Use of financial services group Old Mutual`s Web-based services increased by 57% in April, as more of its brokers went online to resolve queries.
Richard Laycock, Old Mutual`s manager of self-services, says over 24 000 portfolio queries were made by slightly under 6 000 financial advisors last month using the group`s MyClient Internet site.
Laycock says the group plans to increase the functionality of the service to include service initiation requests, such as changing bank details, towards the end of the year.
He says Old Mutual introduced its Internet services some years ago and while the broker community`s adoption of the service has been slow, it is now increasingly seeing it as a cost-effective way to do business.
The latest upgrade to the MyClient site helps the financial advisors to track new business, check client portfolios, initiate death claims and check for missed premiums. It has also launched a new SMS service to financial advisors, which alerts them when new business has been issued, declined or not taken up.
Laycock says security is based on a skewed application, meaning that one set of credentials is all that is needed for a level of trust to be conferred on the financial advisor, allowing access to a number of services.
"That is reviewed from time to time with the brokers telling us what their requirements are," he says.
Laycock foresees that Web services will eventually replace a large amount of work that call centres are currently doing as the scale of economies works for his firm. The financial advisors also benefit, as they do not need to make expensive telephone calls, he says.
Advisors who sell Old Mutual products may register on the site and view a client`s full Old Mutual portfolio including investment values, premiums, beneficiary details and other contract information.
The service can also fast-track a death claim. The Web site will show the client`s full portfolio as well as a list of the requirements and documentation needed to initiate the claim. The documentation can be e-mailed or faxed directly from the advisor`s desktop. There is also an option to print the documentation directly off the Web.
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