AdviceTech Podcast #49 – Asendium Update – Transcript

Peita Diamantidis
Hello, and welcome to the Ensombl AdviceTech Podcast. I’m Peita Diamantidis. And this week, we’re kicking off the first of our new AdviceTech sequel episodes. That’s right folks sequels are in we’re going to be bringing back a previous guest on the show, to get an update on new features, enhancements and all the other exciting things they’ve been up to, since we last heard from them. Here today to keep us up to date on all things Asendium is, well actually a veritable posse of individuals, as we have three guests on the show for the very first time. Thank you so much for joining me on the show. Scott Miller, Bryan Leibbrandt, and Leigh frost. Thank you. Thank you. You’re all very welcome. So, Scott, you privileged, you joined us on episode 24? Would you believe we’re at let me take a look episode 49. Now, so it was just a little bit a little while ago. And you might remember when we had that previous interview, we got to know you at the beginning of the interview a little bit better through your use of technology. Now, we can’t be so prosaic has asked you the same questions. So I’ve had to come up with different questions so we can get to know you just that little bit better. Let’s start with you’re a tech guy. If someone came up to you, or a member of your team came up to you and offered to build an AI buddy just for you, what task would you want it to magically do for you?

Scott Miller
I’ve seen this a lot on Pinterest lately, they actually have developed robotic arms that operates with AI, and you can actually program it to cook meals. So we can actually cook you over 100 different meals at home with this setup. So I would actually ask them to find a croons friendly program that programmed into that AI chef so that I can have nice safe meals at home. Pets are fantastic

Peita Diamantidis
it there’s something quite satisfying with having a glass of wine or champagne or watching somebody else cook. Like that’s quite a pleasant experience. I’m right there with you. I love that as an ID. Now, the second question not, we all know that not all new tech is good tech. Right? It’s not always a good idea. Is there a more analog version of technology that you actually still prefer?

Scott Miller
It would have to be books. So I love a hardcover book. I don’t like reading on the Kindle on on Apple bookstore. I prefer a hardcover book. I feel like I digested a lot more. So that’s something I don’t think I’ll ever move away into the digital environment. In that respect.

Peita Diamantidis
Yeah, look, I’m halfway now I actually read books on my Kindle. And then if I really love them, I buy them. So I satisfy my speed reading needs. And also my hoarding needs. Both get covered. Fantastic. Alright, let’s dive into a send him shall we? So for those who haven’t listened to our previous interview, and once again, I would encourage you listener. If you don’t know a send him through our previous discussion, then please head to Episode 24. But just in case they haven’t Scott, can you just tell us the broad category you guys sit in? You know, in terms of what Asendium does and provides?

Scott Miller
Yeah, of course. So the first thing we always get asked is are we a CRM? The answer is no. We are CRM agnostic. Now what I mean by that is sendio can be used alongside any existing CRM. But we are also to wait integrated to x plan. Now when you use a Sandy, Sandy and falls into the category of a point in time solution for when you create financial advice so that that time when you sit down the clients going, Yes, I need advice. He jumped into the snd. In fact, fine, do the research or send him with our partners product Brexit Omnium and then produce the SOA and supporting documents through zendium. And we can send that back to any integrated CRM. Or you can simply export it to your desired CRM. So that’s when you use us.

Peita Diamantidis
Okay, so not just document production. It’s also the creation of the advice, the discovery of the advice for want of a better description, and

Scott Miller
to see the process of creating advice, which is where we live. Because as a planner, that’s always the most time consuming and challenging parts. So being able to automate that as many manual functions as possible so that you can produce advice in as little as two hours.

Peita Diamantidis
Fantastic. All right. So then, you know, moving into the future, and once again, folks, go back and listen that other episode, if you want to hear about all the details, we’re going to be plowing forward into exciting projects. You’ve been busy, as evidenced by the two gentlemen joining us here on the podcast. Now, as I understand it, you know, Brian’s here from LML Insurance Group, please join us from the community broke broken network. Scott, can you give us the headline of what you three have been up to what trouble Have you been causing and what’s the exciting project you’ve been working on?

Scott Miller
Yeah, so about six months ago, we were introduced to Bryan. So Bryan’s very forward thinking, like ourselves, and then we’re introduced To lay and we can see where they’re both going. Now, one of the challenges in this industry is obviously PII insurance. And it’s really hard for a PII insurer to go, you know what, you’re safer if you do this, you’re better and more defensible if you do this. And so, over 20 years in this industry, most people are moving towards technology. And so if advice has been created in technology, shouldn’t the technology be aligning themselves with a pie insurer to actually go? What can we do to help in the overall aspect of advice. And so we’ve been blessed to be working with Brian and Lee and the insurer to actually look through Sandy and lift the hood, understand the dynamics of licensee setups, challenges of planners and actually come to an arrangement where if you’re actually utilizing the zendium, for that advice, production, it can actually benefit you from a professional indemnity insurance premium level. So I want to pass that over to Bryan and lead a talk on because they really excel it. But the goal for me was to go okay, well, ascending will help the planner with their advice needs will help the licensee reduce in their compliance needs through our statement, digital advice system, managing that. And now we’re partnering with Leigh and Bryan to help with the pie aspect of it.

Peita Diamantidis
So Bryan, what was it that attracted you to the idea originally?

