intelliflo ramps up for launch
Financial advice technology provider intelliflo is gearing up for an Australian launch.
Financial advice technology provider intelliflo is gearing up for an Australian launch with the hire of its first Australian head of sales Stuart Alsop. Alsop spoke to Industry Moves about the organisation's plans for Australia.
What is going to be the focus of your new position.
The primary focus for me at this stage will be to build the sales teams, and really to assist and drive sustainable growth in the business. We want to grow sustainably and make sure that we can continue the high level of service that would be expected in the Australian market. We're actually currently hiring for a business development manager.
How big is the team in Australia currently?
There's now a team of nine people. So that spans sales, marketing, support, product managers and client relationship managers. We're very much gearing up for a full launch later this year.
What are your thoughts on the advisor software market in Australia?
There are quite a few similarities to the UK. The UK does have more competition, and I think Australia has more mature competitors operating in the sector, and they have been operating for a number of years and are well known brands in the industry. But what we are starting to see is ... more fintech businesses starting up and looking to solve the challenges of the advice process. What I'm really excited about is that we're backed by a UK leader, and we're looking to bring that best in class toolset into the Australian market.
Does software have a role to play in making advice more accessible to all?
In my experience in the UK, when the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) came in and commissions got taken away, there was this kind of large concern within the UK market that there would be orphan clients. [That there would be] advisors leaving, they have to become more professional, and that there'll be this this large advice gap.
Now that did happen to some extent in the UK, but then it started to very quickly plateau. And you start to see more financial advisors now entering the market. My view is that financial advice will continue to be a really important segment of people's lives. People need financial advice, and I think we'll start to see it plateau [in Australia] in the next one to two years and then it will start to start to ramp up again.
And fintech will have a role in that?
I think so. If you look at technology and compliance as the two key attributes in terms of starting to bring down that financial advice cost. Those are the two key players in terms of hopefully helping to solve that.
