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By Ben Goss

Back in the late 1990s, I left my job to found an internet startup. I remember the sense of possibility at that time, the expectation that everything would change. And, 25 years on, so it has proved.

From banking to buying car insurance to planning a holiday, we do everything online, and increasingly on our mobiles. The pace of change has been unprecedented. New digital technologies such as mobile, AI and personalised content have the power to transform your business. Not tomorrow but today.

At Dynamic Planner, we’re focused on harnessing their full potential to scale your success. In the advice industry, we have our own megatrends. Consumer Duty requires ongoing servicing to be delivered to customers in return for ongoing fees. Capital is being invested at unprecedented levels and demand for advice is outstripping supply.

A two-year development. A 20-year dream

According to the FCA, 4 million people received advice in 2022, but 10 million could have benefited from it. We know from our research and conversations with you that you’re bullish about the opportunities. But we also know that there are some material challenges that stand in the way of your ability to create the capacity in your business that makes profitable growth possible.

Heavyweight engagement models that rely on formal ‘advice episodes’, with their accompanying compliance overhead, suck up time for advisers and clients alike. So, at Dynamic Planner we asked ourselves, what if we could change these for you? What if we could remove the blockers and create more capacity for you digitally?

Our latest innovation at Dynamic Planner is designed to help you scale your success with engaging financial planning that is valued by the client, and that is less work for your firm, not more.

We’ve been working on this development for the last two years, but it’s something we’ve dreamt about for 20: the idea of helping you put a financial plan in the palm of the client’s hand.

Your new app by Dynamic Planner

We want to help you enhance your digital provision in a Consumer Duty world and demonstrate the ongoing value of your services. We want to enable you to engage clients via a meaningful digital experience. And we want to create capacity in the advice process, to drive the productivity gains you’re looking for.

We’ve built the digital future of financial planning, Tram, your new app powered by Dynamic Planner.

It’s a clean canvas your business can white label and enables your clients to check that their financial plans are on track. It is somewhere they can feel reassured, supported, and special. They can read regular content which is targeted to them. And they can securely message you.

First thoughts from advisers and clients

During early trials of Tram, what have businesses like yours said? Here’s one adviser: “We’ve been really, really impressed. The app itself is aesthetically pleasing and has a premium feel. And the content is a real USP and sets it apart. It adds to our proposition and provides the client with a great experience.”

Consumers themselves, who have been granted early access, have said of Tram: “Clear, crisp, and simple. My information being available was seamless and easy to get to the point where I could get started. The biometric login was very helpful. Having access to the app means I don’t need to speak to my adviser as often. I can see myself checking this on a weekly basis.”

Exciting, to say the least.

I feel the same possibility now that I did back in the late 1990s. Technology is transforming financial advice and there is so much we can achieve. We look forward to working with you in the year ahead to help you maximise the value of Dynamic Planner, to your business and to your clients. I feel confident that together we can scale your success.

Tram, your new app by Dynamic Planner. Register your interest and as nears launch later this year, we’ll keep you on track with its progress.

Published 5th March

Speaking to over 700 financial planning professionals at the 12th annual Conference for Dynamic Planner, the UK’s leading risk based financial planning system, CEO Ben Goss said: “We live in the most extraordinary of times, the speed of change is unprecedented, and technology is driving this transformation.

“In the advice industry, we have our own megatrends. Consumer Duty requires ongoing servicing to be delivered to customers in return for ongoing fees. Capital is being invested at unprecedented levels and demand for advice outstrips supply in this country. In 2022, four million people received advice– but 10 million people wanted it.*

“We know from our research and conversations with organisations delivering wealth management and financial planning services they’re bullish about the opportunities this presents, but there are material challenges that stand in the way of creating the capacity that makes profitable growth possible. While there are blockers such as variable data quality and time-consuming compliance requirements, we also know that new digital technologies such as mobile, AI and personalised content have the power to transform the financial planning and advice industry – not tomorrow, but today.