Bryan Leibbrandt
Look, the insurance market at the moment is pretty tough. And we keep we keep seeing premiums increase year on year. The Ascend Diem solution is going to help reduce some of those costs on the PR side and provide affordable advice for financial planners. So for us, as insurance broker, we we excel in finding solutions for clients. And that’s what we do. From a professional indemnity point of view, we’ve seen increases of up to 75%, over the past four or five years, we are seeing some additional capacity come into the market, but pricing is still going up. So it creates some angst for financial planners. And it also some leaves some of them in the lurch where they actually can’t find cover. Yeah. So does it creates difficulty?

Peita Diamantidis
And would you say that, you know, historically I mean, I’m I’m just reflecting on our own experience with this. There’s been it’s like it’s quite a distant relationship really, historically, for PII, right, it’s quite a, it’s a bit like a credit person with a bank where they, you know, they encounter you once they’ve got to absorb a whole lot of information and make a a one off decision. It’s always been like that historically. So I guess that’s where this is quite different is where it’s trying to get a better feel for the operational levers that will make something less or more risky. Is that valid?

Bryan Leibbrandt
Yeah, that’s well, and I look, professional indemnity policies are extremely broad, a very complex as well. And the complexity creates issues will arise when I tried to price because most, in most part, the policies come with retroactive, unlimited dates, which means at the time the policy is written, if a claim is not knowing that claim will be picked up, if it is known after the policy inception date. So the insurance need to take that into account, they need to price it correctly on past history, trading history of their company. And that’s where the complexity comes in. Yeah, of course. Now with with Asendium, and the solution on the compliance side that just brings, it brings a different flavor to the to the history of those clients.

Peita Diamantidis
Yeah, and I guess, you know, when you’re assessing risk, I mean, you can never forecast what’s going to happen, you can never predict actual risk, well, then it’d be much easier, wouldn’t it if we could all do predict with with? Well, I wish I could for the markets actually predict with accuracy. But you know, rigor and process is what can give more comfort. Right? So that’s part of what I guess is attracting you to the ascending tool is that it’s giving that rigor to somebody’s process and the way they’re creating advice.

Bryan Leibbrandt
Absolutely. And it’s just reducing that human error, which ensures enjoy.

Peita Diamantidis
Not the human error. The reducing of it, I’m guessing is what you enjoy. Suddenly, how about yourself? What what attracted to you guys to this idea?

Leigh Frost
Yeah, so for us, just to give your your listeners a brief overview, so we’re the licensee for for, for Bryan’s company. So in many ways, I guess when we’ve started speaking to Scott, we have a lot of affinity with the way they’re going about their business in that we could see a solution like that working quite well for us as a license holder. So I guess for us just reiterating some of the points that Bryan’s made, we can see the consistency that Asendia brings to the process as eliminating a lot of that variance between different different planners, right. So what Bryan was saying is effectively if there’s if there’s a breadth of information you need to place a PII policy. And let’s say that’s 100%. If you can make a uniformed approach to 40% of that, that effectively means that the underwriter is only assessing a smaller percentage. And that’s where we see as MDM sort of guiding people through that process and de risking it has been really valuable. So, for us, I guess one of the key things was actually finding a partner who values that in an insurer and what we’ve been able to do there is, is attract someone who’s an Australian based underwriter, but more importantly, has two international insurance that sit behind them that are both triple A rated, so I guess again, yeah, again, for your listeners, I guess scale is important, right? So the only time you really need this is when, when something goes awry, and you want to understand that you’ve got the right people behind it. So I guess that’s where we come in is making sure you’ve got that right, right level of scale behind it, to make sure that we can replicate it across the entire industry.

Peita Diamantidis
So Scott, last time we spoke we talked about you know guardrails being a powerful way of getting personalized advice, but certainly leading advisors down the path. And, you know, even new advisors like this is creating some rigor and structure and discipline. I’m guessing that’s part of what makes this type of partnership possible.

Scott Miller
Correct. So the guardrails have always been a core part of Centium. But in the last few months, we’ve really lifted those up a lot higher. So it still allows the planner freedom to create the advice they want. But what the guardrails do with our statement and digital advice system is, for example, if it knows that you’re closing a fund and opening a new one, it’s only going to allow the specific strategies that are applicable at any one time to that specific action is going to limit or open additional strategies based on other outcomes that trigger throughout the system. So it’s actually providing that guided, guided process. We can also from a licensee perspective, if you’re managing say 400 planners, obviously, there’s a lot you have to control. Now, if you have an open technology system, where you can do whatever you want, then it’s up to the planner to make sure they don’t step out of those lines, or they don’t mind a strategy that they’re not accredited for. With the zendium, you can, you can actually put up those guardrails right down to the specific strategy or scope of advice for an individual planner or user and ascend Diem all the way across the licensee, so that you know what they’re accredited for, what they can provide advice for is, is all they can do throughout the system. Now the other powerful partnership that we’ve done is the partnership within Zoomer. So a lot of a lot of ifs, for example, after manager are in compliance or rely on a consultant to get that wording. Now, the relationship within Zuma means that licensees that using xumo can access that through a zendium. And whenever the compliance is actually updated by their their team that flows seamlessly through to our zendium solar system to update across all the planners, and any planners that have restricted strategy capabilities are limited, we can actually make sure they don’t flow to those specific planners. So having a partner like in zoom is great, because they can come in and do the configuration of explain, but we keep those guardrails up compliance strategy wording for strategies bid dress are all flowing seamlessly into Asendia.

