Mobility the next technology frontier

Improving online capability is only the start of technological innovation in the financial services sector, with the next milestone being mobile capacity, according to technology leaders in the industry.

The financial services industry is nearing a mature phase in terms of online capability and the next big mountain to climb is mobility, according to AXA Australia’s general manager for digital business, Cam Cimino.

“For our industry, mobility is in its infancy,” he said. “I haven’t seen many applications that I think are of great value to the user at this point. I think there are great opportunities in that space and as the devices become easier to use in a business format rather than in an end-user format, we expect that we will see greater investment in that space in the next 12 to 24 months because that’s the next natural place for us to go.”

Coin head of product and technology Robert McCabe said mobility had been a focus area and Coin had developed a number of offerings, such as SMS alerts and the ability to access information remotely. However, he said Coin had not limited its approach to any particular device.

“Trying to keep up with some of the latest trends means not looking at specific applications but looking at it more broadly,” he said.

Fiducian head of information technology Alan Dunne said there was scope for innovation around the use of mobile phones.

“There’s scope there for the use of these [devices] in terms of verification of an instruction … and that’s one of the things we’re looking at in terms of providing more functionality for the client.” Dunne said. “Clients are asking for more functionality as well as advisers. We can take a lead from the banks.”

From a smaller group perspective, online development continues to be an attractive prospect as it enhances efficiency. Shadforth Financial Group is just one group currently looking at external software provider offerings, with a focus on client needs.

“We think [the industry] will be spending as much time and money on developing stuff at the front-end for clients as it does developing stuff for advisers to assist clients,” said Shadforth chief executive Tony Fenning. “That presumes a world of what [advisers] do along with the superannuation funds and the wrap accounts morphing into an Internet banking-style universe. I think that’s coming together within the next three to five years.”

Fiducian is working on improving its own software and online capabilities. Operations manager Patrick Jackson said an online offering was going to be a crucial tool for dealer groups going forward and Fiducian would continue to work on improving straight-through processing.

“More online processing has to be our goal and it has to be the goal of most planner groups,” he said.