The website will essentially offer an easy to administer Å’virtual office
The website has been strategically launched at a time when many advisers are looking at their business models and know that they need to make plans to streamline their operations to increase their profitability.
In an exclusive arrangement with xDM Software, The Timebank uses a bespoke version of the Obsidian ASP Document Management System.
The Online Data Exchange offers three benefits:
€ Ease of administration. The website will be a single portal system, allowing our clients the freedom and flexibility to upload information relating to every case, to download finished service material and to store the data relating to every case in a secure virtual environment.
€ Simple Operation. The Obsidian system has been designed to be as simple as possible for the end user to operate. Documents can be uploaded and downloaded directly from the clients own directories and stored in a way that best suits each individual user.
€ Business Development. The Obsidian programme is a leading document management system where data can be stored and retrieved under any search criteria. Importantly, the search criterion does not need to be pre-programmed, providing complete freedom of data access.
Damian Davies, founder of The Timebank states that the system not only provides these immediate benefits, but in the long term will enable IFAs to completely outsource a part of their client management responsibilities, giving them more time to see more clients, and ultimately increase their income.
Å’I can see a real opportunity for IFAs to exploit the current market conditions by utilising the outsource Paraplanning services already offered by The Timebank. We took the decision to launch The Online Data Exchange to further streamline our immediate service and also serve to offer our clients a real advantage in what will become an increasingly competitive,
depolarised market
Alistair Mann, of Independent Investment Planning in Leatherhead, has been piloting the system and states:
Å’This is a massive leap forward and I can see great potential in the system. To date, we have used The Timebank to undertake a very particular part of our work. However, I can see that more clients we put through this system, the more effective it will be in terms data access and, importantly for us, a full audit trail of cases and clients
