Over the last couple of decades, the financial services industry has been slowly digitising every aspect of how they operate, from document management to customer engagement and complex content creation. The focus for many has been around efficiency, asking the question, “How can we take our manual processes and analogue data and digitise them in order to save ourselves time and money?”

This is great and necessary, however, it falls far short of the real opportunity presented to us in this fast-changing, digital world. The opportunity for disruptive innovation through digital transformation.

I have been lucky enough to work in several different software and services organisations over the years, from large financial institutions like NAB, ANZ and AIA through to fast-moving software organisations like Xero, CarSales, PEXA and now myprosperity. A similar approach I see time and time again across these organisations is technology playing the part of digitising the current manual process by automating steps, removing error-prone processes, and making data more readily accessible. Whether it be Xero or PEXA playing the part of digitiser or NAB and ANZ being the recipients or requestors of that automation. 

Digitisation is a huge efficiency gain and tends to create a better customer and employee experience – everybody wins. However, digitisation only gets us 25% of the way to where we should be. This is where digital transformation comes in. If digitisation is an evolution, transformation is the revolution.

Digital transformation is the process of reimagining how you engage with and provide value to your customers, transforming your complex combination of people, process and tools to create a completely new approach to achieving yours and your customers’ objectives. We see digital transformation occurring in every industry. Every one of us should look to those examples of success and failure and think, “How can I ensure I’m the example of success and avoid becoming a cautionary tale of failure?”

We can’t talk about transformation without mentioning Blockbuster, Netflix, and Disney.

The revolution was streaming, initiated by Netflix. Blockbuster was the clear casualty for failing to evolve while Disney and other similar providers capitalised on the opportunity and now represent clear complementary players to Netflix’s original dominance over the space. For Netflix, the ability to revolutionise made them a multibillion-dollar company. For Disney, their ability to recognise and apply digital transformation secured their continued dominance into the digital age. For Blockbuster, the failure to evolve was catastrophic.

Another great example of digital transformation is Uber. When Uber launched their app the taxi industry didn’t take it lying down, they eventually launched their own competitor apps – the problem was that their model didn’t scale, different taxi suppliers had different apps creating unnecessary friction to adoption, and most of all they didn’t tackle one of the core components of the Uber platform – the ability to rate drivers and customers. Uber created trust and promoted quality while the taxi industry relied on the fact that they were the incumbent – a terrible strategy for anyone paying attention to our recent history in disruptive innovation.

The last example I want to mention is my favourite cautionary tale. Kodak. Kodak deserves a special mention because they knew what was coming and had actually developed a prototype digital camera in the 70s. Through a combination of short-sighted thinking and greed, Kodak decided to fight back against the digital revolution in favour of their cash cow, selling film and printing photos. This led to Kodak filing for bankruptcy in 2012 – a spectacular fall from grace for one of the largest companies in the world.

So what about the financial services sector?

What has not occurred is any true disruptive innovation in how households, businesses and financial service providers engage and interact in order to achieve their objectives.

As an Australian, I want this transformation to start from our home and be our export to the rest of the world. We have the knowledge, the capability and most of all the culture and mindset to make it happen. Our retail industry is already being ravaged by overseas disruptors like eBay and Amazon and, while we are beneficiaries of this new and amazing experience, I would much rather we were also the founders, shareholders and employees of those companies.

We cannot let our financial services industry suffer the same fate as the retail sector – the opportunity is clear and it is our responsibility to take it.

How can we make this happen? Every institution and financial services provider needs to ask themselves today, “What investments am I making in disruptive innovation?” It doesn’t need to be big, just enough, think of it like paying insurance against the potential of being disrupted.

For larger institutions: Are you experimenting with new ways of achieving the core objectives of your customers? Smaller service providers and sole practitioners: Are you taking advantage of the new technologies available to you and attempting to reimagine how you, your customers and your partner service providers can be working together?

At myprosperity, our newest experiment is Rooms. This represents a start to our own disruption – how we (the myprosperity team) work with our users to not just digitise how they currently work, but to work with them to transform the way they operate. This will lead to significant benefits for our users and their clients – achieving their objectives easier, faster and with a customer experience that they can be proud of.

Don’t let yourself become another cautionary tale of the ongoing digital revolution! Digitisation is the enabler of transformation and it is time we all start taking this opportunity seriously and look to uncover the innovative opportunities available to us to transform how we operate within our organisations and with our customers. Real transformation in how you, your team and your customers operate and communicate will lead to revolutionary benefits to all people involved within the systems we all operate.

