The research survey was designed to measure views and current usage of e-commerce services.
The results showed that 90 per cent of intermediaries thought ‘ease of use’ was by far the most important factor affecting their decision to adopt an online system, with ‘training provided’ as their second choice (27 per cent). More than one in five (22 per cent) of advisers claimed ‘registration problems’ was one of their top two concerns in choosing to use particular online systems and 14 per cent said ‘company policy’ played a part.
The Ideal Adviser System
The three most popular features advisers would ‘value the most if you were designing your ideal system’ were, again, ease of use (81 per cent), integration (72 per cent) and ‘access anywhere’ (28 per cent). In a related question, 29 per cent of all firms claimed that they now worked remotely some or all of the time, possibly showing the impact of more accessible internet and broadband access.
Service Integration
When asked to rank ‘the most important integrations between the technologies available’, 43 per cent of advisers said they wanted integrated ‘back and front offices’ and a very similar number (41 per cent) thought integrating their back-office system with product provider systems was most vital.
Rory Curran, executive chairman of 1st, commented: “We are extremely committed to helping our clients realise the enormous benefits e-commerce can bring to a firm, but at the same time it is imperative for us to understand what advisers really want or need from a service. By conducting research projects such as this one, we get first hand, valuable input - especially on areas where they feel there is room for improvement.
“The results show a very encouraging growth in appetite for online services and importantly integrated solutions which can save time and money, as well as re-using data to reduce errors and support regulatory demands.”
