Expert: Mark Trousdale, Investcloud. Facilitator: Chris Shaw, Dundas Consulting
Headlines:
- Client Experience means different things to different people from speed to exceeding expectations to imbuing confidence but the group agreed that the key point about the client experience is relationship. How well you know your client directly impacts the positivity of the client experience
- Data should be the DNA to driving client experience but 91% of companies have incomplete data about their clients. The group discussed that this is as much about the data gathering exercise and the questions asked as it is about technology. Client experience is a data and a human issue. Chat GPT was discussed and debated whether or not this will reduce the ‘value’ of an adviser or enhance the experience. It was felt it could change some of the communication to clients improving the education
- Getting a consolidated view of data is challenging. The group agreed that the tools are available in the market and many have implemented them but they aren’t necessarily being used effectively. There was a lot of discussion about how technology could improve productivity. One participant argued that tech could potentially ‘liberate’ 75% of what an adviser/rm is doing allowing far more time to enrich the human client experience
- Consumer Duty regulation may provide more data that will inform the client experience.
Discussion Points:
The group agreed that firms may start to assess the kinds of customers that buy certain types of products, those that get worse outcomes etc.
Whilst it may be onerous if used intelligently, the data gathered as a result of the regulation could be positive for the client experience overall.
There was also discussion about the potential negative effects of Consumer Duty and whether it might drive some robos out of the market with the unintended consequence of impacting the advice gap negatively.
Key Takeaways:
- Choice is the most important element of the client experience. Not all clients want a digital experience and the imperative need to offer choice
- How do you capture the sentiment of a relationship? This is often anecdotal and the group discussed how a simple form fill would not necessarily capture what is needed for a truly positive client experience
- Voice recognition technology might be able to judge sentiment but this presents a challenge between technology and human based data capture. The group agreed that client experience needs to be based on what the client wants, not what ‘we want’ as an industry. Sometimes this is lost
- Read the Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande which has revolutionized the number of errors at some firms
