This is just a short blog and there are loads of ways to make something massive into something more palatable. We could talk about workstreams, about packages and all sorts of things, but this time let’s concentrate on milestones.

It sounds obvious, but milestones are there to help you mark progress on the way to your destination, they should also act as a gate for quality.  They reassure you that you haven’t got lost or wandered off the path. And that’s our first tip: align your milestones to your outcomes. If that sounds daft, it’s not. So often we see projects where the end goal has been obscured or lost entirely. Your people can’t possibly perform to their best if they don’t know where they’re meant to go. So if the goal is to get adviser charging ready for RDR, that’s the goal. The outcomes underneath that (systems ready, new collateral, sales training etc) must link to it, but the key thing is that each milestone (or checkpoint or stop/go point) is clearly and obviously linked to it as well.

Our second tip when setting milestones is to apply the old test of time, cost and quality. For the uninitiated, this is an equation which says that you can have 2 out of 3. You can have something quick and cheap, but the quality will be poor. You can have something high quality and quick, but it’ll cost you. You can even have something high quality and cheap, but it’ll take ages to deliver. Whichever 2 you want is fine, but apply this little check to each milestone you set and you’ll be in good shape.

Finally, a third tip is to make sure you celebrate milestones. The projects we work on are huge, complex and often take place over more than a year. Human nature needs to celebrate achievement, and waiting for the end of the entire project is just too long. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a night out, something unhealthy from Greggs  (although watch out for the pasties, they’ve got VAT on them) or even just warm words from the boss.

There are other things to consider too (we’ll pick some of these up in more detail in later blogs). You need to do mapping against priorities, dependencies and capabilities to make sure your mouth doesn’t write a cheque another part of your anatomy can’t cash. A smart programme will mix up large and small milestones to keep pace going and allow flexibility. And, as we’ve said before, communication across the teams as they move towards their milestones is always crucial.

Used well, milestones can be a great tool to maintain the pace of delivery and keep morale up. Used badly, they’re just more management speak to ignore.

That’s it for this time – keep checking back for more.

Chris Hitchens | CEO
Twitter: @chris_hitchens

Platform People

http://www.platformpeople.com

We took the unusual step for such a young business in sponsoring an award (Best Platform Software Provider) – we recently sponsored Best Wrap or Platform at the Money Marketing Awards too. In part this is of course for business aims – name awareness and so on – but also because we love this part of the industry and want to show that we support it through and through.

When you are able to match that with raising significant funds for an amazing charity like Help For Heroes, you have to be onto a winner. I was a military pilot for the best part of  14 years and I know only too well, the valuable and largely unrecognised work that H4H do (they’re one of our chosen charities too) – it’s very close to my heart.

So congratulations to everyone who was there, Aberdeen Asset Management (the main sponsors), Clive Waller (the organiser) and of course to Help For Heroes campaigner Robin Hollington who gave such an inspirational speech. For those of you who don’t know, Robin’s son Richard was the 300^th member of the UK armed forces to die in the Afghanistan campaign. If that doesn’t put our industry’s troubles with RDR, pension illustrations and restricted advice in perspective, I don’t know what would.

Chris Hitchens | CEO
Twitter: @chris_hitchens

Platform People

http://www.platformpeople.com

This sounds self-evident and it probably is. But it’s easy to forget, and it’s very hard to do. How do you shift a mindset of an individual, let alone an organisation? When everyone is dreading RDR, how do you get them excited? This reminds us of the saying, “what do you call a leader with no followers? Just a guy taking a walk.”

The first thing to think about is what your stakeholders, both internal and external, react to. Is a programme of project communication enough? Or do they need the validation of reading about it elsewhere, perhaps in the trade media? Shape your plans to fit – remember that external commentators and journalists are also stakeholders in their own way and need handling every bit as well thought out as your own CEO.

Fortunately, a bit of planning and organisation can make the world of difference, as can putting yourself in others’ shoes.  We think there are three practical things you can do to maximise your chances of not being just a guy taking a walk. We’ll frame them as questions.

• What is your comms plan for articulating the benefits of what you want to do?

