More expected in mobile technology

The overall average performance rating that advisors gave their firms for their “support for mobile technology and mobile advisor” remains unchanged from last year, at 7.3. However, the overall average importance rating that advisors gave this category rose significantly, to 7.9 from 7.1. Thus, firms need to move more quickly to keep up with advisors’ rising expectations.

“The firm needs to start doing more stuff with mobile technology,” says an advisor in Atlantic Canada with London, Ont.-based Freedom 55 Financial. “We need to shift to cloud computing. I have a laptop, but I have to come into the office to access our databases.”

Despite the widening “satisfaction gap” – the difference between the overall average performance and importance ratings – in this category, the insurance industry is well ahead of its investment-sector counterparts in the use of mobile devices.

According to the 2014 Survey of Advisors and Mobile Devices, recently conducted by Montreal-based Transcontinental Inc.’s TC Media business solutions group (Investment Executive’s parent) in partnership with Credo Consulting Inc. of Toronto, 30% of insurance advisors use their smartphones to prepare for client meetings vs 17% of brokers and 24% of mutual fund-licenced advisors.

Mississauga, Ont.-based RBC Life Insurance Co. and Sun Life lead the way in performance ratings for mobile technology with scores of 8.1 and 7.9, respectively. Both firms also saw their ratings rise by more than half a point vs last year, as both firms have enhanced the support their advisors receive when using mobile devices.

RBC Life provides its advisors with laptops and smartphones, and those advisors are able to access the firm’s back-office system remotely and communicate with sales leaders via these mobile devices; in addition, advisors also receive training in how to use these devices during client meetings.

RBC Life advisors now can fill out client applications remotely using a laptop. However, over the next eight months, says Mike Hamilton, RBC Life’s senior vice president of sales and distribution, the firm will expand that access to include tablets and smartphones.

“The newer generation is being brought up with these devices,” Hamilton adds, “and it’s changing the way business is done – and it’s changing it rather quickly.”

Sun Life also is in the process of expanding advisors’ access through mobile devices. The firm is upgrading its contact-management system to that of San Francisco, Calif.-based Salesforce.com Inc., whose popular, cloud-based technology will provide Sun Life and its advisors with mobile capabilities.

“Advisors will be able to look at all their client information on their mobile devices,” says Vicken Kazazian, senior vice president of Sun Life’s career sales force, “which I think will be industry-leading.”

And although Freedom 55 has some ground to make up in this category, that firm saw the largest improvement in its rating, to 7.1 from 6.0 last year. Says a Freedom 55 advisor in Atlantic Canada: “Two years ago, the support was horrible; but, in the past year, they have really come into the mobile space. I work in a small community and 80% of my client meetings are in my clients’ homes, so this is extremely important to my business.”

Freedom 55 has put significant focus on training advisors to use mobile devices; the firm also is piloting a new mobile underwriting app that will allow advisors to submit insurance applications online and receive instantaneous approvals.

“We’re continuing to review all our existing applications with an eye to making them accessible over the web on virtually any device,” says Mike Cunneen, senior vice president of Freedom 55’s wealth and estate planning group.

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