“We asked ourselves, how could Dynamic Planner help the advice industry remove these blockers and create more capacity? What can we do to enable our clients to harness their full potential to scale their success? Today we are announcing key areas of innovation that will deliver just that.

“The first is accurate data, we now use the latest ‘low code technology’ in conjunction with continuously deepening integrations that are important to our clients, adding Salesforce, Zoho and Durrell, recently, with more to come. With these new data flows we’re proud to say that our clients delivered annual reviews to over 338,000 households in the last 12 months, and that across the whole of Dynamic Planner users now 80% of advisers produce reviews in 35 minutes or less, 20% complete them in less than five minutes.

“The next key area is ever faster and more accurate automated analysis. In the past year, we’ve introduced the ability to value DFM models in the review process and launched our Single Strategy Mapped service, designed to deepen the accuracy of risk analysis within Dynamic Planner. Today we are launching DFM performance reporting for client reviews. At launch we are providing performance across over 900 DFM portfolios from 53 providers meaning that annual reviews for clients holding DFMs is as efficient as those holding packaged products.

“And to revolutionise the digital customer experience, we are launching Tram™ – keeping your financial plan on track – our latest innovation designed to help organisations scale success with engaging financial planning that is immensely valued by their clients. We’ve been working on this development for the last two years, but it’s something we’ve dreamt about for 20: putting the financial plan in the palm of the hand.

“The Dynamic Planner System now has modules which cover a client dashboard, profiling, reviews, recommendations, cash flow planning, research and suitability as well as added deep capabilities in firm administration, MI and target market configuration integrated into the most widely used platforms and practice management systems.

“We’re leading the way with R&D spend in the financial planning space and as a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner we’re making use of the technologies in Microsoft Azure, including OpenAI, to innovate for the future. We’re curious about the possibilities for AI and hyper-personalised content in financial planning and we’ve taken the first steps on that journey.

“I feel the same sense of possibility today that I did in the late 90s as the Internet emerged. Technology is transforming financial advice and there is so much we can achieve. We want to help advice organisations to digitise in a Consumer Duty world and demonstrate the ongoing value of services. We want to enable firms to engage clients via a meaningful digital experience so they can attract their next generation. And we want to create capacity in the advice process to drive the productivity gains they are looking for. We’ve built the digital future of financial planning for the advice industry to use today.”

Published 5th March

Dynamic Planner, the UK’s leading risk-based financial planning system, has launched ‘Tram’, a brand-new digital engagement app white labelled to financial planning organisations and designed to keep customers engaged with their financial plan like never before.

Powered by Dynamic Planner, Tram – keeping your financial plan on track – does the following:

  1. Helps firms meet the needs of Consumer Duty and deliver ongoing value to support their ongoing service and fees;
  2. Delivers meaningful digital engagement which appeals not just to existing clients but also to the next generation of a firm’s clients and;
  3. Creates capacity for firms so that they can grow and scale their business.

Uniquely Tram tracks clients’ progress against their financial plan, goals and agreed risk level, provides daily valuations and delivers personalised content aligned to their target market. In line with Consumer Duty it places the outcomes the customer is looking for at the centre of the service. It is available for both Apple and Android phones. Tram offers end clients true digital engagement and is designed to ensure they feel special, gain reassurance from their adviser and want to return regularly to the app.

Ben Goss, CEO, Dynamic Planner said: “We have been working on the development of Tram for two years, but it is something I have dreamt of bringing to life since founding Dynamic Planner. The idea of putting the financial plan in the palm of your client’s hand so they can keep track and you can deliver value 24/7 – but with low marginal cost – is transformational.

“Transformational for your clients and their access to your help and advice, but also in terms of the cost to serve clients and the capacity it can put back into your business. With Consumer Duty shining a spotlight on adviser ongoing charges and demonstration of value, creating capacity in the financial advice process in order to scale is paramount. Tram will offer valuable time and efficiency advantages at scale to advisers, as well as an enhanced ability to attract and retain the next generation of clients.”

