The independent survey of IFAs revealed that almost one fifth (17%) of financial services companies regularly lose customer documentation, with 58% of respondents believing that providers are disorganized, negatively affecting their reputation in the marketplace. The findings also highlighted the lengthy time taken for financial services companies to administer paperwork, forcing IFAs to allow an average of 16 days for providers to process documents. A further 33% of IFAs have to allow three to four weeks while another 7% advise clients that it may take up to eight weeks to get a response from ill-equipped financial service providers.
“In the highly competitive financial services industry, effectively managing and delivering personalised information is key to building strong customer relationships and streamlining business processes. Any company ignoring this puts itself in peril of not only missing out on new revenue opportunities, but losing its existing customer base,” said Gonzalo Usandizaga, Vice President and General Manager EMEA, Vignette. “While there are many exemplary financial institutions that are using information to improve customer experience, today’s findings show that in some cases a gap still exists between the levels of service that providers are delivering and what is expected of them. Managing and delivering customer records electronically provides a platform to enhance and speed internal processes while opening up back-off systems for customer self-service. This allows providers to operate more efficiently internally, while enhancing the overall customer experience.”
The research also revealed:
- 79% of IFAs believe having a single, internet-enabled, aggregated view of all personal finances and relevant documentation would increase customer self-service
- IFAs believe five out of ten consumers are disorganised in managing their personal financial services
- 24% of IFAs believe poor consumer management of finances is driven by them not having a good view of their overall financial position
- On 28% of occasions, IFAs will leave a client meeting without all the necessary documentation
- 55% of IFAs believe that financially disorganised customers lose around £1,000 per year in missed investment opportunities, 19% say its nearer £2,000, 14% say £3,000 and 10% say more than £3,000
- 86% of IFAs feel an aggregated view would give them a better picture of clients’ finances and help them offer better investment advice
