The news comes as the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) warns advisers they are 300 times more likely to be hacked than other types of firms outside the industry.

It also comes just weeks after Australia’s corporate regulators ASIC announced enhanced cyber security and resilience was one of its top four priorities in its Annual Report for 2022^[1].

Practifi Protect features monitoring reports that allow advisers to view file access, user logins, report downloads, and page views .

Umesh Banga, Senior Director, Go-to-Market for Practifi said arming firms with the ability to monitor activity and track who is accessing the platform in real-time is critical in addition to being able to identify and flag any suspicious behaviour.

“We have seen first-hand the challenges that some of Australia’s largest corporate firms like Optus^[2] and Medibank^[3] have faced with recent cyber breaches and the financial advice industry is no different,” Mr. Banga said.

“It has been said that there are two types of advice firms; those who have faced a cyber-attack and those that will. As gatekeepers to the personal data of millions of investors, advisers are right to be concerned about threats from cybercriminals who are trying to break into the data advisers manage.”

With a focus on providing enterprise-grade data encryption, event monitoring and field audit history to guard client data, Protect offers an additional layer of security for firms that desire more control and oversight. That means financial advisers can rely on an additional layer of security for all sensitive client and firm data stored in the platform, even when it’s not actively being used, Mr. Banga added.

“Staying ahead of cyber criminals is difficult and relies on a whole business approach that includes educating workers on how to be safe online as well as embracing the best technology available. We know this keeps our clients up at night, so we created a product to help ease concerns about cyber criminals as the workforce remains largely remote,” Mr. Banga said.

“The financial and reputational costs of not taking responsibility and precautions with sensitive data are steep. Technology partners can help advice firms better manage and shoulder the burden of ongoing cyber threats to their business.”

Figures from the Australian Cyber Security Centre, released this month, found a total of 76,000 reports of cybercrime in Australia during 2022^[4], a concerning 13 percent rise in 12 months. The Annual Threat Report complements data released by Axiado earlier this year which found 67% of business-impacting cyber attacks targeted remote workers.^[5]

Banga said Protect was designed to build on the enterprise-grade security features embedded in the Practifi platform and help address heightened security risks posed by an increasingly remote employee workforce. It uses encryption to secure health history, account balances, insurance policies, wealth information, and any other personally identifiable information that may be stored in company systems.

“According to the ABS^[6], 41% of working Australians regularly worked from home over the last 12 months. However, unsafe Wi-Fi networks, personal device usage, email scams and weaker security control have all led to an increase in cyber attacks amongst remote workers,” said Mr. Banga.

“For many businesses, remote work is here to stay, but with it comes additional vulnerabilities, especially for those handling personally identifiable information. These businesses can best protect themselves by expanding how they approach data protection and security.”

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[1] https://download.asic.gov.au/media/10dg0aqv/asic-annual-report-2021-22_full.pdf
[2] https://www.optus.com.au/about/media-centre/media-releases/2022/09/optus-notifies-customers-of-cyberattack
[3] https://www.medibank.com.au/livebetter/newsroom/post/medibank-cyber-incident-response
[4] https://www.cyber.gov.au/acsc/view-all-content/news/launch-annual-threat-report 
[5] https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/03/07/remote-work-has-led-to-a-cybercrime-boom-heres-how-to-stop-it/?sh=72e85c5e2f6a
[6] https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/earnings-and-working-conditions/characteristics-employment-australia/latest-release

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Known as Practifi Propel, the unified analytics solution will be available to licensees, financial advisers and enterprise firms across the region.

Practifi Propel provides a data processing framework that organises and snapshots the Practifi data model, surfacing valuable insights through industry-specific power dashboards.

Commenting on the announcement, Umesh Banga, Senior Director, Go-To-Market for Practifi in Asia Pacific, said, “data-led decision-making is one of the fundamental challenges that business leaders face due to siloed technology and disparate data systems.”

“Key decision makers of today’s leading wealth management firms recognise the role that data plays in the advice businesses of tomorrow,” Mr. Banga said.

“Many dealer groups, licensees, and financial advisers struggle to make informed decisions regarding clients, profitability and overall business health. Furthermore, decision-makers are not the real users of the tools and/or processes; rather, they are concerned with the outcome. For the same reason, Propel includes prebuilt dashboards so you can start gaining insights right away. Essentially, uncovering the answers you want, using the tools you already have.”

