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The Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) released its FPA Fintech Buyers Guide and Checklist at the 2018 FPA Professionals Congress today. The package includes a Technology Assessment Checklist and a guide for assessing the fintech needs of a financial planning practice and tips for selecting the right technology partner to help improve financial advice delivery.
The release follows on from last year’s highly successful Fintech Report: Mapping Fintech to the Financial Planning Process and raises the fundamental question: should financial planning firms be buying a technology solution in the first place?
Dante De Gori CFP®, CEO of the FPA says, “Technology must solve problems, not create more. As a practical first step, financial planning practices need to understand their unique service offering, business processes and the problems to be solved before they choose a technology solution.
“Last year’s Fintech Report identified the issues faced in the financial planning process and solutions available. This year’s Fintech Buyers Guide and Checklist is designed to help financial planning practices select the best fintech partner for their specific service proposition and client base. Going through the checklist will help prevent wasting time and money on technology which won’t meet their needs, or those of their clients.”
Benjamin Marshan CFP®, Head of Policy and Standards at the FPA and lead of the FPA’s fintech projects, explains, “The 2018 Fintech Buyers Guide is the result of countless conversations with our members, consultants and fintech solution providers over the last 12 months. We know business models from the past are not working efficiently in an environment of increasing costs, rising consumer expectations, and regulatory obligations; but it is equally clear that if technology investment doesn’t align with the financial planning process and business outcomes, it leads to inefficiency, duplication and additional cost.
“The Fintech Buyers Guide and Checklist includes a case study focusing on the issues to consider when selecting a customer relationship management (CRM) system. The step-by-step process can be replicated when introducing any new software to a business or advice process,” he says.
The guide includes important questions to ask software providers, and a Technology Assessment Checklist for easy vendor comparisons to help increase the likelihood of selecting the right fintech partner or system for a financial planning practice.
The FPA Fintech Buyers Guide and Checklist is designed to be read by those responsible for buying financial planning software, and fintech providers who want to better understand the unique challenges and opportunities for automating financial planning practices in Australia.
An update to the FPA’s 2017 Fintech Report on “Why fintech is not a threat,” and a companion tool built in collaboration with the YTML Group, are slated for release later this year.
The FPA Fintech Buyers Guide and Checklist is available now at www.fpa.com.au/fintech.