Van Eyk enters planning software arena

Van Eyk Researchand the original creators of Visiplan have joined forces to build a rival financial planning software tool and are set to roll it out within the next month.

The product, dubbed ‘Strategy’, has been developed by Coin Software, a company established by Ian Litster, Suwandi Tan and van Eyk head of distribution Darren Pettiona. Litster was the co-founder of Vision FPS under which both he and Tan developed the Visiplan software suite now owned by IWL.

The new web-enabled software is being pitched squarely at financial planners in both the Australian and international markets, and is currently undergoing trials by a number of dealer groups.

Strategy’s alliance with van Eyk Research will allow users to access the van Eyk research database, which includes more than 7,000 products, portfolio blending and qualitative information. Users can also select from a list of pre-defined recommended portfolios from the iRate database.

Pettiona says Strategy will offer price incentives to advisory groups which take on a complete package of the new software and van Eyk research, rather than purchasing single modules of either service.

The software will be available on a cost per user basis and will not have site fees attached, while larger groups will also be able to benefit from their own scale by signing up for enterprise deals.

“The software will be able to be deployed differently depending on the specific requirements of each dealer group or planner, and is built using a central database store. This will suit large dealer groups, as all advisers can tap into the one source,” Litster says.

“But we really spent more energy on the production of financial plans within the software than anything else.”

According to Pettiona, this is due to the recent Australian Consumers’ Association report which placed more pressure on planners to keep plans up to date and personalised.

The group also says the development of the software was a response to what it has identified as deficiencies in the current technology offerings available to the financial services industry.

ABN Amrodirector of financial planning David Codey, one of the first groups to trial the product, says “it’s a more forward looking software, looking to where things in the industry are going and not just copying. A leap of faith was involved but it’s looking good.”

Another positive aspect Codey sees in the new Coin Software offering is it could assist not only pure financial planners but also holds relevance to brokers who want to provide more comprehensive advice to clients.