Wayne Wilson

knowIT Group has rebranded Strategy Steps’ Desk Caddie as wealthdigital and enhanced and refreshed the website in order to deliver better work solutions for advisers.

“The new features will help improve practice efficiency and help achieve compliance with regulatory requirements. wealthdigital provides an essential integrated business solution that’s easier for advisers to use, allowing them more time to increase the profitability of their business,” said Wayne Wilson, CEO of knowIT Group.

“wealthdigital will still be powered by Desk Caddie, and Desk Caddie’s content will remain as up-to-date and dependable as ever, including delivering ongoing analysis of legislative changes and their impacts on financial planning strategies in a timely and accurate way.

“Over time, users will notice that Desk Caddie becomes progressively superior as we implement the improvements that advisers have said they need in order to run efficient and profitable practices,” Mr Wilson said.

wealthdigital will combine research, planning and strategy features as well as workflow and management tools. These include:

• A solution that is flexible, efficient and simple
• An integrated technology platform
• A solution based on advice and client goals, not products.

The wealthdigital refresh has seen the Desk Caddie content reorganised and re-labelled in a few places – Latest News becomes Updates and there is a new tab called Newsletters. Newsletters will now become key to delivering valuable technical and business insights. Prominent new navigation will help make the transition a smooth one.

“A new home page will outline the changes and inside, the more logically-ordered content will be more easily tracked via clear new menus and beefed up search functionality.

“Over time, these changes will become more intuitive as we broaden and deepen the content and introduce a new taxonomy and labelling system.

“All of these changes are aimed at helping advisers achieve a more profitable practice with better business outcomes,” Mr Wilson said.

Mr Wilson said the flow-on effect will provide a number of benefits including:

Time

“wealthdigitial streamlines the advice process by creating a simpler, faster way to research, compile and present strategy solutions for clients.

“This means advisers will have more time to focus on client needs, work on attracting new business, market the practice or update their professional knowledge,” Mr Wilson said.

Smarter workflow

“The difference with wealthdigital is that it starts before the other tools kick in – with strategy,” said Mr Wilson.

“The Strategy Matrix is a Goals-Based Strategy Planning Tool that supports your strategy modelling before any numbers are included.”

A better focus on relationships

Mr Wilson said that wealthdigital allows advisers to consider strategies that are broader and more diverse.

“This puts the focus back on individual needs, requiring less time crunching numbers.”

Consistency of quality advice and outstanding service

“wealthdigital provides a comprehensive range of tools and calculators – from quick calculators to the Strategy Matrix which is a Goals-Based Strategy Planner that allows advisers to model client scenarios with specific regard to meeting your Best Interests Duty and other compliance requirements.”

Mr Wilson said these changes allow for a more efficiently managed business

“wealthdigital provides more certainty around remaining compliant, allowing advisers more time to focus on maintaining clients and gaining new ones.”Strategy Steps was sold to knowIT Group – owned by Wayne Wilson, Wendy

Strategy Steps was sold to knowIT Group – owned by Wayne Wilson, Wendy Tyberek and Andrew Roberts – in late 2016. The name change and the improved functionality is part of knowIT’s ongoing strategy of redeveloping the relevance and reach of Desk Caddie to better meet adviser demands. The refreshed system will be available to users on 6 March 2017.

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Wayne Wilson

With an increasing demand for aged care advice solutions, Louise Biti and Assyat David are pleased to announce the sale of Strategy Steps to knowIT group owned by Wayne Wilson, Wendy Tyberek and Andrew Roberts.

This strategic sale allows Louise and Assyat to fully focus on expanding their Aged Care Steps business and will allow a new direction to be taken with Strategy Steps to support its deeper integration into financial planning processes.

knowIT Group is a software product and services company that specialises in online tools and learning for the financial services industry. The Strategy Steps’ online tool Desk Caddie® will form a central component of this business.

Desk Caddie provides practical support in simple English to help develop financial planning strategies for clients. It is accessed by around 4,000 financial advisers, keeping them up-to-date with the latest legislation and news as well as tips to maximise business opportunities in client reviews.

The sale is effective from 1 October 2016 and the existing Strategy Steps team will maintain the content of Desk Caddie for six months to ensure an easy transition and no disruption to the service.

Ms David said they have developed Strategy Steps to a level of maturity and is excited by the future possibilities for the continued development that can be achieved by knowIT.

“If we are to take Aged Care Steps to a position where it can meet its ever growing potential in supporting aged care advice, it needs our full time attention.

“In selling Strategy Steps to knowIT, we are confident it is in the care of a group that has the experience, knowledge and ability to maintain the high levels of strategic analysis that our clients have come to expect as well as further improve and expand the range of services,” Ms David said.

Wayne Wilson, CEO of knowIT Group, said it had looked at a number of elearning and online management systems for financial planners before deciding on the acquisition of Strategy Steps.

“There is no other product like Desk Caddie in the market, and it has no direct competition. It is used by major financial institutions, with 73 corporate clients. It is already used by 4000 planners in Australia, but there is still opportunity to embed Strategy Steps more deeply into the wealth advice market.”

“knowIT intends to redevelop the technology and reach of Strategy Steps to build deeper penetration into the wealth sector as well as to lead the company into new industry segments,” Mr Wilson said.

knowIT Group is a software product and services company that specializes in online tools and learning in the financial services industry.

Strategy Steps is a financial planning support business. Its Desk Caddie® is an online service for advisers that provides practical support to help develop financial planning strategies for clients, provides up to date news, as well as tips for client reviews.

Aged Care Steps focuses on supporting the financial services and aged care communities in relation to advice to older Australians and their families on options for accessing and funding for aged care, both in the home and in residential services.

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