So are there likely to be any new and innovative technologies for Financial Planners coming up?

Founder of Prestwood software Paul Etheridge FIFP, CFPCM thinks that once technology companies have successfully made their services cloud based (Prestwood launched a cloud based system earlier this year) further changes to Financial Planning technology are likely to be smaller in scale and more client focused.

He said: "Financial Planning technology will continue to be refined to make the planning process, with customers at the heart of it, more streamlined.

"As a past member of the PIA rules committee and the FSA small practitioners committee I became very aware of the regulator's goals around making the process ethical and client centred. As a result of the regulators intervention and discussions with the Financial Planning technology industry, new software has been, and will continue to be developed with this in mind."