Jason Komadina, Sue Viskovic: The eternal quest for an efficient practice

The search for practice efficiency is never-ending in an industry that delivers a client-facing service with aspects that are difficult to scale without compromising quality. The more systematic the practice, the deeper relationships with clients, the more rewarding and enriching the experience for all involved. This session explores streamlined practice methods, drawing on experts to break down its components and where opportunities for efficiency exist.

SPEAKERS
Jason Komadina, director, managed accounts, MLC Asset Management
Sue Viskovic, managing director, Elixir Consulting
Moderator: Laurence Parker-Brown, content producer, Conexus Financial

Key Takeaways

• Advice practices that outsource their back-office tasks are often missing out on the practice efficiencies they are looking for by not putting the right system in place to take advantage of it, says Elixir Consulting chief executive Sue Viskovic.
• While many advisers have embraced domestic or overseas service provision for paraplanning, data entry and other non-client facing roles, Viskovic says this doesn’t necessarily have a positive effect on their bottom line. “Outsourcing can be a great option for a business but not always, and there’s not always a direct result in profitability,” Viskovic says. “It’s not just anecdotal, we actually ran the numbers.”
• Viskovic says there are plenty of variables that go into the success rate of outsourcing, but the one that stands out is a willingness to set the outsourcing channel up in the right way.
• Setting up an outsourcing route has a lot in common with traditional human resources, Viskovic reckons. “It’s just like internal staff; if you don’t train them properly and set them up for success then you’re just not going to get any gains from it,” she says. “It’s not the outsourcing, it’s the fact that advisers aren’t systemising their use often enough.”