Tram harnesses the API technology on which the Dynamic Planner digital planning and advice platform is built and also takes advantage of the multiple integrations in place between the Dynamic Planner platform and relevant CRM/practice management systems, platforms providers, custodians and asset managers. It is white labelled so that advice firms can align the look and feel with their own brand, offering clients a seamless experience.

Ben Goss continued: “The world is now mobile led and financial services is consumed more than ever via apps. We’ve invested heavily in the UI to ensure that Tram is every bit as slick and appealing as the best of any apps already on your client’s phone. We have also blended our expertise around best practice behavioural finance with best practice design, creating an app clients will want to come back to.

“Tram literally puts you, the adviser, in the client’s pocket – it will strengthen the partnership between adviser and client, and powered by Dynamic Planner’s technology, it will drive the future of digital financial planning and advice.”

Tram is currently live with a number of advice organisations, with Dynamic Planner opening up usage to a wider group of early adopters post its annual conference.

Dynamic Planner, the UK’s leading risk based financial planning system, has boosted its data analytics offering with two Data Engineer appointments.

Saranya Vadrevu and Rohan Nandi have joined Dynamic Planner’s Data and Analytics Team led by Business Intelligence Manager, Abhishek Vethanayagam. Together they will drive data-led decision making and provide advanced analytics solutions across strategic initiatives. Saranya will lead the development of data services for advice firms, and Rohan will lead the development of data services for asset managers.

Abhishek Vethanayagam, Business Intelligence Manager at Dynamic Planner said: “With a wealth of experience in data engineering, machine learning, and prescriptive analytics, Saranya and Rohan will enable Dynamic Planner to harness the power of data to support strategic decision-making, optimise processes and drive business growth through the development of data services for the industry.

“This year will see us supporting advice firms and asset managers with key Business Intelligence and Management Information, as well as beginning to explore how AI can be incorporated to drive innovation. Rohan and Saranya will play a key role in this and I look forward to moving our plans forward with them.”

Dynamic Planner, the UK’s leading risk based financial planning system, has launched a pioneering approach to single strategy fund mapping.

Available from today, Dynamic Planner’s Single Strategy Mapped Service is designed to assist the advice industry in making the most accurately informed decisions when it comes to single strategy fund selection. The Single Strategy Mapped Service takes single strategy fund selection to the next level, giving advice firms the ability to create diversified portfolios with far greater accuracy, and clearer, more representative risk look-through to ensure suitability.

Through the precise mapping of instrument-level holdings data against Dynamic Planner’s risk factors and Asset Risk Model, Single Strategy Mapped Service provides greater accuracy and efficiency in the use of single strategy funds, and for the first time, with the same rigour as multi asset solutions.

Dynamic Planner achieves this by sourcing single strategy fund holding data directly from fund providers, rather than via third parties at broad asset allocation level, which enables a level of granularity not previously possible. In addition, with the increasing responsibility assigned to fund managers and how their funds are used through regulation such as Consumer Duty and PROD, Dynamic Planner is also able to support the different asset management models that are emerging as a result.

Chris Jones, Chief Proposition Officer at Dynamic Planner said: “As financial markets have evolved and become more complex, we have ensured that we accurately analyse the underlying holdings of the solutions that we risk profile and map them to our risk factors within our trusted Asset Risk Model. Dynamic Planner users who also build advised portfolios have asked for the same level of granularity and we are pleased to be able to support them with the Single Strategy Mapped Service.

“The new service will provide them with a level of granularity not previously possible, greater efficiency and accuracy, and all within one system with a consistent level of risk throughout. However you organise your business and decide to meet the needs of your clients Dynamic Planner can support you.

“From a PROD and Consumer Duty perspective the Single Strategy Mapped Service also enables the fund manager to more simply and clearly communicate whether a fund is intended to be distributed as a solution or part of a portfolio.

“Recent geopolitical events have raised the awareness and importance of things such as duration, cap size and location within a traditional asset class not only amongst our users but also their clients. We hear that being able to view and discuss this using Dynamic Planner has been very helpful with solutions and we are pleased to support single strategy funds in the same way.”

