They are the latest links to go live, with a further six provider links expected go live in coming months.
By linking directly to providers' extranets and other financial services, advisers and brokers using Plum Software can obtain the latest fund information for all the linked providers with a single keystroke and upload it straight into their back office system. This removes the need to enter fund names, unit allocation, price, value, maturity and surrender values reducing the potential for errors and therefore saving them a great deal of
time and money. It also means advisers can be confident that they are providing their client with the most current and accurate information.
Around 60 per cent of adviser calls to providers are to request valuation details, so the cost savings for advisers are significant.
As well as Legal & General and Transact, Plum Software links to a further eight providers including: Abbey, Clerical Medical, Cofunds, Fidelity Funds Network, Friends Provident, Scottish Equitable, Skandia and Standard Life. This also follows the recent news that Plum Software can now link to eMoneyfacts, the adviser portal.
Ann Dempster, founder and managing director of Plum Software, said: "We are continually developing our service and providing more links to extranets and portals has been a key goal of ours. We hope to add more in the coming months. Feedback from our users confirms that these links save them a great deal of time and money - one of their hardest tasks was to identify which
funds are being used. This removes the need to carry out previously admin-intensive tasks manually, allowing them to concentrate on their clients."
Plum Software provides a front and back office solution to advisers and mortgage brokers to manage all their business needs through a single integrated system. It handles
everything from managing the sales processes, completing administrative tasks, enabling compliance to analyse business needs. It is suitable for both commission and fee-based advisers.
According to Richard Gough of Castle Court Consulting, who has only recently started using Plum Software: "Plum Software's system is very straightforward to use. Being able to link directly to Providers is a major benefit as it means I no longer spend hours in phone queues obtaining the latest fund details and valuations and then having to re-key all the information. Any adviser not using this kind of software is definitely missing a trick."