Good communication doesn’t happen by accident. It takes good planning and careful execution. Your comms plan should sketch out your messages, your key internal and external stakeholders (sometimes ranking stakeholders is a help), and the mechanisms you’ll use to get them across. This works whatever level you work at. Great leaders instinctively do this; the rest of us have to work at it a bit. You’ll need to think about the day-to-day of internal communications on a one-to-one and one-to-many basis.

It may feel a bit awkward planning out what you’ll say in conversations, meetings, presentations or in emails, but the essence of persuasive communication is persistence and consistency. That consistency also needs to feed in to your external communications, whether on a formal or informal basis. You’ll tire of your message long before others do – keep it up.

• What is the impact of RDR on your processes – how will it change people’s jobs?

Most people are interested in how change will affect them. This might appear as excitement, fear, resentment or even ennui. But understanding the impact of change on others – walking in their shoes – is key to calibrating your communications. There is no point in expecting an operational manager to get excited about doing extra proposition development work if they are staring down the barrel of what they perceive as half-built RDR systems and a constant barrage of manual workarounds. Empathise, locate your EQ, and help people on the journey.

If it helps, keep a list of those you need to influence and jot down what you think their attitude is. Then go ask them what it is and jot that down. Then start to think about how you can shift them to your mindset. Finished writing? No you haven’t. Write some notes on what you’ll do, and what opportunity you will have or create to do that. The point of writing it down is to call your thoughts into some kind of solidity. With so much going on, that’s got to be useful.

Although less pronounced, thinking this way can also help you influence people outside your business.

• Do you know the interdependencies across your change portfolio?

This sounds like a pure project management question, but actually it’s a fundamental part of persuasion. Those keen to resist change or stick to a suboptimal Plan A will immediately look for holes in your counter-plan so they can remove the niggle at the back of their mind that they should be doing more, and get back to the job in hand. That’s human nature. Your job is to be one step ahead and have a command of the impacts of what you’re proposing on other workstreams and departments. That work is invaluable and has to go in upfront.

To us, these little bits of planning, thought and organisation will make a real difference. They work whether you’re a business analyst trying to get your team to do more or a business unit leader trying to bring a whole organisation with you. If your ideas are good, your analysis is sound, you’ve studied the impacts and identified a real opportunity, then getting the communication right is the last piece of the jigsaw.

The final thing is to remember that communications aren’t just for Christmas. A sign of a badly managed comms strategy is one that lights up the sky at the exciting project outset, then goes dark for months, and then tries to light up the sky again for launch. No good. As we said earlier, if you think of your internal and external audiences as stakeholders that need to come on the journey and shape your comms plan around that, you have a far greater chance of success.

We’d love to hear about your RDR developments and stories – and we’ll keep everything anonymous. Just email us at enquiries@platformpeople.com.

Chris Hitchens | CEO
Twitter: @chris_hitchens

Platform People

http://www.platformpeople.com

A few highlights – in the category we sponsored, Best Wrap or Platform, Skandia took the honours, narrowly beating Cofunds and FundsNetwork. We send them our congratulations. These awards are voted for by advisers, and while the bundled platforms have a huge amount to do for RDR, it’s good to see that they’re keeping their supporters happy too.

Scottish Life had an amazing night, picking up a pensions award and Company Of The Year. Here’s a company that knows its own proposition and sticks to it ruthlessly. They’re not the biggest, but they must be doing something right. A great result.

We were struck too by Aviva’s success in the Healthcare category and also for the TV ad spot which has Paul Whitehouse doing a rendition of Sixth Sense to promote the importance of protecting families with life cover. Powerful stuff.

In all of these, and many of the other categories, we were struck by the commitment and innovation of the advisers and providers who picked up gongs and those who were shortlisted. It goes to show that even when times are hard, this industry has the capacity to surprise and delight. No doubt we don’t get it right as an industry all the time, but there is lot to be proud of.

We’ll see you again next year…

Chris Hitchens | CEO
Twitter: @chris_hitchens

Platform People
http://www.platformpeople.com

We’ve written here before about how the challenges of RDR are taking up so much attention that it’s easy for providers to forget to keep innovating and providing genuinely excellent service to advisers and clients along the way. For us, platforms are where the really interesting developments are happening and we’re excited that those efforts can be rewarded in front of the industry.

