by Paul White
For decades, the wealth, trust and corporate services sector has been guided by the steady hand of the “old guard.” This group has long been revered for upholding tradition, maintaining stability and fostering trusted relationships. But as Bob Dylan once said, “The times they are a-changin’.” For many, the wealth, trust and corporate services sector has been managed ‘as it’s always been done,’ with point solutions, manual processes and the odd lever arch file here and there. But now, as wealth shifts from baby boomers to gen X and millennials – an estimated £1 trillion throughout the 2020si – expectations have evolved. Younger generations are accustomed to digital solutions like open banking, instant payments and apps with real-time data on investments.
While many are on the path to digitalisation, no one wants to be left behind in an industry moving toward a digital future. Older processes simply can’t keep up. When a client asks for the valuation of assets, it can’t take hours, wading through ERP systems and a flurry of spreadsheets and files. To meet the expectations of younger generations, processes should be instantaneous, automated and accurate. If younger clients could design the service experience themselves, it would likely resemble something akin to Pension Bee for the trust fund sector – a seamless, tech-driven solution at their fingertips.
Yet this couldn’t be further from the reality of the situation. Research commissioned by Quantios among decision-makers in the sector proves it. Just 16 per cent of respondents said they were able to provide their end-clients with a unified view across all their structures via a client portal.
Importantly, there is a recognition that things need to change with 70 per cent agreeing they could be better at delivering a digital experience to clients. Furthermore, 86 per cent expect digital engagement with end-clients will become more commonplace.
This begs the question of how firms can catch up with other areas of the financial sector. If they don’t, they could expect 90 per cent of heirs deciding to change advisorii.
Make it simple
The simplest ideas are always the best. Yet when developing a digital service strategy, it’s easy to overcomplicate things.
What you leave out can be more important than what you add in. The key is to do the basics incredibly well, ensuring they’re every bit as good as the other apps they use more frequently to manage their wealth. This means offering straightforward features like viewing or updating personal information, easy onboarding, intuitive forms, document storage and downloads, action requests and messaging. The goal is to add value while reducing the need for unnecessary support.
Make it personal
Ultimately, digital services should provide choice. Different clients will want to engage in different ways. Some may prefer mobile updates for routine actions, while others will opt for face-to-face meetings for important decisions. The key is to offer an intuitive, accessible platform that adapts to a variety of client needs, on any device, anywhere.
Incorporating all this into the service creates an opportunity to improve client satisfaction. It keeps interactions efficient, mitigates unnecessary back-and-forth and enhances trust. By integrating these digital options with core middle- and back-office functions, firms can offer a seamless, consistent experience across all touchpoints. There’s little point in having a static, read-only approach when this experience will likely become the single biggest touch point a company can have with its clients.
Make it scalable and adaptive
Scalability is vital. To explain, this means designing a seamless client experience that can change with the needs of the business, capable of increasing or decreasing with the number of customers. This accommodates growth while providing a consistent, accessible service across different jurisdictions and time zones.
Firms must also ensure their digital services are resilient, secure and capable of handling varying client demands without downtime or disruption. After all, it’s not just about scaling, it’s about maintaining high performance and reliability, regardless of the number of users or the complexity of the tasks.
Make it secure
Trust from clients around their data is built on the assurance that sensitive information is protected, and the thought of a data breach can cause sleepless nights for both clients and businesses. The question, then, isn’t just how secure your digital service is, but how secure it feels compared to traditional methods. After all, how secure is a lever arch file full of sensitive information?
Client data is highly valuable to cybercriminals and the anxiety surrounding the security of information is constant, especially when relying on disconnected systems or manual processes. Clients need to feel confident that their data is safe, and that confidence is eroded when there’s any hint of vulnerability.
It’s therefore essential that any additional digital touchpoints are watertight. From a business perspective, security should not be an afterthought but rather ingrained at every level. This means adopting a multi-layered approach, with robust encryption, secure cloud infrastructure and advanced digital authentication.
Firms using integrated platforms, such as those built on Microsoft Cloud, benefit from the billions invested in security by industry leaders, ensuring that the baseline for protection is state-of-the-art. This also includes multifactor authentication, which adds an additional layer of defence by requiring more than just login details – even if a hacker obtains them, they can’t gain access to the data without having an added level of security that only the true user has.
Make it cost effective
Of course, none of these issues matter unless there’s a strong business case for implementing a client-facing platform. And while the demand is certainly there from a younger group of customers, the solution must drive value to support sustainable, scalable growth. In other words, the investment must allow firms to serve more clients without disproportionately increasing costs or headcount.
This is why, especially for smaller firms, allowing a third party to manage the implementation of such solutions is a smart business decision. Providers know customers are looking for a solution that meets all the above needs without imposing prohibitive costs. What’s more, these providers can also offer all the data governance and management, regulatory compliance and back-office software that makes the solution work to the best of its ability.
The times they are indeed a-changing. As wealth transfers to younger generations, the prospect of introducing a client digital service is no longer an “if” but a “when.” To maintain a competitive edge, the old ways of working, which may have suited older clients, no longer meet the expectations of younger generations. Continuing with outdated methods merely delays the inevitable and risks firms falling behind.
It’s time we say goodbye to the “old guard”; a symbol not just of paper and PDFs, but of spreadsheets, disconnected systems and document management processes that rely on people manually bridging the gaps. This outdated approach cannot scale, nor can it keep pace with the speed and demands of the digital world. And holding onto these old ways is a sure path to being left behind.
The author, Paul White, is a Chief Marketing Officer at Quantios.
(*2) https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/de/Documents/financial-services/Wealth%20Management%20Digitalization.pdf