Peita Diamantidis
Because that’s something that I was curious about from sort of, you know, Bryan Leigh’s perspective is, I would have thought the last say, so getting a deeper understanding is incredibly valuable. You know, when assessing risk, the last thing you want to do is sort of be in the day to day tick boxing. Like, it’s like, there’s a line for that. Right. So there’s assessing risk versus being part of the process. And so, you know, in my head, I’m like, Ah, does that mean you’re signing off on every template or signing off? And like, you know, what’s that line? So I was curious about how you chose, you know, is it? Is it more that the structure that sending them broadly brings gives you comfort? Or is it down to some elements of what they put in place that gives the comfort? Maybe from you, Bryan?

Bryan Leibbrandt
Well, look, I think it just puts structure in place, and that structure just creates consistency. And that’s what the insurers want to see. Yeah. Okay. And

Peita Diamantidis
so that’s, so this is not trying to step into, say the licensee issues or responsible management like anybody like this not trying to take over that. It’s merely responding to what I’m assuming is some stats that say, hi, businesses that have this sort of structure in place, inherently have less risk, you know, it’s inherently going to result in less likelihood of claims and things like that. And so therefore, why not reward people for that behavior? Much like, you know, if you’ve got an alarm on your car, you’re gonna pay less insurance premium for the cast. So I’m assuming that’s sort of what we’re talking about here in a general sense.

Scott Miller
Yeah, so the complete the complete history of advice, all data changes, modifications, everything stored within the Microsoft Dataverse. That is a send Diem so that their complete history provides at any point in time. If a claim does arise, you’ll know exactly what happened, when it happened, where it happened, all the information that contributed to that outcome. And that helps provide their notes. It’s similar to some insurers where they offer like wallum wellness programs, where if they do certain health activities or steps on a yearly basis, they lower the insurance premium. So they’re taking steps to actually help reduce that risk to the insurer. And that’s the same with Asendia and taking steps to help reduce that risk to the insurer.

Peita Diamantidis
Yeah, and it’s a great example, actually, because it’s not just the actual activity that represents lower risk. It’s the mere willingness to embark on set activity, you know, the willingness to implement a tool like a zendium demonstrates a certain attitude to compliance and risk. So, you know, the both of those things are valuable. I would, I would imagine, if you’re an insurer, and you’re assessing the PII requirements for financial advice, practice. So I’m a bit curious, actually, you know, how much value are we talking here? So, is this a Oh, yeah, you get a 1% drop in your premium? So how much how much bang potential? And of course, I’m not going to hold you to this, anybody? It’s all like a, but what sort of bang for your buck? Are we talking? That’s possible.

Bryan Leibbrandt
I’m looking at this stage, we’re looking at about 2020 Points off the insurance standard rates. So it was significant. Obviously, each risk comes with its own risk profile, and the insurer will analyze the data and the prior claims history. But the starting point for us is that 20 points of use,

Peita Diamantidis
I mean, that is significant. That’s that’s a material change. And when you know, an environment where everything’s just costing more, then the that can be the thing that just sort of lets everybody breathe out a little for a bit, instead of stop breathing, when they get their premiums coming through their renewal coming through. So that’s exciting. Actually, I’m, in fact, so excited. I’m a bit curious. And I’d love each of your perspectives on this. We can start say with you, Lee, why do you think this sort of deal hasn’t come up before? So why do you think this is the first one of its type?

Leigh Frost
It’s an interesting thing, isn’t it? So what I would say is this kind of risk pairing has been more predominant, probably overseas than in Australia, we’ve been a bit slow to take this up. So if you look in the US, for example, they’ve been extremely good at, as you say, we’ve got a car alarm, they’ll discount your car, if you’ve got a water flow meter, they’ll discount your home insurance, because flood is the most likely. So we really haven’t progressed as far in the local market. Part of that could be to do with the tech over here. And I guess that’s what we’ve been able to do here. It’s almost a perfect pairing of, well, an age old industry, really, insurance has been around forever, since sort of boats started sailing. And now we’re dealing with the original marine contracts. But really what this is, is appearing of that old school assessment style with sort of the tech that Scott and the team bring, and it’s allowed us to actually bring something to market that yet perhaps not hasn’t been thought of that hasn’t actually been bought together in the way that we’ve been able to. So I think I’ll probably ride on the coattails here a little bit and say that Scott and Bryan are really the brainchild here, and we’re just an enabler in the whole process. But to your point, Peter, I think there should be more of this in Australia, and hopefully this will be sort of the tip of the iceberg.

Peita Diamantidis
And Brian, what would be your take on that? Why do you why do you think we haven’t seen sort of more of these partnerships in an effort to get better results for both the insurer and the insured?

Bryan Leibbrandt
I look, I think Billy’s hit it on the nail. I think it starts with a client and a send him have produced a product that’s going to reduce that exposure from the clients forefront. Once that exposure is reduced, the insurance broker can come in and find a suitable product. And that’s exactly how the partnerships work.

