Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Google have a combined market capitalisation bigger than the GDP of most countries. If they believe “voice” is the future then it probably is. Most of us use their digital assistants. We ask Apple’s Siri to call mum, Amazon’s Alexa to turn on the lights, Microsoft’s Cortana for the day’s schedule…
Financial planners have used algorithms for ages. Financial planning software churns out advice documents, re-balancing algorithms keep asset mixes aligned to risk profiles and research software forms the basis of product recommendations. Why can’t we let clients access the software directly and reduce costs? Planning software is difficult to use and understand. Even financial planners…
The pandemic forced most advice firms into the safety of the “cloud” trying to keep their business alive. “Trying” quickly went to “thriving” and the Direxion Work From Home Survey found client relations and productivity were either unaffected or improved. Employees enjoyed the flexibility of working from home and owners could look at reducing the…
The real future of financial advice – Rise of the Robots I attended an Amazon conference where the key note speaker declared (somewhat tongue in cheek) that “in the future all companies will be IT companies”. He pointed to Uber and Airbnb who are not much more than a computer program and the market capitalization…
The burden of compliance together with the removal of conflicted selling has seen many dealerships look to tech for the efficiency needed to remain profitable. Should they develop their own tech stack or rely on an existing provider (or both)? Is it time for a new system built from scratch? Build your own “Frankenstein” The…
The real future of financial planning Amazon’s Alexa I recently took part in an Amazon Alexa “hackathon” (a friendly “design” jamboree) that invited participants to “Invent the Next Generation of Alexa Experiences That Go Beyond Voice”. We were urged to create a skill that combines voice with rich sound, visuals, touch and motion. For those…
There is a theory that 20% of employees do 80% of the work. We all know the super-efficient workaholics who prefer not to delegate. What about the 80% doing 20% of the work and at home? Are they working on their golf swing? Research conducted by Croner (UK employment law specialists), found UK employees spend,…
New technologies for financial planning – Open banking What is open banking? Open banking allows some customers to securely share their banking data with third parties that have been accredited by Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). These would typically be other banks who are automatically accredited and fintechs who need to apply. It is…
New technologies for financial planning – AI What is artificial intelligence (AI)? Artificial intelligence (AI) is human-like intelligence that appears to learn, reason, plan and perceive. At the heart of AI are algorithms which are rules like; “if this condition is true then execute the following instruction (code), else execute some other instruction.” It is…
New technologies for financial planning – Blockchain What is blockchain? Blockchain at it’s simplest is a database. It is a very big database, housed on a powerful server which itself can comprise thousands of computers. A blockchain database A blockchain database is a collection of “groups”, known as blocks, which contain information. This system makes…