I am super excited to announce our latest addition to the myprosperity integration suite. From July 2021, accountants using document management and process automation specialist FYI can access myprosperity’s powerful client portal. You can offer your clients a holistic and seamless digital experience for managing all their financial affairs in one place. Increase your efficiencies and use that valuable time to unlock deeper client insights that surface new revenue opportunities for your practice.

Feedback from our beta clients has been incredibly positive with accountants excited by the blend of back office automation and creating an awesome client experience. A big shout out to Rob Cameron, Alan McLeod and the team at FYI. It’s always great to work with leading tech companies that share our passion for helping accountants and advisers to deliver a world-class experience to their clients.

Go paperless with a streamlined digital workflow

We’re always on a mission to streamline the digital experience for accountants and their clients. Whether that’s through technology that does the heavy lifting in how you engage and collect data from your clients to maximising efficiencies with digital document storage and signing. We want to ensure accountants can focus on what they do best – being the trusted advisor. This is why I’m thrilled to announce our integration with FYI, the must-have time saving solution for accountants with secure doc storage and signing at your fingertips. Using the combined power of our two platforms, FYI users can invite their clients to sign or upload documents within myprosperity. They are notified to join the portal, where their documents can be signed, then automatically stored on both platforms – giving you and your clients 24/7 access to important documents.

Unlock valuable client insights

While signing and adding documents is the gateway to the portal, there is much to be discovered about clients once their assets and accounts are added. Accountants can unearth unmet needs (opportunities) using the portal’s powerful analytics to generate new revenue streams, while providing clients with the best technology to oversee their entire financial world.

Continuing to build our ‘whole of wealth’ platform

With more and more households and clients joining myprosperity everyday, it’s important to us that we deliver a streamlined digital experience that delights and inspires, bringing their financial world into one place. FYI plays an important role in accelerating our vision for a ‘whole of wealth’ approach to financial services. But myprosperity’s workflow automation doesn’t stop here. Our team is determined to continue developing solutions that cut down accountant’s time spent on the mundane tasks. Our partnerships with leading software providers are what makes myprosperity an invaluable asset for the tech-led firm. I’m proud to see our integrations with the likes of Xero, BGL, and now FYI deliver tangible results as accountants draw together valuable insights in myprosperity and deliver meaningful outcomes to their clients.

If you would like an advanced screening of how FYI and myprosperity can transform your business please book a demo.

This week I had the pleasure of joining the XY Podcast, hosted by Fraser Jack, Head of Media for XY Adviser. In a series of five episodes, Deeper client relationships at scale, Fraser sat down with four advisers and experts to better understand how they build deeper client relationships, and how having the right systems, processes and technology helps them achieve scale. It was brilliant to hear from them and how they work behind the scenes to create the magic they deliver for their clients. After beginning my career in FinTech with MYOB, I joined myprosperity in the early days as the Territory Manager when there were only seven other employees. It’s been amazing to see our client portal solution for accountants and advisers grow, and as the Head of Wealth I love getting to know our community of financial professionals that value innovation at the core of their practice.

The series kicks off with Conrad Francis, Director of Inspired Money in Perth, WA. He shared valuable points on taking a goals-based approach to advice, which begins with gathering high-quality information about your client and “diagnosing before advising” in those early days in order to yield great results for them. Fraser also spoke with Conrad about the technology he uses to scale his practice and simultaneously deliver better outcomes for his clients. His beliefs on implementing the right technology to do the heavy lifting align with our philosophy here at myprosperity. “At its best, technology should be used to eliminate the busy work and allow advisers to focus on the clients’ goals,” said Conrad.

Another powerhouse in the game is Nicole Stuart, National Client and Compliance Manager for King Financial. Her perspectives on solid processes and systems as the foundation of a dependable compliance program were very insightful, and as you’ll hear, she talks about the importance of frequent process reviews to ensure efficiencies stay effective. With these processes in place, technology and automation are used to ease the burden. She attributes King Financial’s ability to expand and acquire multiple firms over the years to their sound integration process which involves assessing existing systems and cost structures, while comparing and implementing what works. This process takes place over a 12-month hand-over period that helps clients transition in a way that builds trust and confidence when working with new advisers. Nicole notes that communication is vital during this period, as keeping in regular contact with clients helps them to better adapt to changes, whether it be processes or technology.

Director and Principal Adviser of Fenton Financial, Andy Fenton is an experienced podcaster in his own right as co-host of Wealth, Wine and Wisdom. Speaking with Fraser, Andy highlights the importance of automated processes being as simple as possible, and how removing repetition from the advice process allows for greater focus on the client. With 90 per cent of his meetings and interactions now online, it lends itself to more focused and efficient advice giving. He also shares with us how his practice embraced technology in order to scale up, mainly through online courses and training, digital business management, videography and content creation.

