As a lover of both music and technology, I adore the fact that today we have so many choices available. I’ve fully embraced each and every new way of listening to and owning music as it’s emerged. That’s not to say I exclusively use every new trend and ditch the previous one though. I still own vinyl and CDs, I stream and browse online radio stations. So how does this relate to the ever evolving world of Financial Services?
As a lover of both music and technology, I adore the fact that today we have so many choices available. I’ve fully embraced each and every new way of listening to and owning music as it’s emerged. That’s not to say I exclusively use every new trend and ditch the previous one though. I still own vinyl and CDs, I stream and browse online radio stations. So how does this relate to the ever evolving world of Financial Services?
Sticking with the music theme for now, old school vinyl certainly looks to be making a bit of a comeback. There is even a weekly dedicated vinyl chart again. Sales of vinyl records passed three million last year; the highest level in a quarter of a century, with 2016 the ninth consecutive year of sales growth. This increase might lead us to believe that we now want something more tangible; something we can actually ‘own’. Sales are rising across all age groups, but the vinyl revival appears to be strongest with younger listeners who have grown up using digital formats such as downloading and streaming.
And this is the key – people aren’t buying vinyl instead of downloading (although, admittedly that is in some decline) and streaming. They’re often doing all three. When it comes to accessing and buying music they appear to be agnostic about how and where they do it. The modern music buyer has the luxury of choice - consuming it as, how and when they want.
“What’s this got to do with financial services?” I hear you cry.
Well, here we go.
Quality advice is the same as quality music – how it’s delivered and accessed will change and evolve over time, the one constant being a positive customer experience.
People want the convenience to access services through whichever channel they choose. They expect financial services companies to offer the same flexible and user friendly experience they increasingly get elsewhere. They expect to have different options available, and without exclusivity. But they also rightly expect the experience to be of an equally high standard, regardless of the channel through which they engage.
And we should all keep in mind that this comes back to the FCA’s consumer outcomes that it wishes to see as a result of the TCF initiative. Specifically, Outcome 4: ‘Where consumers receive advice, the advice is suitable and takes account of their circumstances.’ And Outcome 5: ‘Consumers are provided with products that perform as firms have led them to expect, and the associated service is of an acceptable standard and as they have been led to expect.’
These TCF outcomes are not specific to channel. They can be delivered through digital, telephone, face-to-face advice or a combination. It’s all about choice and experience.
Advisers can only truly differentiate their proposition when they have multi-faceted, consistent, and seamless technology that can adapt to consumer trends. When you buy music the outcome you expect is that the quality and the service is consistently good, whichever format you use. The same applies to the services offered by advisers. The channel might be different, but the expectations are the same.
Quality advice from great financial advisers is constant. How it’s delivered and accessed will change and evolve over time and, if you let it, the customer experience will be enhanced by technology – so let’s see how it all plays on.
IRESS is the leading software provider to the financial services industry, known best for its market-leading solutions including The Exchange, XPLAN, Trigold and MSO.