Key Benefits of Single Strategy Mapped Service

The Single Strategy Mapped Service is part of the research journey in Dynamic Planner which continuously evolves to support the needs of users and now includes:

Not a Dynamic Planner user? Schedule a free no-obligation demo with a business consultant and experience the full functionality of Dynamic Planner.

A new low code integration platform now enables your firm to integrate Dynamic Planner with other systems you use to manage your client relationships. Compared to Open API, low code integration provides an even simpler way to integrate technology, managing much of the complexity of mapping your client data.

What does it do?

Initially, Dynamic Planner’s low code integration enables you to create or update client [and their partner’s] details in Dynamic Planner. For example, if you have a CRM system which isn’t integrated to Dynamic Planner, we hope this provides a straightforward way of sending client details to Dynamic Planner, without having to invest too much time building an integration.

Specifically, the integration will check and allow you to match the incoming client details to your clients which already exist in Dynamic Planner, minimising duplication and ensuring Dynamic Planner remains a clean and reliable system of record for your firm. After first creating or matching a client, subsequent information received about that client will be treated as an update, without needing to match again.

What’s the difference between low code and Open API?

Dynamic Planner’s low code integration is built on top of its Open API, extending it to enable users and firms to build integrations with the system faster.

The Open API provides a lower level of control and access to a wider range of data items in Dynamic Planner. However, to create an integration, the system on the other side of the integration has more to do, other than sending data over. The shape of the data in the other system will likely be different to what is required in Dynamic Planner, so mapping will be required.

How does it work?

We’ve deliberately designed Dynamic Planner’s low code integration to have a simple interface. To create or update a client [and if appropriate, their partner] using it, you are presented with a simple set of options:

  1. Login to Dynamic Planner [if you don’t already have an active session]
  2. Confirm your organisation [helpful if you work across advisers / teams)
  3. If it’s the first time Dynamic Planner has seen this client ID, you’ll see potential client matches
  4. If the client is new, you see the data you’re set to add to Dynamic Planner
  5. If the client exists, you see how updated data will update details already in Dynamic Planner
  6. Once import is complete, you’ll be directed to Dynamic Planner and the respective client’s dashboard, where you can continue working

How do we imagine this being used?

Dynamic Planner already has deep integrations with intelliflo office, Iress Xplan and Time4Advice CURO. But there are lots of CRMs out there. Dynamic Planner’s low code integration offers a simple way for firms who use them to begin integrating with Dynamic Planner – without having to invest so much time and effort. As always with integrations, the possibilities are endless. We’re excited to see how Dynamic Planner’s user community adopts and adapts this ability.

Need deeper integration?

We’ve intentionally kept the low code integration simple, to make the ingestion of client data quicker and simpler. If you want to import arrangements, and incomes and expenditures, we suggest looking at Dynamic Planner’s Open API, a more traditional RESTful API which makes more data available. However, you will have to write more code to manage the more sophisticated processes.

What’s next?

Over time, at Dynamic Planner, we plan to expand the low code integration to enable more data to be pushed into Dynamic Planner, and allow different planning processes to be launched automatically.

If you would like to make use of Dynamic Planner’s low code integration, reach out to the team and email us at Integrations@DynamicPlanner.com . We will be happy to support you and provide more details.

In what has been a challenging year from both an economic and regulatory perspective, resilient advice firms are embracing change and looking to the future, reveals new research from Dynamic Planner, the UK’s leading risk based financial planning system.

Published today, Dynamic Planner’s third annual Spotlight Report ‘Resilient and Embracing Opportunity: The financial advice landscape in 2023’, has found that while regulation was cited by 1 in 4 as being the no 1. headache for 2023, firms have shown their mettle, with 9 out of 10 confident they have met the key outcomes of Consumer Duty despite the significant challenges it presented.

Technology has been a key enabler, with 85% of the group, drawn from one of the largest advice communities in the UK – the 6,950 users of Dynamic Planner – saying it has improved their ability to serve clients, and close to three-quarters believing it is also helping them to meet regulatory requirements.

