https://www.xperience-group.com/case-study/rathmore-financial/
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| Key Contact(s): | Cheryl Vince |
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“Act is good for our clients. It's good for the company. It's good for regulatory responsibilities. It does the job for financial services. As for Xperience their turnaround times are very impressive. If we've got a problem, they always respond to us quickly”.
With over 30 years’ experience, the advisers at Rathmore Financial are specialists in helping clients achieve and maintain financial wellbeing. The company’s shared IT systems, provided by a large financial adviser network, offered limited control over data and minimal flexibility. As a consequence, Rathmore struggled to easily monitor their regulatory functions and foster productive collaboration amongst all their geographically spread employees.
Cheryl Vince, Platforms & Research Assistant at Rathmore Financial explained, “Rathmore is part of a nationwide UK based financial services network. As a member, we use the network’s services and technology solutions to meet regulatory requirements and ensure consistent and auditable advice. However, the systems are not controlled by us, are not very user friendly and cannot offer the flexibility we would like. For example, we couldn’t easily record time spent on a client transaction or accurately assess business margins. Therefore, we decided to implement our own system which would help us oversee our work in progress and case management.”
Rathmore Financial brought in Xperience to implement Act with specific customisations to meet their evolving process needs and to improve internal management information – available anytime and anywhere.
Cheryl Vince comments, “With customisation, we could manage our pipeline better and accurately record ‘actual time spent’ for each client and each transaction. We have complete project visibility of our opportunity management – for the entire journey from ‘prospect’ to becoming a Rathmore client. This has helped us to monitor our regulatory responsibilities and improved our internal communication and contingencies.”
“As for a cloud-based solution, there are no infrastructure costs, no need for expensive servers or software update costs – all of which are attractive benefits to an organisation who staff is based across several locations.”
Since implementing Act, Rathmore Financial no longer worry about upgrades as updates take place automatically. The new solution provides the company with a centralised platform for data and has improved the flow of information within the organisation; facilitating collaboration and bringing productivity gains. Added to this, Act has enhanced employee efficiency, allowing the entire team to work remotely if the need arises.
Cheryl explains, “If one of the admin staff was unwell today, I could check their diary and undertake any of their tasks in their absence. If a transaction audit is requested, I can remotely produce activity reports which detail who within the firm did what, when, how long it took them, together with any associated correspondences.
On a more simplistic level, if a client phoned in now and said, “Can I see an adviser tomorrow?” I can see which advisers are available, prepare briefing notes, and initiate an immediate asset valuation; almost before the client has put the phone down. This helps us improve our customer service as all the information we need is now in one place, saving time and improving productivity. It’s not about individuals anymore, it is now about operating as a whole company.”
Act has enabled Rathmore Financial to save time and improve profitability. Cheryl explains, “Today, for example, I am using Act to generate a report to see how much time was spent on a particular project for a particular client. We can then use this information to compare jobs, evaluate how much time we allocate to specific tasks and how much we charge, ensuring accurate billing. That will allow us to estimate costs more accurately and ensure that we treat all our clients fairly.”
Acting for a diverse range of customers, compliance is extremely important. The new setup provides Rathmore Financial with an extra layer of compliance protection. Cheryl explains, “Act allows us to set alerts to make sure that we’re staying ahead of any compliance deadlines. It is a good compliance safety net.”
Act has fulfilled Rathmore Financials’ need for an effective case management solution with compliance protection. Cheryl commented, “Act is good for our clients. It’s good for the company. It’s good for regulatory responsibilities. It does the job for financial services. As for Xperience their turnaround times are very impressive. If we’ve got a problem, they always respond to us quickly”.
“As for the future, we haven’t yet had the opportunity to exploit Act to its full potential. I know we’re underusing it, but I’m sure in time we’ll explore and adopt more of the functionalities. At present, we are looking at how Act can help us streamline some of the paperwork requirements that regulated advisers need to follow. Our primary objective was to ensure that all users were confident with their knowledge and understanding of the system, from here we’ll increase the pace and frequency of change implementation – we see this as a journey, not a one-time exercise.”