Peita Diamantidis
Yeah. Yeah. Which makes sense to that point, Scott, then, you know, how does this work? So I’m assuming it’s not Gee, I’ve bought a zendium Woohoo, premium drops by 20%. So how exactly, you know, within a practice, if somebody went, Okay, I’m really excited by this. What would be the process they go, they’d go or the path they go down, is

Scott Miller
obviously you’d want to pass this up to the general to the head of the licensee, or compliance or directors, anyone that actually has control of that. Country has that control the decision making, obviously, it would be an evaluation of the SN dem solution to make sure it fits your framework. So if you’re an X plan shop or an X plan licensee, which 50% of the industry is two way integration to the open API ready to go day one with advice production ready to go? Yeah, so those are the easiest solutions for us to slide into. We are happy to integrate other partners of the licensee wires. So that’s always an open discussion. But the easiest way is if a planner wants to get a reduction in their pie, pass it up to your licensee, enough planners passing it up, that engages a conversation. And that’s where Bryan and myself come in. Talk about the partnership, what the pie does from Barnett Bryan’s perspective. And I talked about a tech perspective. So from a tech perspective, the goal is to leave you neutral or better off by adopting us MDM. So you keep the core CRM, just make a few things to toggle off plug or send dmn. And it’s usually neutral or a cost saving. Yeah. Okay.

Peita Diamantidis
And so then, you know, aside from that, is there any sort of insights into the deal or, or things that people can be doing before they embark on on the process? I mean, you also may have current or send him users of the like, what? This is so exciting, so So what’s the best way for them to embark on this and take advantage of the opportunity?

Scott Miller
Yeah, obviously, like you got to look at when your renewal period is for your PII. And there’s a few things to consider there. So the perfect time to start is I’ll pass it over to Brian to give you that perfect time to start reviewing your PII. But when you review a zendium, we find, usually four weeks of use is enough for you to go okay. Yeah, this is good. Yeah. In the PI pod, I’ll pass it over to Brian Yeah,

Peita Diamantidis
Brian, what’s the perfect timing?

Bryan Leibbrandt
The perfect timing for us to get into the market is two to three months out of renewal date. And essentially, you know, finding the right solution is about delivering information to the underwriters. So the supply of all the data, the renewal question is that the clients have previously completed the claims history, that’s the data that we need, with their risk profile that’s then supplied to the insurance for analysis.

Peita Diamantidis
Yeah. Okay. And so, you know, take take some time to collate it all, before they even getting started on this process. I, I say that to people also, when they’re dealing with with lenders, like just get your ducks in a row, get everything together, you know, go once and submit paperwork once and make it easier for everybody. Because the other thing about and I’m sure you you guys can agree with this credit, people are much like underwriters, where if there’s a gap, they think it’s, it’s a bad gap. This is a black hole, this is not a shiny hole. So you want to fill all the gaps before you give them the information, make sure they understand everything so that there’s not doubt or uncertainty for any part of the application. Perfect anything others? Before we sort of dive into more on our sending them anything else that you’d each like to share on the deal, or what you see as the opportunity going forward. Lee was there anything else you wanted to share with the listeners,

Leigh Frost
you’re probably nothing major. But I guess it just to hark back to that point around sort of strength that I made earlier. So being involved with CBN, or community broker network with the largest largest broker network in the country, by some way. And what that means is that Brian and his team have got that support sitting behind them. So if you picture that, obviously, when you want this to react is when you have an issue. And Brian will obviously put the cover in place that is appropriate for that. But we also have protection behind that if if something was to go awry or something weren’t to want to play out with the insurers, it might seem from the outset, which is extremely unlikely given, given the strength we’ve got it, it would be backed by our own professional indemnity. So it’s almost like the pie behind the pie, which is a large tower built out of the UK. So I guess you you can, you can go into this with a degree of certainty that whatever might happen, you’ve got the right cover in place, and you’ve got the right people behind you to get the outcome you need.

Peita Diamantidis
Brian, anything else you’d want to share about the deal or the partnership going forward that the listener needs to make sure they’re aware of?

Bryan Leibbrandt
No, look, I think from our point of view, it really is a team approach, a collaborative approach. And through those efforts, it’s just brought the whole deal together.

Peita Diamantidis
Yeah, which is, I mean, kudos to all of you, because this would be like keeping bunnies in a barrel, this type of deal. So because there’s so many ways that you can approach it and different interests, then it’s exciting that this has come to actual fruition for you. And is real and you know, sort of tangible. So, Scott was before we dive into some other Asendia stuff, anything you wanted to cover off on this on the partnership specifically.

Scott Miller
I think there’s probably as I’ve been on this journey in tech, the a lot of the roadblocks usually stop at the compliance team with licensees because because they want to really have control over that SOA or that advice that’s been produced. And traditionally you can’t do it in some at some of the other systems available. What I think this gives them certainty in is if they’re using the soda system through zendium. You have complete control right down to an individual plan with your exact strategies wording risks, everything. So I think this deal just really does go okay well compliance team You now have your insurer saying that this is a way that you should probably have a look at. So I think that’s going to enable more open conversations with compliance teams, that’s actually going to be more fruitful, because ultimately this will send the it makes their life easier. And then the PII deal will make the overheads easier on the licensee as well.