We don’t know who’ll win, but our prediction is that it will be a firm who have been really clear about their proposition, thought about their first-line customers – advisers – and their end clients’ needs, and delivered consistently to a high standard.  For the record, the shortlist is:

• Cofunds
• Elevate, AXA Wealth
• Fidelity FundsNetwork
• Skandia
• Standard Life
• Transact

Nights like Thursday remind us that the sector in which we work is doing far better than many others and we’re privileged to be a part of it. As times get tougher, helping people whether affluent or otherwise plan for the future and protect themselves and their families is not a bad thing to be turning up for.

If you’re there, come and drop by our table – it’d be good to see you.

Chris Hitchens | CEO
Twitter: @chris_hitchens

Platform People
http://www.platformpeople.com

This time, we’ll assume that you took all that to heart and are fully bought in to RDR being more than just a mandatory change programme – it’s a chance to refresh your proposition and reassess your standing in the market. So now it’s time to put together your business case that you can present to the board and secure the funding that you need.

Business cases strike fear into the hearts of lots of people. ROIs, IIRs, sensitivity analyses – they’re all important but really they are just ways of getting at some fundamental truths.  Speak to any truly successful entrepreneur or businessperson and they’ll say the same thing, every time, in very simple language. There are three things they want to know:

1. How much will it cost me?
2. How much will I get back?
3. Over how long?

As funders of projects, senior staff in large organisations always ask for the same things.  So for your RDR business case, you need to have all your ducks in a row. You need to know build costs, timescales and contingencies. You need to have an idea about volume you could achieve and how.  And you need to know what (and how) you can charge.

But in a multifaceted project like RDR, it takes a huge effort to keep things simple. Here are 3 tips for doing just that:

4. Be very clear about the outcomes you want & what’s required from your organisation to achieve them. Keep objectives well defined and measurable. SMART is a cliché now, but it has some truth inside it. Always strive for simplicity.
5. Be honest about the capabilities you have in house to achieve what you want to do. Nothing irritates change boards more than having to approve a load of extra staff they didn’t know about at outset. If there are gaps, talk about them. (a quick plug: you can talk to us too before you go in – we’ve been through it all before)
6. Talk about the cost of not making the most of RDR – your ‘loss statements’. If you’re just doing the minimum, what happens if your competitors overtake you? What would that do to your market share? Would you be forced into price competition to get past a comparatively lacklustre proposition?  Create a sense of urgency and need for change.

As we look around the industry, we don’t get that sense of urgency and jeopardy from the provider community that we’ve heard from advisers for some time now. We know there are lots of people working very hard, but is the incredible brains trust that’s been built up over the years in providers really being fired at RDR with all possible velocity and in the positive way? We’re not so sure.

Business cases for things that people really  want and need go through much easier than ones where they’re sitting back, saying ‘convince me’. The best thing you can do – other than keeping it simple – is get everyone else bought in before the pitch. Then you’re on your way.

 

Chris Hitchens | CEO
Twitter: @chris_hitchens

Platform People

http://www.platformpeople.com

]]> http://www.platformpeople.com/rdr-making-the-case/feed/ 0 http://www.platformpeople.com/build-once-use-many-platforms/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=build-once-use-many-platforms http://www.platformpeople.com/build-once-use-many-platforms/#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:38:25 +0000 Chris Hitchens http://www.platformpeople.com/?p=297 This phrase is the clarion call for people building big software projects like platforms. So much work goes into getting the fundamental building blocks right that reuse is not only desirable to make developments pay for themselves, it’s essential.

This came to the front of our minds this week when we saw that Nucleus, the Edinburgh-based wrap provider, is planning not only a direct to customer (D2C) version of their platform, but also a corporate version aimed at the SME market. Round our way we call that getting the most out of the teabag.

Wrap platforms are based on a design principle called ‘Service Oriented Architecture’ (SOA) which pretty much breaks down the elements of platforms into chunks or modules. These can then be reused in all sorts of ways. So, for example, the trading engine that sits inside a provider’s wrap can be reused inside standalone retail products. Different propositions, same building blocks.