The prebuilt Propel dashboard enables business leaders to manage client books, risks and focus on profitability. Data is the heart of Propel, with the ability to monitor client demographics like age, funds under management, and tenure. This puts data at the centre of every customer relationship, ultimately delivering more personalised experiences.

With an intuitive design, it provides firms with visibility over prospects, existing clients and other key metrics, with a top-down view of annualised existing servicing costs, revenue and gross profit.

The offering helps wealth management firms focus on monitoring the quality of new business and track organic growth, Mr. Banga added.

“When I talk to business leaders across the wealth management industry, the challenge I see time and again is how firms are struggling to truly future-proof themselves by incorporating crucial business data to ensure everything stays on track,” Mr. Banga said.

“Even when systems are well and truly integrated, gaining meaningful insights from data can be difficult if the data infrastructure and product design aren’t thought through.”

“As a result, many business leaders can’t make quick, informed decisions when it matters most. We realised an opportunity to enact real change by leveraging the power of the platform’s analytics to create an exciting new data analytics solution and we’re thrilled to be delivering that today with Practifi Propel.”

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Umesh Banga will become the Senior Director, Go-To-Market for Practifi, with accountability for the Practifi product offering in Australia, New Zealand and the APAC region. Since joining Practifi in December, Mr. Banga has worked closely with Practifi’s client success, professional services, sales and product teams to deliver successful outcomes and exceptional service to financial advisers.

In his new executive-level role, Mr. Banga will be responsible for the Australian product strategy with accountabilities touching sales, product strategy, and professional services across APAC.

Commenting on the announcement, Practifi President and Co-Founder Adrian Johnstone said Mr. Banga had made an incredibly valuable contribution to Practifi since joining last year.

“Mr. Banga is a consummate professional of the highest calibre, and we’re excited to announce his promotion to Senior Director, overseeing our go-to-market strategy for Practifi in Asia Pacific,” Mr. Johnstone said.

“In this new leadership role, Umesh is charged with evolving an already enterprise-grade platform to ensure access to the most scalable, integrated and secure platform available.”

“Umesh will work closely with industry and technology providers to bring life to the genuine best-of-breed technology stack the industry has craved.”

Practifi President and Co-Founder Adrian Johnstone said the appointment reflects Practifi’s strategy to bring globally proven technology and expertise to the advice and superannuation industries.

“Practifi has been investing heavily in its core product offering to ensure we continue to deliver on our commitment as Australia’s leading enterprise platform across wealth management and superannuation sectors,” Mr. Johnstone said.

“Umesh’s promotion reflects the success that Practifi has had over the last 12 months as we continue to invest in our firm’s growth and product offerings. We are confident he will continue delivering on Practifi’s high standards as he steps into his new role.”

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Adrian Johnstone

Australian enterprise-grade technology platform for financial advice businesses, Practifi, has announced plans to expand further into the Australian market following extensive investment into its data-driven wealth management platform.

Practifi has completed an overhaul of the platform based on its global experience and success in the U.S. market to now bring best practice to Australia. The platform delivers role-based applications that power every role in the firm, providing each team member access to the unique set of data they need to make better data-driven decisions.

Since completing its AUD 24M Series B investment led by U.S.-based venture capital firm Updata Partners in 2020, Practifi has invested heavily in building out a platform that can help change the industry in Australia based on global best practice.

Commenting on the announcement, President and Co-Founder Adrian Johnstone said, “People talk about how the advice industry in Australia needs to change, but a lot of this boils down to the technology and the tools that drive it. Financial advice is a technology-enabled industry so this must change for the industry to thrive here. Practifi is not simply an advice or CRM platform; we are an end-to-end business performance optimisation tool.”

Adrian continued, “The advice industry here in Australia has been in turmoil but the firms that have emerged strongest are those with a value proposition that goes well beyond basic transactional advice where adviser success is tied to the performance of the portfolio. Advice businesses with a deep and holistic understanding of clients will thrive, and all others will continue to contract.”

The plans to expand in the Australian market follow the success of the Practifi business in global markets where it has seen three quarters of record growth.

