Time4Advice is also based on MS Dynamics but has historically looked for companies needing 10 or more users. This may exclude the majority of adviser businesses. I can see this changing in the future given their recent acquisition by Transact owners Integrafin, especially if the company is a major Transact user.
For companies happy to consider vertical platform integration, both True Potential and Benchmark Capital’s Enable system may be appealing. Each has very tight integration between the advice tech and the platform. Benchmark’s proposition may be particularly attractive to regional chartered companies, which it was very much designed for.
Abrdn-owned Focus Solutions has some outstanding technology but it is really designed for companies with 50-plus users. If its parent could find a way to offer elements to smaller companies that are major users of its platform, the asset manager could have a solution that would be hard to better.
Other long-standing industry systems include Bluecoat, Durell, JCS and some less well known ones such as AdviserCloud, Assyst, and WitsIFA. Historically, SSP had an outstanding customer base, but seems to have lost its way in the wealth market in recent years. The company is now predominantly a general insurance system supplier. Most people think of Prestwood Truth as substantially a cash flow modelling tool, although some see it as a practice management system too.
Getting the right practice management system for your business is one of the most important decisions any advice company will ever make.
Getting the selection right or wrong will have a dramatic impact, positive or negative, on the level of service you can provide to clients, the efficiency of your company and ultimately the profitability of your business.
Moving practice management systems is something you really only want to do once a decade, so it is crucial to spend the time identifying what you really want and matching this with the best system provider for you.
Ian McKenna is founder of FTRC and AdviserSoftware.com