Yasmina Siadatan, Chief Revenue Officer at Dynamic Planner said: “The financial advice industry has embraced technology and its ability to help firms meet regulatory requirements, whilst unlocking productivity gains and deepening client relationships. Advisers were faced with a significant test this year in the form of Consumer Duty – but despite the challenges, the mood is one of resilience and looking to the future.”

Overall, the picture that emerges from this year’s survey is of a thriving industry. Firms continue to increase adviser numbers, and the vast majority of advice professionals are serving more clients than they were three years ago. However, 2023 undeniably brought challenges in the form of a more difficult economic environment and a major regulatory deadline. As a result, the picture is more nuanced than it was in 2022.

Key findings for 2023 include:

Yasmina Siadatan continued: “Overall, despite the economic environment and regulatory shift, the mood is positive, and some of the challenges may be easing as 2023 draws to a close. Although Consumer Duty implementation has not been easy with firms viewing regulation as their biggest headache – they also are confident they have got it right.

“Firms are making significant productivity gains through the use of apps, tools and other new technologies, allowing advisers to service more clients more efficiently. As these efficiencies grow, firms could unlock the ability to service lower-value clients – something they currently identify as too time-consuming for the profits available.”

Download the full Spotlight report.

Dynamic Planner, the UK’s leading risk based financial planning system, has announced a new integration with CURO from Time4Advice.

Advisers using the integration will be able to move clients’ data and reports between CURO and Dynamic Planner efficiently and securely. Once in Dynamic Planner’s single system, all client information and valuation data will automatically pull through to different processes. Room for error is removed and advice firms will be enabled to quickly and accurately provide clients with the information they need, when they need it.

Yasmina Siadatan, Chief Revenue Officer at Dynamic Planner said: “Data, data security and MI are fundamental to the growth of our financial planning partner firms which is why we are committed to our long-term strategy of continuously improving the flow of information to and from Dynamic Planner.

“Today we are delighted to announce our two way integration with CURO, the latest in our growing suite of strategic integration partners, consisting of the major back offices and platform providers. We know we help transform efficiencies of partner firms and look forward to driving further integrations as we build out the Dynamic Planner ecosystem.”

Roland Rawicz-Szczerbo, Founding Director of Time4Advice said: “For too long the disconnected nature of the legacy technologies in common use has frustrated the potential of our industry, creating an advice service that is limited in reach, neglecting the vast majority of people that need, but cannot afford, quality financial advice. Leveraging modern, enterprise grade technology, Time4Advice’s integration of CURO with Dynamic Planner is the first step in the delivery of a fully integrated ecosystem for financial advisers. We are all about challenging the inefficiencies manifest in today’s outdated technologies and look forward to working with Dynamic Planner and our other strategic technology partners to drive change in an industry that desperately needs it.”

This latest integration is the continuation of Dynamic Planner’s commitment to solving industry wide inefficiencies, a strategy at the heart of the firm’s vision.

Not a Dynamic Planner user? Schedule a free no-obligation demo with a business consultant and experience the full functionality of Dynamic Planner.

Dynamic Planner has launched Product and Platform Research, ‘fit for the future tech’ which gives advisers the ability to research investment and retirement products, whilst meeting the evolving needs of clients and regulation.

Part of Dynamic Planner as standard, Product and Platform Research is available to Dynamic Planner users from today and comes with all the benefits of working seamlessly within one system, avoiding the risks of re-keying and miscalibration.

The technology powering Dynamic Planner’s Product and Platform Research is designed in line with PROD and Consumer Duty regulatory requirements, putting clients at the heart of the process, and has data sourced direct from providers across the UK market. It simplifies what can be a vast task, enabling advisers to quickly identify those features that can lead to good client outcomes.

Rather than ‘scoring’ products or providers by the number of features, Dynamic Planner’s Product and Platform Research empowers the adviser with all the information necessary to determine which matches the need and preferences of the consumer. Selection criteria and research can be saved and matched to a firm’s target market. At a firm level, advisers can manage their centralised propositions, segmenting clients into defined target markets and tying product research to them.

