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.”