However, in techworld, the ROI on SOA (are you getting this?) is not all it could be. That’s because the element of reuse doesn’t represent a big enough percentage of the total cost of redevelopment. In the wrap space different markets have very different needs. User interfaces need to change, logic flows can be different (it’s quite different uploading a payroll direct from an HR system compared to doing a 13-step wizard for each client) and sometimes it’s not possible to reuse as much as you’d like.

So given that 2012 already seems to be a year where providers try to reuse their technology and get a payback on investment, our challenge to the platforms sector is to be a model of best practice for SOA and get as much efficiency in as possible. That will drive down development costs and timescales, which will reduce the ROI needed and ultimately will make the cost of investing lower for customers. Which is what this is all about.

 

Chris Hitchens | CEO
Twitter: @chris_hitchens

Platform People

http://www.platformpeople.com

]]> http://www.platformpeople.com/build-once-use-many-platforms/feed/ 0 http://www.platformpeople.com/sizing-the-rdr-prize/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sizing-the-rdr-prize http://www.platformpeople.com/sizing-the-rdr-prize/#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2012 07:45:24 +0000 Chris Hitchens http://www.platformpeople.com/?p=268 So this is the second in our series of RDR blogs. The idea is that we’ll apply project methodology to RDR as a whole. We’re aiming to show that even the very biggest change programmes needn’t be that scary if you a) have the right team in place and b) take a structured approach.

We’ve been part of large organisations and we know that mandatory change programmes are treated quite differently to proposition developments. The former is treated a bit like writing thank-you cards after Christmas when you’re a kid. It’s a bit of a bore, and tends to get solid, dependable people put on it. Propositional development is more fun, sparky, catches the attention of the front of house guys and gets the thinkers put on it.

But here’s a thought. What if you didn’t treat RDR as a mandatory change programme, but instead treated it as an amazing omnibus programme for proposition development? A chance to restructure your product set for a new world, with the ability to tinker with almost every part of everything in your control. Would that make you think of it differently? Put different people on it?

For us, RDR is full of opportunity for providers to make a tangible difference to their propositions. One key way to train our minds to think more positively about it is to take a bit of basic project methodology for proposition development – the ‘opportunity statement’, often referred to as ‘the size of the prize’. This is the part in Dragons’ Den where entrepreneurs tell the Dragons that £4.3bn is spent on xyz products annually, and if we get just 1.5% of that market we’ll all be able to move to a non-extradition country and spend the rest of our natural lives engaged in morally flexible activities.

That isn’t the right way to do it, but there is virtue in looking at your key competitors, thinking of where they have an edge over you, identifying their inflows and AUA and working out what you could do if you were able to address some of those issues. Here are a couple of ideas:

1. Wraps – fund supermarkets pick up high inflows because they are simple to use and make it simple for investors to understand. What % of existing supermarket flows might you be able to hijack if you took the chance to simplify your disclosure and marketing material as part of your RDR programme? The supermarkets have a lot to do anyway – maybe you can steal a march on them.
2. Fund supermarkets – the wraps tend to gain high market share with advisers who have embraced RDR (or its principles) early. The best of them operate with absolute clarity and spend considerable effort implementing and onboarding adviser firms; even coaching them sometimes how to present an unbundled proposition. Could you do the same? Up to 25% of advisers are planning to review their platform choices this year – could you attract some existing AUA away from the wraps and develop a deeper relationship with some advisers as a result of moving to transparency? What would it take in the way you’re refreshing your systems to provide the building blocks for that?

To that we’d add the fact that RDR will likely shake out some under-par competitors, so there may be a rising tide that will lift your boat – as long as you do a good job.

So a formula might look like this:

Existing AUA / inflows

minus

market exits from advisers quitting the industry

plus

additional inflows/AUA from failing providers

plus

new flow from untapped advisers

plus

new flow from improved competitive position

equals

opportunity

 

Would that be enough to get your organisation more excited about the RDR opportunity? We think it should.

