Tech-savvy advice firms continue to outperform their peers, according to intelliflo’s eAdviser Index
intelliflo, the cloud-based technology platform for financial advisers, has reported the results from its latest eAdviser Index, which found advice firms maximising their use of intelliflo office were able to service more clients, attract more assets and generate more revenue than those not yet adopting the technology to its full potential.
Intelliflo writes that its eAdviser Index represents 40 per cent of the UK financial advice industry and is one of the largest and most comprehensive industry analysis on tech adoption.
intelliflo’s eAdviser Index collates data from the intelliflo office userbase to determine whether there is a correlation between an advice firm’s level of technology adoption and its business performance. By analysing nearly four billion clicks through intelliflo office over the last year, intelliflo scored and segmented advice firms based on their level of tech adoption. Firms were segmented into four cohorts based on their eAdviser scores: Explorers (firms yet to realise the full potential of technology), Adopters, Embracersand Champions (firms adopting technology to its fullest potential).
intelliflo’s analysis revealed that technology adoption is leading to greater business performance, the firm says. Advice firms in the top technology adoption group, Champions, generate on average 44 per cent more revenue per adviser compared to the lowest adoption group, Explorers. Not only are the highest adopters generating more revenue, but tech Championsare generating 59 per cent more ongoing revenue per adviser than Explorers, the firm says.
There is also a general correlation in more assets under advice and higher eAdviser Index scores as Champions have 48 per cent more assets under advice per adviser than Explorers. Champions also have 28 per cent more clients per adviser than Explorers.
The Index highlights that tech adoption continues to be on the rise across the advice profession, the firm says. After reporting a 57 per cent surge in tech-savvy Champions between 2019 and 2020, the latest data shows that this trajectory is continuing. intelliflo’s latest eAdviser Index reveals that between 2020 and 2021, Champions increased by 79 per cent. Embracers also grew by 7 per cent as advice firms become more sophisticated in their use of technology.
Nick Eatock, CEO of intelliflo, says: “Adopting technology to its full potential is a big step to closing the affordable advice gap by enabling advisers to service more clients and at a lower cost. This year’s eAdviser Index demonstrates again that adopting intelliflo office to its full potential can have a fundamental impact on advice firm’s revenue and number of clients advised. Yet we still find that some advisers adopt as little as a tenth of the technology they have at their fingertips.”
Richard Wake, UK Head of intelliflo, says: “For firms at the start of their technology journey, investing the time to learn, understand and embed intelliflo office into their own processes and systems will enable them to reap the benefits. We provide interactive help within the technology so customers can learn ‘in the flow of work’, as well as digital courses and regular webinars on key topics to ensure our customers have a good understanding of new functionality or the recommended way to complete a process. We believe passionately in financial advice and our mission is to make advisers more efficient and effective.”
Chirine Harb, Head of Operations at Capital Asset Management says: “The need for advice has become even greater as people’s finances have been impacted during the covid crisis and the ability to service more clients per adviser will go a long way towards closing the much-reported advice gap. By investing in technology and firmly embedding it into processes and systems, firms can provide advice to a broader range of people, delivering long-term profitability to the business alongside long-term value to clients. We love how intelliflo office works for our business, mainly because we’ve taken the appropriate amount of time to learn, understand and embed it into our own processes and systems. intelliflo’s open architecture framework and unrivalled integrations provide the frictionless experience that our advisers and their clients need.”