In December 2021, Practifi announced the appointment of Umesh Banga as Director, Advice Solutions – APAC. In his new role, Umesh is responsible for partnering with client success, professional services as well as supporting product teams to deliver the platform to the Australian market. In addition, Practifi welcomed Paige Johnson to the team as Director of Strategic Partnerships and Alliances earlier this month, bringing over 20 years of experience and long-standing relationships across the industry to Practifi’s leadership team.

Built on the world’s No. 1 enterprise cloud, Practifi is secure, reliable, and massively scalable. With an extensive list of industry features and integration capabilities, Practifi has a library of ever-growing APIs and best-in-class integration partners such as leading financial planning and wealth management software provider, XPLAN.

In Australia, Practifi already boasts clients such as HPH Solutions who commented on their own use of Pracitifi, “My dream advice firm is one where I understand everything that’s going on. Practifi has definitely helped me get closer to that vision,” shared Robert Pyne, Managing Director of HPH Solutions. “Practifi helps us problem solve and figure out the solutions with us. That’s been fundamental.”

Adrian added the next 12 months will be another important period for Practifi as the company looks to execute on its global growth strategy and accelerates its vision for the Australian market. “Our strategic focus is on making the market aware of the value of data-driven logic across all roles. This year we will also be launching a comprehensive business intelligence platform, a new app dedicated to supporting M&A and growth activities and many new integrations. We’re excited to power more possibilities for the industry and provide the technology data-driven businesses need to scale and accelerate.”

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FOFA debate is holding the industry back: PractFi

The creators of an award-winning client management tool for financial advisers have said that the ongoing regulatory debate distracts advisers from what’s truly important to their business: their client relationships. Additionally, the industry needs to catch up with contemporary standards of CRM technology in order to regain ground lost over recent years.

Co-founder of PractiFI, Adrian Johnstone, said that if advisers harnessed the best technology to manage relationships, engagement between the industry and clients would improve.

“Every adviser wants good relationships with their clients, and the average Australian doesn’t know or care about FOFA. But for those of us in the industry, FOFA has dominated the conversation and our attention for far too long. We’ve missed a huge opportunity for technological advancement in the single most important aspect of our businesses: our client relationships.

Mr Johnstone said that although the wealth industry has typically spent big on technology^[1], the proliferation of out dated, inflexible software is evidence that the industry has fallen behind what’s possible.

“The number one aim of PractiFI is to bring the best of contemporary CRM features to a neglected industry, allowing advisers to strengthen their relationships and improve business management.”

PractiFI is a flexible cloud system that allows anyone who provides financial advice to manage what is most important in their business: their client relationships. PractiFI provides a genuine technology alternative for financial planners, licencees, accountants, super funds, mortgage brokers and insurance brokers.

Co-founder and CEO, Glenn Elliott, said PractiFI is backed by the power of Salesforce, which is the market leader in the CRM thanks to its robust platform and rich features.

“PractiFI lives on the Salesforce1 Platform because it’s the best cloud around. High performing, massively scalable and secure, it just works.

“Salesforce spans the needs of SMEs right up to large enterprises. But for most advice firms, undertaking the necessary customisation is complex and costly. So we’ve used the flexibility of Salesforce to create an advice practice management solution that brings the relationships across a practice’s client base to life. We’ve put the client and everything about them — conversations, calls, file notes, documentation, agreements, advice written, tasks and more — upfront. Para-planning tools and processes, along with the transactional SOA/ROA, are back-office outputs.

“Planning is about so much more than just producing statements of advice, so we’ve created a tool that way around, then wrapped it in a beautiful user experience.”

Mr Elliott said feedback has been extremely positive amongst clients and the Salesforce community. Having tasted success at Dreamforce 2013 in San Francisco for its groundbreaking user experience, PractiFI recently picked up a second award at the OzForce event in Sydney showcasing Australian innovation on the Salesforce1 Platform.

“We set out to create an elegant, indeed beautiful, solution to the task of managing the core business of financial advice: client relationships. The great feedback we’ve received from the industry tells us that we’re on the right track.”

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[1] http://www.afr.com/p/technology/slowing_finance_sector_still_drives_umlJC89rKH8Pgn0iVvIdEN

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