Thanks to online transactions and other developments, companies of all types are able to gather more information about their clients than ever before.
The rise of big data means tremendous opportunities for financial services companies to understand their clients like never before, and target them more accurately with products and services. In order to do so effectively, they need to invest in the right tools.
Client portals
One of the biggest changes brought about by the rise of fast, reliable internet connections is the move towards self-service portals, allowing clients to manage their own portfolios online. These provide the investor with a straightforward overview of their activity, but for the advisor, they also represent a valuable insight into trends and behaviour.
There are a number of off-the-shelf solutions that provide portals for IFAs, so there’s no need to get left behind on this trend.
Aggregation of data
In the past, a good deal of client data would have had to be entered manually. Now though, popular back office systems for IFAs, such as https://www.intelliflo.com/ provide the ability to aggregate data easily and effectively. This involves pulling information from other financial organisations, like banks and pensions providers, directly via the web.
Customer relationship management
CRM has been popular in industry and sales-based environments for many years, but has been slower to take off in the financial sector. Now though, there are CRM solutions aimed specifically at financial advisers. These are often bundled with other tools to aggregate data and set up client portals, allowing the creation of a complete solution which delivers unrivalled customer insight.
Dashboards
Of course, all the data in the world is of no use if you can’t access it easily. This is one of the reasons for the rise of dashboards, showing key performance indicators in an easy to interpret style. This means there is no need to wait for weekly or monthly reports to be prepared. Trends and shifts in client behaviour are visible instantly to the people best placed to act on them.
By automating tedious tasks and presenting information in real-time in an easily understood, actionable format, technology not only has the potential to make life easier for IFAs, but it can also help them to boost their business and remain profitable even in difficult times.