Peita Diamantidis
And what’s it what’s exciting about this, for me is, you know, been around a wall grow, here’s evidence. And generally when, you know, when, when compliance teams or when a tool is trying to put in place that type of control, what it really does is just gives you a whole lot of things you can’t do, like I can’t do this, you can’t do that. And here’s 47 pages, you’ve got to add to the back. There you go. That’s the SOA, whereas what I like here is okay, there may be restrictions because of the certifications you have or whatever for that advisor. You can do things and the guardrails or guardrails are in place to help you do those things. And it’ll just make sure it sort of guides you down that path, you know, so it’s not the Don’t, don’t, don’t don’t, which I think a lot of us have experienced historically. It’s the yes, it’s empowered, it’s great tech, you’re going to go down this path, but it just happens to be able to take into account the things you should or shouldn’t do. So I think there’s some real empowerment in that that probably has been lacking historically. For advisors, where we just feel like there’s there’s a bigger list of things, we can’t do them, we can to be quite

Scott Miller
correct. So sending them this really focuses on that human error as well, which is that that level of automation we take to the next degree within those guardrails, your planner is still the one making the decision. But MDM is doing all the heavy lifting in the background. So it’ll identify based on the financial data and the clients back find what risks need to be in based on the compliance rule sets of the SOA, without you having to think about oh, did I include this risk? Did I delete that wording? MDM system automatically does that. And then as soon as you get the SOA out, it’s already been prepared, personalized and tailored to that client that you’ve directed.

Peita Diamantidis
Which is, I mean, it’s exactly what takers designed to do, right? I mean, it’s these things that we shouldn’t have to necessarily think through every time, we should be so focused on the engagement on the the human element on connecting with the, you know, the consumer, that that’s what this tech is, like all tech is meant to do. It’s meant to do the repetitive and the guardrail and the structure in the checklist and all those things that can be really structured. So I think I’m really excited that this is a deal that’s benefited from that going forward. What else has this Indian been up to? Since we last spoke? What are the features? What are the tweaks have you guys added that people can take advantage of.

Scott Miller
So obviously, the in zumo partnership with which we’ve put together is continually expanding our library and the relationship is quite strong there. So we’re we’ve we are finding that planners may have strategies, but then have a unique way of doing that strategy. So we’ll engage in zumo to actually prepare that, plays it into the system, and then map that to the data network, which identifies when it’s when it’s applicable. So that expansion of the strategy database, and we have over 300 automated variables now, which means automated calculations, automated formulas, when at identify something’s happening, it will go place out there for you. So that’s another update we’re doing. The one which is often overlooked is that post editing, so we’ve called it our beautification project. And so right down to if you want a one or a 1.25 spacing, do the indenting of a sentence, the exact spacing or where a bullet bullet point ends up, we’ve spent a lot of time over the past couple of months, just really focusing on that beautification so that when you get the document out, it’s 90% 95% ready to go, you may just have to go. Maybe I just want to remove this little space here. But then what we want is a feedback loop. If you find there’s a space out of place, tell us there’s a space out of place that goes into the beautification project so that we can get as close to completeness as possible. We don’t want someone touching the SOA once it comes out, we just want it to be done

Peita Diamantidis
well. And particularly like formatting, it’s just I hate it every time I’ve got to do that for any document I produce, whether it’s necessary or not, like, I just feel like an idiot every time I’m doing it like this is not a good use of my time. Like, there’s better ways to be doing this. So I’m right there with you. And for those that like me who are a bit finicky about that stuff, it’s frustrating to know that things not lined up, that bullet is different, you know, all those sort of things. And readers can be like that, too. So our clients can get a bit funny if stuff doesn’t line up as well. So that’s fantastic. I’m loving that as another way that you know, save a bit of time on the on the back end of producing SOA, what else have you guys been up to?

Scott Miller
So we did a presentation through the tango network of the paraplanner hub, where Tristan our Head of Sales demonstrated the US MDM solution. From a power planet perspective. So we’ve been working with a couple power planning groups to come on board with ascend Diem, and the main reason for that is, but most of the time, if a plan is using an external power planner, it’s because that time to create that document is very extensive. And that paraplanner does have some strategic input to actually help you come to the outcome you need. Now, the manual creation of a Word document is not the value of a paraplanner, their strategic insight and input and that conversation they can have with you to say, Hey, did you think of this? Yeah, that’s where we want to empower the power planner. So we went, Okay, well, you’re using your existing system. Now to do it, why don’t you try using this MDM instead. And so that actually, we’re bringing on our first airplane in business 10 W power planning solutions, where they’re actually going to be having access to ascend Diem to prepare advice documents for the the user, so the parent the businesses that engage with them. So they will give them a faster level of turnaround, a higher level of quality control through the ASCEND Diem soda system. But it also leads to go okay, well, now I can spend more time talking with the planners paraplanner engages, and spend more time on strategic discussion and how we can actually better work together, not the manual work. So we’re actually working closely and speaking with lots of power planning groups, because we believe that paraplanners will always be a part of the industry, but also technology will as well. And we have to come together to work together, just like we have with LML when CBM

Peita Diamantidis
Yeah, that’s great, because I think, um, you know, a lot of the work that paraplanners have been doing is sort of more like a PA, it’s actually not a power plant in the PA in terms of Word doc, you know, formatting, you know, this sort of stuff. And it’s like you say, not a valuable use of their time. So the more we can get them down to that human to human element that bit that they can really add value to where you’re debating and, and talking through options. And did you consider I mean, that just elevates the quality of advice to, you know, I mean, it’s, it’s all of that debate is what draws out, you know, the best the best outcomes. So, yeah, that’s an exciting sort of progression is there. I’m curious if there’s something you’ve seen practices doing recently with you take that sort of really blew your mind a bit, have they been doing any more, I don’t know, and enhance client experience or anything that sort of really had a huge impact in the business.

