Ian Dunbar
Financial services businesses that focus on boosting consumer engagement by embracing digital innovation such as mobile meeting rooms will represent the next generation of customer service, according to Ian Dunbar, CEO of fintech SuiteBox, with several financial advisory firms recently signing up to use its virtual meeting room tool in Australia and New Zealand.
Ian Dunbar, CEO of SuiteBox said: “Business that evolve with technology and embrace technological innovations ahead of their competitors will be the ones to more effectively engage existing clients and attract new ones in the coming year,” Dunbar said.
“By offering something as simple as a virtual meeting room, professional service providers can dramatically boost client engagement, far more effectively than through a sterile email conversation or impersonal phone call.
“Financial advisers or mortgage brokers, for example, who adopt virtual meeting rooms and make more personal contact with clients represent the next generation advice or service model and they will have an easier time engaging people, including millennials, who demand the latest technological innovations,” he said.
SuiteBox has just completed a $1.5 million capital raising, bringing on a South African financial services Moonstone Information Refinery firm as a 10% shareholder. The company has raised about $4.5 million since it was founded in 2013 and is targeting $1 million annualised revenue in the next six months. SuiteBox hopes to achieve profitability in 2017, which will set it apart from many other fintech start-ups that run at significant losses.
Stephen Hunt, Head of Training, Education & Licensing with financial planning group Bridges, said SuiteBox’s virtual meeting room technology allows more flexible engagement with clients. “Bridges is one of Australia’s most geographically diverse licensees with a large representation in regional areas, so SuiteBox will enable us to deliver our professional advice solutions with greater reach and efficiency than can be achieved via traditional methods.
“In looking for ways to enhance the way our advisers engage with clients, efficiency and a digital platform were important considerations. The SuiteBox meeting platform offered those components and more,” Hunt said. “You can even conduct annual reviews with your client when its suits them by simply sending a link via email. This link activates a video meeting at a pre-arranged time, enabling an immediate conversation.”
Brent McGregor, Head of Service & Sales with New Zealand Financial Services Group (NZFSG), said SuiteBox’s technology has enabled his business to boost customer satisfaction and save costs.
“We have improved not only client satisfaction, but the productivity of our own business. Virtual meeting rooms eliminate the need for the client to travel hours to attend a meeting, which is time consuming and costly. SuiteBox’s tools enable our business to move ahead more quickly with transactions and clients appreciate this efficiency and personal contact,” said McGregor.
Dunbar said advances in internet speeds are allowing smoother virtual meetings. SuiteBox’s superior technology avoids common problems with other video software such as meetings dropping out at crucial moments. “We are living much of our lives over the internet – but businesses can still do so much more to speed up their operations while using the internet to download and share information immediately,” he said.
“Whether you are a financial adviser or a mortgage broker, leveraging technology in your business will enable you to achieve greater levels of engagement and satisfaction, deepening the client relationship,” said Dunbar.
According to recently released data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the total volume of data downloaded on the Internet in the three months ended 30 June 2016 was 2.1 million Terabytes (or 2.1 Exabytes), a 22.3 per cent increase in data downloads when compared with the three months ended 31 December 2015.
As virtual meeting room technology takes off in Australia and NZ, and next generation advice businesses such as NZFSG and Bridges grow in number, the volume of data being downloaded would explode further, Dunbar said.
“SuiteBox’s digital workspace will help you to avoid the painful process of sending emails back and forth with documents to be signed then scanned. This can take days to complete – while financial markets are moving. But our e-signature solution enables you to meet in real time online and complete transactions, wherever you are in the world,” said Dunbar.
