The changes to Revolution, Stonebridge’s POS system available to both Stonebridge Group members and the wider market, went live in the first week of February and cover changes including: factfind improvements; an intuitive Aims & Views section; auto-generated ‘standard’ quotes based on discussion areas; the ability to refine quotes within the system to suit client needs; absolutely no data input duplication; and improved demands and needs generation screens plus a new style demands and needs statement.
Stonebridge also revealed that further developments to the system would be introduced in 2014 such as the development of enhanced compliance functionality and offering the ability to claim procuration fees directly through Revolution.
The conference was held at the start of February at Chesford Grange Hotel in Kenilworth and was attended by over 160 Stonebridge Group appointed representative proprietors. Attendees heard presentations from guest speakers including Stephen Smith, director mortgage club and housing at L&G Network, Robert Sinclair, chief executive of trade body, AMI, and Iain Clark, managing director of LV= Protection.
Stonebridge also used the conference to reveal to members that fee levels would remain unchanged – a commitment it has been able to keep since ‘Mortgage Day’ in 2004. Other notable achievements for the Group through 2013 included the fact it had achieved the highest percentage growth in AR numbers for any network plus its mortgage completion levels were up 88% on 2012’s figures and 233% up on 2011.
The conference ended with Stonebridge rewarding the top performers amongst members for life, mortgage and general insurance business at both an AR firm and adviser level.
Richard Adams, managing director of Stonebridge Group, said: “2013 was a significant year for Stonebridge Group and one which has seen us improve in a huge number of areas. Our national conference was designed to allow members to hear about the huge strides we are taking and to understand the range of new developments and opportunities we will be offering in 2014. Of great value will be the changes we have made to Revolution, which has evolved with the regulatory changes and ensures members have a top of the range, intuitive system to draw upon when dealing with clients. We have also been able to announce a range of further developments that will be made throughout the course of the year to the system.
“The conference also offered up a range of industry experts who talked about the various changes that are coming to the market as well as how members can benefit from an improved marketplace for financial services, particularly mortgages, GI and protection. Our ambition in 2014 is to be recognised across the sector as a true partnership which members can trust to deliver their business ambitions. In this business our AR firms are business partners and we want to ensure they have all the resource and support they need in order to be the best businesses they can. The conference was a great way to kick off the year and I hope provided a real positive boost for all those who attended.”
