DASH chief executive, Andrew Whelan, has shared his plans for improving advice technology as the company secures venture funding capital.
The firm announced this week that it had finalised investment of an undisclosed sum from Australian venture capital firm CoAct to provide solutions to advisers and licensees.
The funding would allow DASH to transform how advice was delivered; streamline the advice process and implementation workflows; and increase productivity which aimed to reduce administrative burden and costs.
Speaking to Money Management, Whelan said: “When you seek venture capital, you have to be very clear about what you want to use the money for and the impact it will have on the business. We want to build software that will integrate the platform with the financial planning software, which hasn’t been done before.
“Currently, advisers have one financial planning software such as Iress or Midwinter and then use multiple different platforms which means they need to keep re-entering the information. Advisers are desperate for a solution that covers all areas in one, they have said it will be a ‘holy grail’ if we can get it done.”
Whelan said he welcomed Michelle Levy’s comments earlier this year in the Quality of Advice (QOA) Review regarding the use of technology in the financial advice space, and he hoped it would prompt greater innovation.
In her final report, Levy stated she believed digital tools would be key to allowing Australians to access affordable advice given the exodus of human advisers.
DASH already offered a digital statement of advice but said many firms were reluctant to change their systems as they were either fearful of making a compliance mistake or had too little time to implement a big change in their work process.
“It is hard to offer them a way to make a big change because they are already so busy.
“[After QOA changes,] planners will have the headspace to make changes in their systems because they won’t [be] constantly chasing their tails. Currently, it is fear-based; they are worried about getting marched to court by ASIC for getting compliance wrong.
“It is hard to do creativity and compliance at the same time, and that has hurt innovation for the last decade or more.”
The firm, which was formed through the merger of WealthO2, NEO and ROAR, recently marked its one-year anniversary. While Whelan said it was still “early days”, he noted the progress the business had made towards its goals.
This included eight senior hires earlier this year including Tim Rogers from BT Financial Group as head of distribution, Sarah Cagnacci from Evergreen Consultants as head of marketing, and roles in operations and development.
