Change is a 'major hurdle' for advisers – even if there's an upside

The mortgage adviser industry is notoriously paperwork heavy, and with a new incoming compliance regime, the workload is only set to increase.

According to Ryan Edwards of The Adviser Platform (TAP), adviser support software is slowly gaining traction and making some steady strides forward. However, most of it still relies on the adviser to migrate all data and ensure the system is running correctly – as a result, most advisers find it easier to simply stick with what they know, even if it is less efficient in the long run.

“Change is often seen as a major hurdle, even if there is a significant upside,” Edwards told NZ Adviser. “Adding another staff member isn’t always a viable option for advisers, so the status quo remains. We’ve spoken with dozens of advisers who either have no tangible system at all, or are running several different systems to try and keep across their burgeoning client base.”

“Advisers have a growing need for back office support, and expanding an existing support team often comes with significant HR hurdles that most advisers would prefer to avoid.”

Edwards says this support is even more crucial given the new incoming compliance regime. The benefits of having a swift and efficient back-end process are going to become more and more tangible, and platform providers will have the opportunity to step in and allow advisers to continue focusing on their client base, rather than the back-end running of the business.

“Most would agree that no matter what the changes end up being, the workload will go up rather than down, and advisers will require more support than ever,” Edwards said. “Advisers that can demonstrate a consistent and well-documented process are going to be well-placed to navigate the changing environment successfully.

“The Adviser Platform partners with advisers to provide back office support and custom built software allowing them to focus on the client. We provide a huge amount of data cleansing to help advisers get set up into the new system, and give the adviser the opportunity to focus on the client. One TAP partner had over 5,650 individual clients with 7,485 financial products gathered from 4 different systems. Our team managed this, no sweat - we do data really well.

“The industry is in a state of flux at the moment, and most advisers we've met with have been impressed by the offering.”