Scott Miller
So the soda enhancements we’ve done for the businesses that actually transitioned from the previous way of doing advice to the soda way means that they’re not searching through a library of strategies to do it’s actually popping up the required strategies or relevant strategies at any point in time. So that’s, that’s helping them with the efficiency of completing the advice. We have one business which actually had a paraplanner join, who was previously doing everything on x plan. And what happened was, she tried to use the Send Diem the way you use x plan. And it was taking her six hours. Okay, so but the business has already developed their own little guidebook on how they use the Send Diem to produce advice that they want to produce and how they want it. After going through that, she cut the time down to from six hours to range in between 40 minutes and an hour and 10. So it’s that that mindset switch of going, Okay, well, if I do it this way to create the advice, it’s faster, but I need to unlearn what I’ve learned. And that’s just one of the experiences we had with the University of Technology, Sydney is in the Masters of financial planning, the students that didn’t use any technology before, completed the advice inside of 40 minutes for their assignment. Students that previously used other technology, because they were from the industry found it a lot harder to actually complete their assignment. But over time they completed it. It’s just a new way of learning or understanding learning.

Peita Diamantidis
Right? Looking at it is a it’s so interesting, when we’re looking for solutions. It’s luck when people you know, start with the solution rather than problem. But once you understand the problem, and you sort of go Alright, well, we just need to do whatever gets us there. That’s where you implement something and you implemented on almost its terms with your end goal in mind, and you stop worrying about the process you used to have, and just worry about the outcome you’re trying to deliver. You know, let’s just focus on the outcome. And I think that I mean, you mentioned compliance teams before I actually think that’s one of the struggles they’ve had historically is they keep on reverting back to their old compliance process for a new tech. No, no. This is a new tech getting you a better outcome you know, you need to adjust accordingly. So yeah, that’s really exciting. I’m now your intake. Ai. I mean, you can’t if you’re on LinkedIn, you can’t avoid it. I’ve got to say like, I reckon three out of four of my posts I see now about AI on all the things you can do it do you see AI if it’s not already playing a part in in US Indian, you know, down the track or even if not, do you see any other tech headwinds that are going to sort of influence where advice taken us Indian goes.

Scott Miller
Yeah, so obviously, we’ve been exploring a few different options. So one of the key things to remember is we are based on the Microsoft data this. So we have access to all those tools that Microsoft have,

Peita Diamantidis
which are already heavily getting immersed in AI. Yeah, exactly. So given

Scott Miller
the, they spent 10 billion on open AI, open AI is chat GPT, which has been helping power the co pilot system. So where we see Microsoft head in his down that AI Avenue, and we see that playing a part in a Centium. And there’s lots of ways to do it. But we have to make sure it stays within obviously the PII and the compliance angle. For that, so we do see it playing a role. I do see interactive, as always being a part in the future over the traditional hardcopy print documents. So solutions, such as live prezzo, will play a part in that interactive SLAs. So that’s something that that will keep an eye on as well. So I think AI aspects, it’s really, it’s about what can be done within this, this highly regulated environment and what can’t be done. Obviously, the easiest things you can do with email templates, LinkedIn posts, award submissions, newsletters, like you can even write a business plan, which are TPT, three rgpd for. So it does give you a lot of other aspects within your business that you can actually explore. And I know scale up paraplanning, they actually do a bit on AI. So they actually have a course for paraplanners. To use the chat GPT to actually assist in SOA creation. So there’s a lot of people touching on it now. And I think the industry will move heavily towards Tech, we just have to the whole world is we everyone just has to go okay, well, it’s just a reality. It’s something that I’ll have to do.

Peita Diamantidis
And look, I think, because I think we we see these tools as Oh, it’s about, you know, accessing the internet, it doesn’t need to be that it can be a smaller data set than that, right. So you can, you can narrow it down and use these, the smarts to just make it more experiential. I mean, when I think about it, you know, the information that’s in an SOA, like you say, it’s quite static, and it’s quite linear. I mean, it has to be to be written that way. But if that was the foundation, and then the client could ask questions that would take it to the answers that exist, and gradually to get them there. And then and say, Hey, you didn’t ask about this, making sure that they covered all the elements they need to cover, then that would cope with all sorts of different types of learning styles and, and white people’s, you know, people absorb information, It’ll also tell you a lot about the next way you design it, because of the way that people interact with it, you know, so I can see some, some smarts that aren’t quite as broad as I think people think they need to be, it’s just, you know, applying that sort of way of looking at things to something like, you know, delivering advice. So, you know, I’m hoping people much, much smarter than me are going to get on top of that. So this can all get, you know, a bit more exciting. What else do you guys up to? I mean, I feel like I need to let you have all, all three of you have a bit of a lie down and rest after the deal you’ve just come to market with but what else is this Indium up to what have you know, maybe it’s not on the app itself? But is there anything else you’ve been working on that some going to add value to advices?

