Opex Consulting, the financial planning technology consultancy established by former RI Advice executives Paul Campbell and Hamish Hockley, has launched a new service to support advice businesses in the implementation and administration of front-end software system XPLAN.
Wealth Advice HQ is a fully hosted and managed solution designed to help advisers maximise efficiency gains by configuring XPLAN to meet their practices’ unique needs.
Advisers who subscribe to Wealth Advice HQ also have access to paraplanning services and a help desk.
Campbell described XPLAN, which is owned by listed financial services software company IRESS, as a “great engine”, however it needed to be configured for individual businesses.
“XPLAN is a great tool and engine, but it’s not the car,” he said.
“Advisers can achieve greater efficiency gains through the proper use of technology, but often they are too busy to realise the benefits. Anyone can subscribe to Wealth Advice HQ and get the benefits.”
Opex recently hired former Mercer consultant Martin Letch as an advice specialist, boosting the number of staff to 13 in Adelaide and Sydney. The group’s clients include ANZ Wealth, TAL-owned Affinia, Mercer and a number of industry funds.
The group is also working with an administration platform provider to help it better integrate with XPLAN.
“We want to help facilitate the full integration of the front-end with the back-end because it’s crazy that in this day and age, there’s still so much paperwork and double entry and inefficiency,” Campbell said.
“Our aspiration is to fix that. Our major focus is not just around leveraging technology, but importantly incorporating quality advice and business process solutions.”
