Speaking at the platform’s annual strategy day, Ferguson said that clients of the future will require a more innovative level of service from their advisers.
In particular, he outlined five key coming consumer demands that advisers will need to satisfy.
The first of these is an ability to engage with clients digitally. According to Ferguson in the future, clients will expect to be able to message their adviser whenever and get an immediate reply. As a result, an adviser’s primary means of engagement should be digital.
Related to this, an increased use of cloud storage will be required, to enable clients to access anything they need whenever they need it.
"If I'm your client in 2020 I expect you to be high touch on the human stuff and hi-tech on everything else."
Third, advisers will need to ensure both client money and data is secure and protected by industry best practice.
Fourth, as specific outcomes become an increasingly important focus for clients, so advisers must ensure they are able to help clients visualise everything to with their wealth “in a way that makes sense to them”.
And, finally, Ferguson said, “It should be simpler for clients to save for their children, and it needs to be easier for their family when they die – advisers need to make this happen.”
Human touch
Going forward, Ferguson said, 2016 is likely to be remembered as the year: ”When robo-advice was everywhere but there were never any robots and there was no advice. It was only asset allocation and fund selection by numbers but in 2020 I will love how you’ve plugged it in to make my journey more personal and to reduce my fees.
“If I’m your client in 2020 I expect you to be high touch on the human stuff and hi-tech on everything else. Your human input is incredibly valuable and your opportunity is to get more automated to get more human,” he said.