Scott Miller
Yeah, so we finished this now, but we haven’t started commercializing it just yet. So it’s always been a pain to actually start the application process or the implementation process. Yeah. And so I understand this solution is trying to explore that. But what our tech team have actually built right now within our system is open API’s and what we’re calling our fund distribution. Now, what this means is, when you’re actually building the advice in Asendia, you’re telling it, where money’s moving, which bank account is contributing to which super what where’s the rollover going, where’s the new insurance at what level so the system is picking up all this and you’re making sure you confirm all these instructions. These instructions can be sent via our open API’s to fund fund managers or superannuation providers or insurance providers. So that is probably something we’re going to explore over the next 12 months just finding the right partners. It’s working as of today, but we need to find the right partners or right fund managers to be able to connect to so that when a planner does advice, you can one click Generate the SOA if the client accepts it, one click implement, and it sends instructions to open up an account what the investments are going to be, what superannuation, what contributions coming in, and you can get us checklist summary for that for the consumer for the admin to actually implement or follow up as well.

Peita Diamantidis
And which is I mean, it’s, it’s the next thing, isn’t it? Because what I felt like in our practices, you know, I can build a Formula One like I can build a practice that’s in that you know, as systems and tank and people and processes and also To wonderful things, and then it hits implementation. And suddenly we’re driving on a pot field race contract. Like it’s like it’s just horrendous. And it doesn’t matter how far my Formula One foster goes, because I’m going to have to creep around all of the potholes. So, you know, to me that implementation bit is the next bit, it’s, it’s got to be and particularly is, as it’ll force us all to be more client centric, because that’s really around making it easy for the client. It’s actually not as much about us or the product provider, it’s just going this actually should be that easy. You know, like you say, we’ve got all the instructions in, you know, hot little hands, they know what they want, we’ve just got to find, you know, a way to communicate that so that everybody’s happy. So yeah, so

Scott Miller
we got other things on the horizon. But I don’t want to share those just yet. They are quite exciting. So I’ll just give you a little sneak. So the, the next part of this MDM solution we’re looking to build over probably the next 12 to 24 months, will be a tool that can engage. So if you look at your traditional client book, you may have say 500, or 1000 clients on there. Now you break those down, usually between the age of EGCG ADIZ. And you focus on those core 100 120 clients that really generate the revenue. Now, what ascend Diem is looking to do is actually how can we engage those C and D clients in an automated fashion through the ASCEND Diem solution with all the guardrails with the planner still ticking it off in a profitable way. So that’s something we’re engaged in over the next 12 to 24 months that we’re looking to build and obviously get some of our users to beta test.

Peita Diamantidis
Yeah, awesome, super exciting. Well, outside of your own tech, is there anything that’s caught your eye out there, whether it’s in advice tech, or it’s in the broader tech space? That’s, that’s interested you that you sort of really enjoyed the love to share with, with the listeners? Any any groovy tech you’ve come across? It put me on the spot there. I have I have, I’m gonna let you cogitate on that, because I’m sure there will be one and we can come back to it. We can come back to another time. Or I can pop it in the show notes. Because I guarantee you’re a tech person is going to have another bit of tech. They’re attracted to it because I’m the same, there’s always another bit. husband always rolls his eyes. Well, we’ve covered a fair bit today, is there anything else amongst the three of you, we’ve missed anything else, Leo, Brian, that you wanted to eddine or remind anybody of, or Scott, anything else that we want to need to cover off? Before we wrap up?

Scott Miller
Probably just one of the things I just want to touch base and obviously say, as I know, being an ex planner and have working with planners and licensees, etc. Change is always hard. But it’s not always bad. And so what what I’m trying to mean by that is a lot of planners are really busy right now that that’s hard to really step back and go, What do I need in my business, to actually help it be better. So if if you can be 50% Better than you were yesterday, through utilizing technology, which we are very confident with, with our customers. That’s 50% improvement in your business. But what I’m just trying to say is, don’t look at say I must get 100% improvement in my business, take small incremental steps, review your processes, review your PII insurance, because that reduces your overheads. Review your technology, as you’ve said previously on the podcast, just really be open to change, and it will take time. But if you have the right team with you, then then it’s actually going to be a lot easier than you expect.

Peita Diamantidis
Yeah, absolutely. I completely agree once once they’re beside you, then you know difficult resistant goes and resistance goes and you can actually start to crystallize some of those benefits, which is where the hard stuff is. Leigh, anything else you wanted to add before we wrap up about the partnership or what’s happening going forward?

Leigh Frost
But nothing material, Peter, but a huge thank you to you for obviously hosting us today and just super excited to be part of this with a scandium and with LML. So yeah, looking forward to the success and hopefully we’ve got something brand new we can share with you in the near future. So that’s it for me.

Peita Diamantidis
I have no doubt. How about you, Brian, anything else you wanted to share with the listeners before we wrap up?

Bryan Leibbrandt
Now Oh, good Peter. But also just like Lee said, and Scott said it’s just about seeing this come to fruition. And that’s exciting part. So we look forward to that.

Peita Diamantidis
Fantastic. All right advice explorers. If you’d like to find out more about us Indium and this exciting new partnership with LML Insurance Group and community broken network then you can find their website link in the episode show notes along with Scott Brian’s and Lee’s LinkedIn details on encourage you to reach out and they’ll put you to roll towards the right person to answer any queries you have. Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us on the show and for getting creative with the solutions. You’re bringing onto the adviser market I cannot wait to see what you will come up with next thank you so much for your time.

