Digital transformation is driving growth within the UK financial advice market, according to research from FE Fundinfo.
The 2022 Financial Adviser survey found that quicker adoption of and greater investment in new technology is driving efficiencies, allowing advisers to simplify the advice journey for clients.
More than 70% of advisers said they increased their spend over the last year to increase business efficiency, while 41% said they introduced new technology to support remote working. More than a third (35%) said they had specifically introduced new technologies to meet client demand.
The research found that cashflow planning tools were the most common technology with 45% of advisers directing their investment towards this service. This was followed by improvements to client portals (30%), risk profiling tools (24%) and investment research (23%).
However, the data and technology group said that while digitalisation was on the rise, advisers still faced a host of challenges, including a lack of integration between existing products and services, the cost of implementation and finding the right software to complement existing technology.
Advisers were also concerned about data theft, online security, and not losing the personal touch with clients.
Oli Greenspan, adviser sales director at FE fundinfo, said: “The last couple of years presented a unique opportunity for advisers to take on an active view of their tech stacks. For many, it would have become fairly obvious throughout the period of remote and home working where gaps in their technology stack existed and these would have most likely been addressed throughout the course of the pandemic.
“What we can see clearly though is that an industry which was perhaps unfairly seen as late adopters to digitisation is not only recognising but seizing the opportunities presented by a growing range of hardware and software which are bringing greater efficiencies across the board. While the research shows there is still much to be done in bridging existing gaps by service providers and technology enablers, advisers are all too ready and able to invest in technology which will aid their business when it becomes available.”
[Main image: arlington-research-Kz8nHVg_tGI-unsplash]
