Dr Irene Guiamatsia
Leading research firm Investment Trends has released its 2022 Adviser and Advice Technology Report, the most comprehensive study of Advice Tech Providers in Australia.
The benchmark survey of five ‘end-to-end’ providers, fifteen ‘application solution’ providers, six ‘digital advice’ providers and two ‘investment platforms,’ examines each the various offerings against a unifying paradigm of each key component on the financial advice process.
Developed in conjunction with Finura Group, this new report provides a roadmap of participants’ current capabilities and most recent developments along with commentary from both Investment Trends and Finura on each provider’s offer.
“One of the key takeaways from this research is just how vast the technology landscape has become,” said Finura’s Danni Le Grande. “With so many different products on the market, it’s no wonder decision-making can be such a daunting task for advice practices. Our hope is that by sharing our findings and insights, we can help inform this process and empower advisers to make the best decisions when it comes to choosing their technology partners.”
The report noted that many global players feature among the rapidly growing set of advice planning software solution providers catering to Australian financial advisers, in part a result of a quest for scale.
User research by Investment Trends suggests advisers are evenly split on whether the source of truth for data should be platforms or planning software. From the supply-side standpoint, the lines are indeed increasingly blurred. The investment platforms that participated in this survey have developed increasingly sophisticated advice tech functionality, and on some aspects compare favourably against some ‘end-to-end’ providers.
“It is difficult to see how far this trend will continue. Many of the ‘jobs’ traditionally done by planning software (or advice tech providers) are the ones for which advisers are most interested in seeing investment platforms enhance their capabilities,” commented Investment Trends’ Irene Guiamatsia.
The report examines in depth the leading providers (both heritage and new) of Digital Advice offerings and provides invaluable insight into current capabilities in recent developments in this developing area.
“A distinct feature of digital advice solutions is the deliberate focus on superannuation funds or larger licensees as primary target users,” said Guiamatsia. “This is in near-perfect congruence with some of the key recommendations of the Quality of Advice Review Final Report.”
The report provides a detailed examination of each Digital Advice provider’s capabilities and where they fit in the ‘jobs to be done’ framework.