New technology has the potential to transform a financial advice business, from giving clients richer information about their goals and progress to helping the practice to lift its revenue, attract new clients and become more efficient.
In my experience though, a technology transition can also prompt feelings of fear and anxiety, particularly if advisers, practice managers and paraplanners are unsure of how the new platform will benefit them or how the switch-over will affect their work. It can also expose flaws in the practice, such as legacy problems with data. I’ve seen this on both sides, as someone who has worked within advice businesses and for technology providers over the past two decades.
With the right plan in place, these concerns can be overcome and practices can find they actually build more trust with their clients by being transparent and painting them a clear picture of how the new technology will help them. Here are five steps to take before transitioning to a new provider to ensure the process runs as smoothly as possible.
1. Bring the team along from day 1
It’s surprisingly common to see directors sign up to a new technology platform without any buy-in from the team. Often, staff then feel unsure about how it will change their work and affect their clients, which results in team members not embracing the process or using the new technology to their full advantage.
Instead, get the team on-board from the very beginning. Ask them what problems they are seeing with the existing technology and what their thoughts are about changing to a new provider. Give them the opportunity to demo the new technology you’re thinking about adopting, so they can see how it may make their lives easier. It’s also important to show them that you’re listening by embracing their ideas. For example, we’ve seen businesses hire extra resources temporarily to take the pressure off the permanent team when it comes to managing manual tasks, such as data entry.
2. Appoint an internal project manager
While you certainly want the whole team to come along for the ride, it’s also important to appoint someone internally to oversee and manage the process within the business.
This central person can keep a running log of any challenges, relay feedback to the provider and keep the team informed about timelines and temporary changes to the practice. Project managers can also keep engagement high and get members of the team excited about the new technology.
3. Have a data migration plan
Data migration can be a sticky point for advice businesses, particularly because practices work across multiple platforms and types of software. Different systems often speak different languages, which can leave a business with unclean data.
We also find businesses often have legacy data, which may not even make sense because it relates to previous insurance commissions or past clients who are no longer on the books.
As a starting point, I recommend comparing the data requirements from the existing system to the new one and then identifying any gaps. Then, try to work through a data cleansing process. As an advice practice, your data is your business, so it’s important that gaps are limited and you are bringing a comprehensive snapshot of your clients along with you to your new technology provider.
4. Manage clients’ expectations early
Advisers sometimes worry their clients will be unimpressed by any disruption to regular processes, so they instead adopt a business-as-usual attitude. However, this can backfire, especially if clients have short notice about changes.
Instead, I suggest being honest with clients about the new technology, how the transition may temporarily take you offline and how they will ultimately benefit when you go live. You may even be able to show them the advantages of the technology with a trial account, so they know you’re working towards something that will improve their overview of their wealth, cashflow and planning. Much like bringing along staff within the business, getting clients excited about the new technology can make the transition a lot easier to manage. They too can become champions of it.
For advisers, we also recommend minimising client meetings during the transitional period to allow more space within the business to adopt the new technology. This can take some additional planning, so again, it’s worth mapping our how you’ll approach this ahead of time
5. Work with the provider to tailor the technology to business goals
Before a new technology transition, you and the provider should be speaking on a regular basis about how the technology will help you achieve your goals. After all, there is no point in adopting a new technology if it can’t help you to make improvements that will make a meaningful difference to the practice and your clients.
The provider should get to know your business, so that they can tailor the solution to your unique needs, while you should learn as much as you can about the technology in the lead-up to embracing it. This may involve reading articles, attending webinars or completing self-learning modules. At intelliflo, we provide customers the option of a trial account , so they can see how it would fit with their client offering.
During the transition, it’s important to speak to the technology provider’s support team about any hurdles or hiccups. Often, there’s either a workaround or a change that can be made to ensure the technology works for your business.
With a bit of forward planning and preparation, the transition to a new technology provider can be stress-free and can start delivering benefits to your business from day 1.
Jovana Djordjevic is the Director of Customer Success at intelliflo. Before joining the international advice technology business, she worked for more than two decades in both advice practices and in the advice technology space.
If you’d like to learn more about intelliflo’s award-winning financial advice technology, book a demo today.
