THE ROLE of the financial advisor could successfully evolve in a tech enabled direct-to-consumer world if there was a balance in technology to cater to a new generation of customers.
This solution was made during the Company Executives Forum at the Caribbean Association of Insurance & Financial Advisors’ (CARAIFA) 36th Annual Sales Congress at Wyndham Grand Barbados Sam Lord’s Castle St Philip yesterday.
Assistant vice-president, project management and operational excellence at ICBL Rhea Mapp-Bynoe said while there needed to be a balance in the use of technology, an increased engagement with technology that was already available was needed to meet the needs of a new generation of customers.
“We’re preparing for a new generation of customers who are different. They’re thinking differently, shopping differently, and they have a different expectation. They want to Google you before they meet you. Their trust is built on what they observe when they meet you. When you show up, they don’t expect you to show up with paperwork and a big, onerous, process.”
She suggested off-the-shelf solutions would help make work more efficient and stressed that these should be embraced.
“I think AI automation is the epitome of work smarter not harder. How do we really embrace it and use it to make us more efficient, to build stronger relationships through communication and to transform as individuals and as an industry,” Mapp-Bynoe said.
President of Guardian Life of the Caribbean Limited Samanta Saugh said often times there was always a need for evolution but it was followed by a resistance to implementing change, opting to follow the traditional way.
She said when focusing on the next step ahead, change should take top priority.
“When we think about our next steps, our role, it’s not just about the advisors and how we’re going to evolve as new agents or new relationship officers. Everybody is changing. You deliver,
you service your client and you service them well. You will also have tech referrals from that client. You embrace the technology that is coming through. You bring the ideas and the tools as well.”
Executive vice-president and general manager of Sagicor Life Paul Inniss said product distribution in a few years will take on an omnidirectional distribution strategy.
He said there was always a role for individuals to give advice, but acknowledged technology could also perform the same task. He stressed that customers and market needs should be considered as well as the direction in which the economies were headed in terms of technology and commerce.
Inniss also stressed that everyone with a business within the market should be aware of the direction Government was heading into creating digital economies frameworks.
“The agenda and priority of government in the markets is to create a digital economies framework where eventually, we’re going to do away from the cheques. Cheques will not be part of our economic system. Cheques cost this economy millions of dollars a year and we want to actually put that money into productive, efficient endeavours and initiatives,” he said. (AJ)
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