In terms of a dedicated wealth advice solution Plannr are, if you like, the pushy new kid on the block. Founded by Gareth Thompson, who has for many years run Code Potato, a highly respected web development service that has provided adviser websites and a range of other products for financial advisers, they are aiming to be the new all singing, all dancing option for practice management and CRM solution advisers.
Until recently there were reasonable questions asked over Plannr’s financial resources, but Fintel buying 25 per cent of the business not only addresses that issue but also brings to the business a strong audience to sell into, ie the many thousands of SimplyBiz members. Their major challenge is that it takes a long time to build a comprehensive solution although I am hearing suggestions that they are nearly there.
When exploring systems in this area. It is important to recognise the difference between practice management systems, which are generally built around the specific needs of adviser practices, and customer relationship management systems which tend generally to be broader systems that can be used in any industry to support client relationships and interactions.
Typically, generic CRMs will be far more focused on activity like marketing, lead generation, prospect management, client on boarding, and multi-channel communications. The largest systems of this type, notably Salesforce and what was Microsoft Dynamics, now generally being referred to as the Power Platform, have development budgets that run to tens of billions per year, but they need to be customised, usually by business partners to provide industry specific functions.
In 2016 Salesforce launched Financial Services Cloud, which was their first ever system targeted at a specific vertical market. Notably this has been embraced by SJP as a core part of their substantial recent technology upgrade.
Several specialist integration partners have built practice management solutions on the Salesforce platform. Particularly worthy of mention, are Fluido Financial Services. Their team is led by former Standard Life alumni Duncan Muir, the company ultimately owned by Infosys and as a major Salesforce partner can offer the technology at very attractive pricing.
