John Forwood has worked extensively across financial services at organisations such as BT, Westpac and Macquarie Bank.
With his decade plus of experience in product management, and further roles in business development and general management, John has spoken to hundreds of advisers and acquired an in-depth understanding of what advice businesses need to succeed.
This combined with his leap into the adviser space gives him a unique insight on AdviceTech.
“I established my financial planning business Forwood Planning in January 2016. My client base is predominantly wealth accumulators who work in professional services or are business owners. As is the case with most advisers, my client base mostly falls around my age range, so they are mostly in their 30s and 40s and chiefly female.”
According to John, he’s always had awareness about the importance of technology when discussing how to optimise the business processes of an advice business in his roles in product and management. He applied these learnings when starting Forward Planning in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane.
“As I built my business I wanted to make the most of the technology available and use it to its full ability. I knew I didn’t want staff yet so technology was the key to creating the efficiencies needed to successfully operate as a sole practitioner.”
Netwealth 2017 AdviceTech Report
The report paints a picture of how technology is currently being used in the dynamic and evolving advice industry and provides insights into key areas of focus, must-have, high adoption services, and technologies that are regarded as disruptors, but are not yet being adopted.
Now, John does it all, from social media across multiple channels through to email, admin and more. He uses a Livescribe Smartpen instead of a iPad in client meetings.
“I find this more effective than using an iPad when talking to clients. Whilst the iPad worked in a business-to-business environment, I found it was too obtrusive and impersonal when working with clients. For me, the Livescribe pen has successfully replaced the iPad and the bonus is with automatic transcription you don’t need to manually re-enter the data onto your computer.”
His other favourite tech piece includes PDF Element Pro as it provides him with the ability to create any fillable PDF. This delivers efficiencies as it enables John to pre-populate forms prior to client meetings, reduce paperwork and eliminate the need to re-enter data as it can be transferred from the PDF onto his computer.
“I find this more effective than using an iPad when talking to clients. Whilst the iPad worked in a business-to-business environment, I found it was too obtrusive and impersonal when working with clients. For me, the Livescribe pen has successfully replaced the iPad and the bonus is with automatic transcription you don’t need to manually re-enter the data onto your computer.”
According to John, the relationship between advisers and technology is divided between two main camps. One mostly consists of older advisers who are resistant to change and are metaphorically being dragged ‘kicking and screaming’ into the new world of AdviceTech. The other younger group has embraced technology as a whole and could not imagine success without it.
When contemplating what the future of advice will look in 2025, John believes we are heading to a space where Artificial Intelligence (AI) will play a large part in advice.
“At the moment computers are only able to perform mathematical equations and spit out the answers. They cannot provide the wisdom or context that an adviser can. Nor can they interrogate clients the right way in order to get to the core root of a client’s concerns but I believe the ability of AI to do this is on its way. However, its take up will be determined by how much people trust this form of advice and interaction.
John also envisions the continual need for advisers. He says, “Most of us want to be able to see and speak to someone and know that they can knock on their adviser’s door if something changes or goes wrong.”
According to John, whether the AdviceTech space truly succeeds will rely on one essential component: data.
“Looking at the future of advice, if AdviceTech is to truly succeed I think the more mainstream licensees and product providers (especially banks) need to accept that they have to relinquish some data so that there is a sharing of information between systems. This will enable the industry overall to deliver better outcomes for advisers and clients.”