Advisories will adapt or die to open data ecosystems

One of the most future-defining choices an advisory can take is whether to continue down the path of customised technology solutions or to buy into an open cloud-based data ecosystem.

Speaking at the IMAP InvestTech Virtual Conference, Peter Worn, Finura Group joint managing director, said a lot of advice industry innovation came from customised tools but it came at a slow pace as businesses took time to adopt solutions.

“What's awesome in our opinion, is that the ecosystems… that have been offered by Microsoft, Google and to a lesser extent, Amazon – they’re giving people the ability to build their own custom applications in a much more cost-effective way,” he said.

Worn said the open ecosystems came with better data security and user interfaces and that there would be a growing trend for “low-code development” where solutions could be delivered with minimal code, pressuring older technology providers to keep up.

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He said technology decisions in the financial services industry had been driven by banks and large advice licensees, but the status quo was beginning to change as the industry fragmented into smaller players and adviser numbers fell – driving a need for greater efficiency from all market participants.

“The decisions you make are really important from this point on because, in many ways, the technology approach that you use in your business will be a bit of a differentiator to your operating model,” he said.

“And for anyone that’s experimented with technology or tried some different things, and it hasn’t gone well, you understand the challenges if you make the wrong call.”

The most interesting trend facing the industry over the next three to four years, according to Worn, was the effect that tech giants could have on customer relationship manager (CRM) software through open data sharing.

“Clients are going to be [authorising] to share data with you, organisations have to get better at sharing data,” he said.

“So ultimately, a lot of the work that particularly Microsoft and Amazon are doing is working out how to permission and share data in a more effective way, effectively rendering some of the CRM functions irrelevant.”