Fragmented to Frictionless: new technology opening highly valuable, untapped markets For advice

in the old days life was simple. we held jobs for a long time, sometimes a lifetime, were more likely to stay married and there was no internet to disturb the peace. Fast forward to today, we’re permanently connected, with more than 80 per cent of us owning a smartphone that we check before we even get out of bed. we’re likely to change jobs a few times either by choice or redundancy, we might even change careers and sadly many marriages will end in divorce. we’re also living longer.

the result, according to decimal’s ceo, carolyn colley speaking at Fst media’s 5th annual technology & innovation event – the Future of superannuation & wealth management, is a population more in need of financial advice than ever before. “consumers are being bombarded with information and they don’t know where to go. they need early advice to guide them through their various life cycle triggers like getting a new job, getting married or retirement planning. we need to bring solutions to them faster in a way that engages them.”

”consumers are seeking advice from multiple sources but they’re overwhelmed. it’s all too hard, too expensive, and they don’t have the time. our needs and financial situation have changed and we need to respond to that in new ways, with new technology that fits with consumers’ lives.”

with over 25 years in leading financial institutions colley should know. the ex-executive director of macquarie adviser services and head of macquarie personal banking at macquarie bank and executive vice president & head of bt wrap, has a rare and intimate understanding of the market and how it’s being transformed by digital technology.

colley highlighted the huge opportunity this represents to the industry to tap into a highly valuable market. ”australia alone, has over $6 trillion in consumer net wealth, $1.94 million in superannuation assets representing our second largest asset and $44.2 billion in annual life insurance premiums.”

according to deloitte, these figures will grow exponentially. the consulting firm projects that superannuation fund assets will rise to 180 percent of australia’s national gdp over the next 20 years yet only one tenth of australians have a professional financial plan in place.

we often don’t appreciate the connection between banking, superannuation and wealth. we usually only separate them from a product perspective. consequently consumers have a fragmented experience. ”research tells us australians on average bank with 3.2 different institutions, 30 per cent have two or more superannuation funds and have multiple insurance policies. consumers are looking for a frictionless experience like they get in other industries.“

carolyn colley, chief executive officer, decimal

consumers are being bombarded with inFormation and they don’t know where to go. they need early advice to guide them through their various liFe cycle triggers like getting a new job, getting married or retirement planning. we need to bring solutions to them Faster in a way that engages them.

Frictionless is the Future

according to futurist rachel botsman, disruption occurs when systems are unnecessarily complex and can be simplified in ways that reduce frustration for the end customer.

botsman argues that the financial services industry is ripe for disruption due to it being a system of ”broken trust, limited access and lots of waste and redundancies – people or processes that can be easily removed,“ which in turn enables consumers to exchange goods or services directly.

colley explained: “consumers are attracted to products and services through great customer experience and design. it delivers value to customers in a way that is both enjoyable and engaging – enjoying that interaction is really important.”

colley referenced examples of positive customers experiences including uber, airbnb, salesforce, sap, trip advisor and Xero to name a few.

successful disruptors like these have three things in common – they move beyond products and cross sell, focus on platforms that make hard things easy to do and they foster ecosystems.

it’s a model that decimal has developed in its platform designed and developed especially for financial services. it’s the first financial services advice platform that enables enterprises to be able to deliver a seamless advice experience to a mass market. before now, it has only been viable to service the top 20 per cent who can afford to pay for the traditional approach and prevented enterprises like superannuation funds from capitalising on their needs of their existing customers, not to mention attracting new ones with new offers of advice.

colley spoke on the importance of this technology in democratising advice to make it accessible and affordable to all australians, ”which is currently not the case.“

decimal is an australian software company providing transformational solutions to customersworldwide. decimal has built the world’s first financial advice cloud-based platform that makes it possible to provide advice to the mass market across a complete range of financial products, efficiently and compliantly. with its patented big data analytics software, decimal’s platform offers full online configuration and customisation to the enterprise’s look and feel, leveraging the benefits and scalability of a multi-tenanted saas cloud platform.

About DecimAl

WhAt consumers WAnt From FinAnciAl services ProviDers

according to colley, technology today enables enterprises to deliver on all the elements consumers want.

the use of patented profiling tools and customer data sourced internally and externally lets organisations deliver advice that is truly relevant to their customers as well as enabling them to be proactive in predicting their customers’ needs. statements of advice that until now have been produced manually can now be produced instantaneously in language and using infographics that customers can understand without needing a high level of financial literacy. all this serves to add value and makes the experience more engaging for consumers. overlay this with the benefits of cloud technology to be able to do everything in real time on the device of choice, in the consumer’s place of choice, at the time of their choice, enterprises can be better connected to customers by fitting into their busy lifestyles.

decimal’s inbuilt compliance enables enterprises to set the guiderails and triage for their advisers in workflow. the cloud-based platform technology ensures there is only ever one source of the truth providing a real-time audit trail and means compliance is proactive and part of the process.

”decimal’s technology enables you to provide your customers with greater control and the understanding they need to entrust you with protecting their financial future,“ colley said.

DisruPtion inevitAble

colley quoted henry Ford: “progress happens when all the factors that make for it are ready and then it is inevitable”. with disruption happening everywhere and the factors all there, it’s hard not to agree.

PERSONALISED

PREDICATIVE

ENGAGING

TRUSTEDVALUABLE

CONNECTED

EFFORTLESS

Know me & remember

me

Be proactive & predict my

needs

Make it enjoyable not a

chore

Take my worries away

Deliver value that I am happy to

pay for

Fit into my life

Make it easy to understand

and act

Australians bank with an average of

of Australians with super have

And have MANY DIFFERENT INSURANCE POLICIES including health, life, trauma, income protection and general insurance

3.230%

DIFFERENTINSTITUTIONS

2 OR MORE ACCOUNTS 9%

HAVE 3OR MORE

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