At a session being described as the ‘Lion’s Den’, put together by Synchron Chair, Michael Harrison, delegates attending Synchron’s NextGen conference next month will be challenged to design an award-winning financial services app.
In teams of 7-8 people, the 60 delegates – Synchron advisers and business development executives under the age of 40 – will work together on game-changing client engagement apps and present them to the ‘Lion’s Den’ judges at the conference.
Mr Harrison said he will be showing delegates examples of disruptive technology presented at recent financial innovation conferences in the US and elsewhere before charging them with the task of conceiving ideas for apps which disrupt the way financial advice is delivered.
“We have outstanding examples in Uber and Airbnb about market disruption,” Mr Harrison said. “I will also be showing delegates videos of some of the transformative innovations going on around the globe, to help them identify key emerging trends in Fintech. Their mission will be to design apps which are similarly disruptive.”
Delegates will be required to complete a first draft of their proposals within the ‘Future of Financial Advice’ session and will be competing to have the app, providing it is commercially viable, developed, built and marketed by Synchron.
“It is about peer-to-peer discovery, coming together to share ideas and knowledge and asking the question: what can you do for your clients that we haven’t thought about?” he said. “We expect the apps to demonstrate the use of artificial intelligence and big data to make the client experience better.”
NextGeners will be required to draft an overall proposal that outlines the app concept, identifies the target audience, contains a flow chart of the design process and how the app can be monetised and then present it at the Conference.
“To be crowned Synchron’s award-winning app, the draft proposal must demonstrate how the app will make the financial advice process easier and ultimately better for clients,” Mr Harrison said.
