IRESS’ advice and wealth management platform XPLAN has been named the number one choice for financial advisers by research house Investment Trends.
The 2015 Investment Trends Planner Technology Report found XPLAN has the lead as the most widely used software, with 56% of advisers using it. The next-placed provider sits at 23%.
The report also found XPLAN has extended its lead as the preferred destination for financial advisers who are looking for new software. Among those who intend to look for new software in the next 12 months, 36% say they are more likely to start using XPLAN (2014: 30%), with the next provider choice representing 8%.
IRESS chief executive officer, Andrew Walsh, said the results show that in a market with increasing choice and competition, XPLAN continues to meet and exceed the needs of Australia’s financial advisers by delivering greater convenience and efficiency.
“The report finds financial advisers increasingly have choice and ease of movement between providers. In this highly competitive environment, we are very pleased XPLAN is continuing to anticipate and address the needs of dealer groups, practices and advisers.
“The report notes the increase in demand from advisers for access to information, including education materials, to provide to clients. In the past year we have focused on enhancing the opportunities an adviser has through technology to strengthen their relationship with clients including providing education content.
“We recently purchased Australian-based content provider Innergi, which enables financial advice practices to better engage with their clients with timely and relevant content through a digital delivery platform and are integrating this into our XPLAN offer.
“In addition, we have made significant investments in our tablet solution XPLANtouch to strengthen its ability to provide efficiency and convenience for advisers, including face-to-face interaction. Overall, XPLAN continues to provide dealer groups and practices with a significant opportunity to increase efficiency and to tailor XPLAN to their individual needs.”
The report follows XPLAN being named the top financial planning application for the eighth consecutive year by Investment Trends in its Financial Planning Software Benchmark Report released in March this year. In that report, XPLAN achieved a 94% score – the highest score in the ten years of the report – and led in the five categories of client management, advice provision, portfolio management, practice operations and integration.
Source: IRESS
