A desire to give its 400 financial planners access to a web-based service has prompted Genesys Wealth Advisers to sign Xplan and drop VisiPlan as its advisory software provider.
The roll out of Xplan is due to be complete by the end of the year.
“A key aspect is that [Xplan] is centralised, so rather than having 150 members with their own software, this all runs from one office for the whole group, which advisers can access on the Internet. So it gives the dealer and the advisers immediate efficiency gains and significant cost savings,” said Genesys chief operating officer Paul Campbell.
According to Campbell, IWL-owned VisiPlan does not yet have the technology to provide a centralised web-based software solution.
“It’s the way of the future. Coin, for example, are going that way as well,” he said.
“[VisiPlan] are obviously trying to get there, but it’s an older based technology.”
Campbell said Genesys’ existing customer relations practice management tool, Atlas, would be easily integrated into Xplan’s web-based package.
He also sighted Xplan’s high connectivity to direct equities as a plus.
Xplan technical development manager Andrew Walsh said the provision of a web-based advisory software service saved planners time and money.
“All that our competitors provide are desktop software solutions that require the adviser to purchase and maintain hardware and apply software upgrades, and that takes the focus away from that they do — financial planning.
“In this solution, Xplan is providing a managed service that is deployed to users via the Internet. But while there are lots of efficiencies in this software, there are also incredible cost savings.”
Xplan currently provides planning software to just under 300 dealer groups.
According to Walsh, Xplan currently has a market share of approximately 20 per cent of available market revenue.