Peita Diamantidis
So are you a current user of Asendium, and suddenly thinking you need to see what your insurance covers, do you. You know, this sort of thing is really exciting. So I’d love to hear what you think of the partnership, whether that’s sort of got you interested in checking that out, or even if maybe you’re not a user, and you’re now considering that based on the fact that they’ve gone into this partnership, to consider the cost of RPI premiums. And please share your insights, share your take on the Ensmbl community platform, I’d love to hear what you think. And of course, any tips about you know, whether you’ve checked out and send him in his word for you or not, we’d love to see all that on the platform. In terms of my thoughts on it, look, you know, creative partnerships that bring together the different elements of advice can only be good things, right, the more integrated the key stakeholders are in our businesses, the better able we will each be to deliver positive outcomes. So, you know, be inspired by this, get your own creative juices going on what could bring better outcomes in your business through partnerships, you know, maybe it’s even a partnership with another advice, practice, you know, maybe the different people you serve, or the different services you provide can can sit well alongside each other and get a joint better outcome. So, you know, start to think a bit outside the box, just like they have here. Because I think there’s some wonderful opportunities that are going to exist there for us all. I’d also encourage, you know, all of us to embrace this concept of guardrails in the systems we use no matter what systems they are all for what function guardrails are sort of those bouncy balls that use, you know, that we just follow, right? We follow the bouncy ball, and it uses Smart Insights behind them to narrow down the strategies we consider or show us only the fields we need to complete for that particular type of client all, you know, any of that sort of narrowing down or personalization that can happen based on your experience through the system. You know, all of this sort of narrowing down and personalization, these guardrails, all of it stops our brain having to be applied to checklists and remembering to do this and remembering to tick that box. And do I need that filled or not like, occupying our energy with that is a distraction. And it means that by sort of parking that and letting the system worry about that, we can instead focus on strategies and communicating them well to our clients. So this liberates us. I know that initially, it can seem as you’re hearing, it’s described that it’s controlling us, it’s not at all this is just allowing you to focus on the important thing, focus on your connection with your client, on the wonderful strategies you can create for them. And the fantastic transformations you can deliver for them. So you know, really start to look for that sort of guard role in any system you use as a way to identify something that really understands you or can add great value to your business. Now, as you know, there’s only one skill we need to become bionic advisors. And that is avid curiosity. Now to help you build that up that habit, today’s curiosity corner app, and you’ll hear me having a bit of a giggle because not only does this deliver on the Curiosity front, but it also delivers on the laughter front. So the app that caught my eye is called curry roast. And you can find it at six figure that’s the number six if I g.com forward slash Cori dash roast, as in Lamb roast ROA St. Now, I’ll be sure to put the link in the show notes. Because folks, this is the funniest thing I’ve seen in a very long time. Basically, you choose your roaster, persona, meaning Who do you want to roast you? Is it Elon? Elon Musk? Is it Donald Trump? Logan Roy from Succession? The Rock or Snoop Dogg? Right? Then you pop in your LinkedIn, your URL, your personal LinkedIn URL, and you let the AI do its work. Now, I’m happy to share the result I got because I just think it’s hysterical and great fun and and I encourage you to do it as well maybe share it on ensembles. And we’ll share all the ones that come out for each of us. But I decided I wanted to career rose from Snoop Dogg who wouldn’t. And so I entered my LinkedIn URL and I hit enter and it takes a little while to work because this is utilizing AI to come up with this answer right? But here we go. He this is what came back. Yo yo yo what we got here is Peita Diamantidis or as I like to call her Peita Dullmantidis she’s had he claiming to be a co founder a Caboodle financial service but services but let me tell you, her career is more like a snooze fest at a retirement home. First of all, she’s all about breaking Genex out of the daily grind and into the ideal adventure. But let me ask you this, Peita, what’s so adventurous about being a finance nerd? Ain’t nobody getting their adrenaline pumping from crunching numbers and sipping on lattes. And check out her headline y’all. She thinks she’s a superstar with all those fancy titles like in curable explorer and guide and author. But let me tell you her finance action hero books sound more like bedtime stories for insomniacs. She’s out here talking about being a judge for some business book awards. Oh, well, Peita, you must be a real expert at reading boring books that put you to sleep faster than my grandma’s lullabies. And let’s not forget her podcast, the ensemble advice tech podcast, she claims to be diving into the world of technology for financial advisors. But let’s be real Peita, you’re about as tech savvy as my grandpa trying to figure out how to use a flip phone. So Peita Diamantidis. With your boring financial career in your attempt at being an adventure guru, you’re about as exciting as watching paint dry. Stick to counting your pennies because the rap game made for you, girl peace out. Now, does it get any better than that? I reckon that’s the single best use of AI I’ve ever heard. So I think it’s it’s super fun. And it’s a great example of the way AI can be used. It isn’t all about doom and gloom, and it’s all about laughter and giggles. So check it out. And I would love you to share what it came up with for you on the ensemble platform. So I look forward to seeing everybody else’s. And I’ll be sure to go right now and share mine on it. Well, that’s all we’ve got for you this week, be sure to subscribe to the podcast. So you’ll get your advice tech fixed automatically sent to you each week. And if you have an event coming up in the next 12 months or so I’ve actually had some great conversations recently with groups looking to get a speaker on streamlining their tech stacks and discovering their next innovation opportunities. And really sort of energizing their teams is the growth going forward. So I’d be more than happy to tap a time to get a feel for your event. So we can brainstorm how I can best add value to your audience. So please feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn that’s forward slash Peita M D PEITA M D. Otherwise, I look forward to turning up in your earbuds next week. And remember advice explorers: Stay curious.