Rounding out the four adviser interviews, Fraser spoke with Caren Hendrie, Business Growth Adviser and Trainer of Business Growth Group. Caren highlights the three most important factors in scale; systems, communication and technology. She also stresses the importance of focusing on improving one aspect at a time, rather than attempting to tackle all three at the same time. As far as communication is concerned, Caren shares that most clients want the human element from financial services that robo-advice cannot deliver – that feeling of importance and being valued. I couldn’t agree more with this, and it reminds me of a quote by Maya Angelou: “I’ve learnt that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” With the sheer volume of work that advisers have to do, scale becomes so important, especially for those firms who invest in the processes and tech stack earlier rather than later. People want someone that understands them. You can’t build trust with tech, tech is the enabler for human involvement to amplify client relationships. It’s important to keep in mind that technology can’t replace the human element, but instead can complement it.

And wrapping up this stellar series, Fraser and I had a great chat about how technology can not only help you create a consistent client experience but can also lead to deeper, more personalised client interactions. I also spoke about how some of our partners at myprosperity have implemented this philosophy using our client portal solution. The series goes live on June 17 and you can listen to it here. A special thanks to Fraser and the team at XY Adviser for putting together this great series for all the XY listeners out there. Happy listening!

When it comes to managing the portfolios of senior Australians, it can be easy to make assumptions about your clients’ level of technological literacy. What if I told you that this demographic is just as eager as any other to engage with their advisers through technology? Are you meeting your clients’ digital expectations?

Stereotypes of the past have painted the over 65 demographic as one that is resistant to technology uptake, but this narrative does not serve to benefit these Australians who actually express a keen interest in engaging with the digital world. The Australian government’s ‘Be Connected’ program – aimed at developing older Australians’ digital skills was extended at the start of this year for a further three years, evidencing an eagerness among seniors to improve digital literacy. Pre-Covid, National Seniors conducted a study of over 4,500 Australians aged 50+, which revealed that 68 per cent of respondents do not get frustrated using new technology and two thirds of respondents said they do not think technology is exclusive to younger generations. One respondent even commented, “Many of us are beyond good and would rate ourselves as excellent (when using technology day-to-day).”

Seniors have embraced technology to access products and services. The onset of the pandemic last year pushed this along, resulting in a big uptake in the access to remote services including telehealth, grocery contactless delivery, paying bills and online banking. In fact, 29 per cent of seniors aged 70 to 79 reported using the internet for banking once a week. In July 2020, Australian research from the Global Centre for Modern Ageing found that on top of the 43 per cent who already felt confident with technology, 23 per cent of Australians over the age of 60 had used a new technology in the last few months, and more than one in three overall were “more confident” with technology now than they did before Covid. So there’s evidence that senior clients are eager to use technology to access services, including financial services. It’s essential that advisers and accountants alike are doing all they can to meet their senior clients’ financial needs using technology.

A long-term partner of myprosperity is advisory firm Financial Lifestyle Managers (FLM), directed by Louise Parker. With over 20 years in financial planning and experience working with both AMP and Westpac, Louise is passionate about maintaining long-term relationships with her clients. “I have a mostly retired client base and a lot of them are ex-police, so for me to gain their trust makes my life so much easier,” she says. When it comes to managing her senior clients’ portfolios, Louise knows her clients want their information to be secure. “I’ve moved away from email completely. As I’ve said to my clients, everything goes through the chat because if I do it through an email, somebody could be hacked or scammed and their privacy is gone. It’s a portal that is as secure as a bank.”

So, how can we support our senior clients in accessing financial services using technology? It begins with meeting clients where they are. A study of senior Australians and their digital behaviours revealed that 57 per cent of Australians aged between 70 and 79 have access to a smartphone. I can also attest to this mobile uptake among senior clients, as we have seen over 1400 downloads of the app by users aged 65 and over. Despite varying levels of tech literacy, Louise is pleased to find all her clients are able to use various portal features and tools, and enjoy the great snapshot of their wealth that the FLM branded app provides.

The goal setting feature is a favourite for Louise’s clients to check in on their financial goals in between review meetings, “Say, they want to go on a holiday or save for a house, they can link their goal to a bank account and track it.” We’ve also seen great uptake of digital docs with over 20,280 digital documents uploaded to the myprosperity client portal and 3,734 docs signed by our users over the age of 65.

Older Australians are avid users of technology and it’s up to their trusted financial advisors and accountants to meet their expectations with digital solutions that engage and enhance their experience. As someone who has used myprosperity for a number of years to elevate her practices, Louise commented on her experience with myprosperity, “It’s made my business so efficient. It pays for itself ten times over. Due to myprosperity, my efficiencies have made FLM one of the most profitable in my licensee.”