Chris Jones, Proposition Director at Dynamic Planner said: “The world of financial planning and regulation has evolved more than ever this century. Yet in the area of research, firms have been stuck with technology of the past, faced with as many as 300 product features and the challenge of matching and explaining them to a client. We asked advice firms what we could do to help them navigate this maze of features. They told us they wanted clarity over complexity, a simplified process and something different to what they had used before.

“Working from a blank canvas, we have been able to create technology that is fit for now and the future, and guided by PROD and Consumer Duty. Dynamic Planner’s Product and Platform Research puts clients at its heart, simplifying the process and efficiently highlighting product features which can be demonstrated to lead to good client outcomes. It provides an unblinkered view of the market with all information, sourced directly from providers.

“We’ve gone even further to meet the needs of the financial planning process and built the ability to segment clients into defined target markets, tying product research to them to consistently deliver good outcomes. Along with potential cost savings, it has the key benefit of being part of Dynamic Planner’s one system, enabling firms to save time, money and work seamlessly in one place.”

Not a Dynamic Planner user? Schedule a free no-obligation demo with a business consultant and experience the full functionality of Dynamic Planner.

By Josh Knight, Head of Product

It has been a busy spring at Dynamic Planner. We have several, exciting new product features to help make your advice process even more efficient and engaging for your clients.

Notably, we launched our new Client Access feature. This allows you to capture responses to the client profiling questionnaires directly from the client before your meetings. You might have used the earlier version of this in the old version of Dynamic Planner. It quickly gained a lot of attention during Covid and lockdowns in the past two years.

The new version of this feature has even more flexibility to help you integrate it into your advice process. You can find out more about it.

1. Get a link rather than email

By default, Dynamic Planner will send out an email to the client containing the link; one less thing for you to worry about. But we know that the personal touch can be preferable and you may already be sending an email to your client with prep work ahead of a meeting.

In instances like that, you can simply get the link from Dynamic Planner, without it being sent out. Copy and paste it into your own email, and you are good to go.

2. Brand the client screens for your firm

For some clients, using Client Access might be one of their first interactions with your firm, certainly in a digital environment. Presenting your brand across all your touchpoints is important and helps reassure clients.

To help here, you can easily customise the Client Access screens with your firm’s logo and main brand colour. You can have any colour, as long as it’s hexadecimal. You can tweak colours and upload your logo on the Client Access settings page.

3. Take personalisation to the next level. Add your profile photo

While branding is applied at a firm level, to help your clients know that the request has come from you, you can also upload your profile photo to Dynamic Planner on your account settings page. Once uploaded, the Client Access screens will show your profile photo.

4. Set the defaults to match your process

The new Client Access tool allows you to capture responses to each of the four client profiling questionnaires in Dynamic Planner. We have, for reference, got further enhancements on the way to allow you to capture even more information from your client, but we will save that for a future blog post.

For now, you can choose any combination of the four questionnaires [experience, attitude to risk, capacity and sustainability] you would like the client to complete. For example, if you typically only ask a client to complete the experience questionnaire as part of initial onboarding, you can untick it by default, and then turn it back on as and when required. You can set the default questionnaires via the Client Access settings.

5. Edit the words to seamlessly integrate into your process

To ensure that your digital engagement seamlessly dovetails with your other methods of client engagement, you can set the wording used throughout the process.

You can set the default wording on the email that is sent out (e.g., if you wish to refer to some other emails or correspondence that are typically sent out). We’ve given you an easy-to-use editor that provides simple formatting and the inclusion of key data items.

You can tweak the wording used in the client journey as well. You can include links as well as formatting.

If you use a diary management / appointment booking system (like Calendly or Office 365 Bookings app), you could include a link for the client to book their appointment with you in the final step of the process. As with theming and default questionnaires, you can tweak these options via the Client Access settings.

If you come up with any creative uses for Client Access, please let us know. And as always, if you need any help or just want to chat about the new features, please do reach out to the Client Success team, who are always available to support you in your use of Dynamic Planner.