The evolution of advice – an industry perspective

By Lora Benson | Oct 28, 2019
Noel Butwell, Chief Executive Officer at Standard Life talks about how the financial services industry is evolving at an ever increasing pace.

standard life

Over the past 30 years, I’ve seen the financial services industry evolve at an ever-increasing pace. This has been in response not only to regulatory change, but to advances in technology and a growing demand for advice.

As professional advisers, you are best placed to understand what today’s clients want: typically, the convenience and speed of digital solutions combined with the personalisation that makes a solution exactly right for each client. As David Tiller, our Head of Platform Solutions, told attendees at Future Focus 2019: ‘There has been an evident shift from mass production to mass individualisation’.

We’re committed to working with you to develop strong solutions to help clients’ access great advice. We also know that it's not just the transformational developments that matter. 97% of advisers rate service as ‘extremely important' or ‘very important'. And, as the burden of regulation and disclosure grows, delivering a great service and building an efficient, prosperous business is a challenge.
The clients of 2020 will be concerned about all the upcoming variables that could affect their financial lives – from family transitions, such as a child going off to university, to high-level seismic events, including Brexit and adjustments to the state pension age.

We believe that enquiring minds drive every exciting change and innovation. To that end, we asked some industry experts at our Future Focus event earlier this year how can you apply these technological advancements to your work while maintaining personal relationships with your clients and meeting their changing needs. How can advisory firms benefit from digitisation while increasing profits and productivity? Put simply, how can we best make the latest technology work for us?
Here's what they had to say


SL logo 2


Important information

Standard Life is a leading life savings business that has been successfully helping people manage their money and invest for their future for almost two centuries. We are primarily based in the UK, with operations in Ireland and Germany. Around 4.5 million customers trust us with their savings; and our teams of experts aim for excellence in everything they do.