P1 Investment Services, operator of the P1 Platform, believes that the newer UK platform players will be the companies setting the standards for delivering value for money to clients, potentially leaving legacy giants behind unless they can rapidly change their operating models and tech stacks.
The investment firm says that new entrants have the “speedboat-like qualities” of speed and agility. This gives them advantages over “oil tanker” legacy platform players – which can't innovate or strip costs quickly enough to compete on price and technology.
James Priday, CEO at P1 Investment Services, said: “A lot of the legacy narrative that comes out against new platforms talks about low cost not necessarily equating to value for money for clients. It is also said that low costs mean worse support, worse technology and a worse overall experience.
“That’s complete rubbish. All the markers show this just isn't true. Newer platforms rank higher on average across all metrics compared to their legacy peers. These arguments are a false narrative to justify higher platforms costs.”
Recently, P1 Investment Services has released a new User Interface in a bid to enhance the usability and functionality for clients and advisers of the P1 Platform.
The platform has added several new features including, performance charting, graphical representations of portfolio sectors and geographical spread, assets in/out, adviser charts and a dark and light mode. Advisers will log in and be welcomed by a management information dashboard, showing them AUM growth, weekly adviser charges, assets in/out by type,] and recent activity, including details on transfers and payments status so they know exactly what’s going on with their clients’ accounts.
The changes have delivered a modern UI taking design cues and features from modern digital interfaces that people have come accustomed to in their business or personal lives.
P1 believes that legacy platforms are failing to acknowledge that user experience. Adviser support, and costs are all vital areas for advisers to consider when choosing which platform to use.
Platforms can identify how they are offering value for money for an adviser – a necessity since the implementation of the Consumer Duty. The company argues that identifying and delivering value for money is a simple equation.
Platform Value for Money = (Quality of Support + Quality of Technology) / Cost
Priday added: “The less we hear from advice firm users the better. It generally means everything is working well and is intuitive. Our industry should be all about usability and making the advisers’ life easy. When advisers log in to their platform it no longer needs to feel like logging into the early 2000s internet.
“The platform market needs to realise that a high-quality user experience is something advisers really want. A platform is a massive part of day-to-day operations and activities of an advice firm. Having efficient operational capabilities together with an easy and effective user interface for the adviser and their clients to interact with is so crucial to the overall value for money. It should be an absolute priority because a platform can have a huge impact on an advice firm in terms of profitability and efficiency, and the end client experience of their services.
“The User Interface upgrade is one of the many areas that platforms should be focusing on to improve. We should be constantly listening to advisers to understand what business critical requirements they need.”
