Platform satisfaction continues to decline

Adviser satisfaction on their platform provider has continued to fall as there is significant room for improvement, according to Investment Trends. 

The latest adviser technology report by the research house found 28% of surveyed advisers rated their main platform as ‘very good’, a fall from 30% last year. It said satisfaction had been on the downward trend since 2014. 

Advisers did, however, remain highly satisfied with their main platform’s online transaction capabilities (49% rate it as ‘very good’), ease of use (44%) and level of fees (42%). 

Investment Trends senior analyst, Bailey Hao, said: “The challenging business conditions brought by the pandemic has undoubtedly put pressure on platforms to maintain high service levels to advisers and their clients. 

“While platforms serve advisers well in many areas, there is still significant room for improvement. Our satisfaction gap analysis highlights that adviser-facing support services should be a focus area – especially the call centre. 

“Since advisers most prefer to turn to their platform’s call centre for their support needs, platforms must devote more attention to improving their contact centre experience given its integral role in lifting overall satisfaction ratings.”  

The research house also found that Netwealth was the highest rated platform by overall satisfaction at (80%), followed by HUB24 (78%), BT Panorama (75%), CFS FirstChoice (73%), and Macquarie Wrap (73%). 

Netwealth was also rated highest for ‘value for money’ and BT Panorama for best mobile access/app.