Centrepoint Alliance is launching a package of virtual service solutions to enable its advisers to benefit from greater scale and specialist expertise so they can focus on looking after their clients.
After six months of piloting, the new offering will be launched in February 2017. This includes para- planning, para-lending, life insurance health screening, and a range of administrative support options, from outsourcing particular functions to ongoing dedicated staff support.
Centrepoint’s Head of Advice Services, Karen Machovsky, said the range of support solutions being offered are designed to make it easier, more economical and more efficient for advisers to do business.
“For advisers to effectively serve the needs of their clients, meet compliance obligations and stay profitable today, individual advice practices need to harness the power of technology and the scale and expertise of other specialist organisations,” Karen said.
“We’ve put together a comprehensive package that enables advice practices to scale up as they grow, without putting strain on their business or compromising their client relationships.
“Advisers’ core strength is spending time working with their existing clients and cultivating new ones, so our aim is to help them do that by streamlining other aspects of their practice in a cost-effective manner.
“Hiring people is costly and comes with HR, legal and payroll responsibilities, not to mention office costs and IT requirements. It can cost up to double their salary by the time they have their feet under the desk.
“While good staff can be the cornerstone of your business and even your differentiator, in many cases hiring one or more does not make sense in light of the alternatives, particularly for non-client facing work.
“We’ve conducted comprehensive due diligence on a range of service providers and trialled them with advisers, with very positive results. We will also conduct continuous quality and service level monitoring to ensure they maintain their standards. This means advisers benefit from our scale and oversight in sourcing these services.”
Centrepoint CEO, John de Zwart, said the new virtual service offering supports advisers transform their practices into truly client-centric businesses.
“Advisers need to focus their advice and service proposition on delivering a quality advice experience to their clients – focusing their attention on the client themselves,” John said.
“To achieve this they need to further automate or use specialist providers for the non-client-focused elements of their business, including administration.
“It is the responsibility of the practice owner and dealer group to help advisers service their clients more effectively and efficiently by providing them with the tools and solutions they need to provide the best value and best outcomes for their clients.”