Fund managers have developed and grown their products and services beyond traditional boundaries and made moves into e-commerce well before the Internet according to Macquarie Bank executive director Bruce Terry.
Examples of this include the access to mainframe computer systems to view client account information and the private networks of the past.
“Services have shifted from these networks to the Internet where they complement the brochure ware that is typical of most company websites,” Terry says.
“Comfort levels with using the Internet to conduct business have increased and the trend will continue with the increase in the usage of these services.”
As adviser’s preference to use the Web also grows products and services are evolving to support the adviser’s relationship with their clients, Terry says.
These products and services can be broken down into five categories; transactional, reporting, product searching, research/technical and tools and education.
However BT senior vice president Peter Horne says the future offers an even wider landscape and e-commerce should drop the ‘e’ as technology has become an essential key in doing business.
At the same time Horne says while there is an endless stream of analysis on the future of technology, people still remain uncertain about what the future holds and are even less comfortable about planning for future changes.
“Most analysis focuses on specific examples rather than presenting frameworks that can be used to position and understand new technology as it unfolds,” Horne says.
“The aim is to challenge the paradox and present a framework that can be used to understand and plan for change.”
Horne says the future will be underlined by the simple assertion that “if it can – it will” as businesses offer new ways to work and trade. For example Horne says that “If it can be distributed on the web, it will be” and “If the customer can control it, they will control it.”
Using this framework Horne says planners can evaluate emerging technologies and trends such as online advice and take practical steps to position their own business to be ready to offer such future services.
Bruce Terry and Peter Horne will expand these points on Saturday from 11;15am.