Next time, we’ll build on this and look at making the case for investment in the RDR opportunity. In the meantime, try not to get too excited…

]]> http://www.platformpeople.com/sizing-the-rdr-prize/feed/ 0 http://www.platformpeople.com/press-release-iip-gold-iso-9001-accredidation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=press-release-iip-gold-iso-9001-accredidation http://www.platformpeople.com/press-release-iip-gold-iso-9001-accredidation/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:32:28 +0000 Chris Hitchens http://www.platformpeople.com/?p=248 Platform People Blaze a Trail in Business Professionalism

Platform People are delighted to announce that they have been awarded both the Investors in People Gold Standard and ISO 9001, the first company in the UK ever to earn both at their first assessment and within a record-breaking four month period.

Platform People, a recruitment & business consultancy firm that specialises in working with the Investment Platform market has achieved IIP Gold & ISO 9001 at first assessment and from start to finish in only four months – an achievement that has never been done before.

Chris Hitchens, Managing Director at Platform People commented on receiving the awards; “We were told it would be virtually impossible to get both IIP and ISO at the same time, never mind IIP Gold status, but as I always say if you’re going to go for something you go for the top. While the business was already running at this level, gaining both the IIP Gold and ISO 9001 show our peers and the marketplace that we are an exemplary business to work with, and as a business consultancy firm we wouldn’t be very effective if we didn’t show that our own house was in order first, would we?”

Being awarded IIP Gold status represents achievement of world-class best practise. It shows a truly cutting-edge organisation operating at the very highest levels of people management practice.

John Martin, Business Support Adviser at idg the Investors in People Centre for the North of England said “This is a fantastic achievement for Platform People and I would like to congratulate the team there on their commitment to continuous improvement. As the Investors in People Centre for the North of England, idg is committed to working with organisations to help them improve, develop and grow and by offering a flexible, practical and easy to use framework, Investors in People is designed to help organisations and their people enhance performance and meet goals. By achieving Gold recognition especially at their first assessment, Platform People are certainly working to do this.”

Hitchens continued; “I am really proud of everyone at Platform People for all the hard work they have contributed to earning these awards. As a fairly new business it was important for us to get our structure and team right at the beginning and I think we can say we have definitely done this.”

Only 1% of Investors in People organisations nationally achieve Gold recognition and as at 31 March 2011 there were approx. 293 Gold recognised organisations nationally.

Notes to editors:

1. Established in 2010, Platform People is a business with a single primary objective but with two distinct facets that work in harmony to achieve the primary objective, which is to help and support the UK Investment Platform industry to allow them to take to market and support the best services available. To deliver this primary objective Platform People have approached the challenge from to very distinct but complimentary sides, they provide expert business consultancy services to the platform providers. Placing the right consultant; for the right challenge; at exactly the right point in the platforms life-cycle. They also provide expert, high-end recruitment services tailor-made for the platforms industry. Knowing who the right people are; how to get these people and matching them with the perfect role in this highly specialised field.
2. Investors-in-People is a people management standard that was launched in 1991. There are four different levels achievable – Gold, silver, bronze and standard. Being an Investor in People demonstrates a commitment to the development and success of the people in the business and a desire for the business and its people to improve and grow. http://www.investorsinpeople.co.uk
3. ISO 9001 is a quality management standard which is awarded by The British Assessment Bureau. It helps organisations be more structured and organised. Many UK companies require providers to be ISO 9001 certified to allow them to tender for business or achieve preferred supplier status. http://www.british-assessment.co.uk

For media queries contact:

Tess Joyce

The Hepburn Consultancy

Media relations, marketing and events

Mob: 07912 353914

Email: tessjoyce@thehepburnconsultancy.co.uk

]]> http://www.platformpeople.com/press-release-iip-gold-iso-9001-accredidation/feed/ 0 http://www.platformpeople.com/rdr-survival-of-the-fittest/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rdr-survival-of-the-fittest http://www.platformpeople.com/rdr-survival-of-the-fittest/#comments Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:57:17 +0000 Chris Hitchens http://www.platformpeople.com/?p=232 So there have been some interesting platform stories in the trade press to start off 2012. We are definitely starting to see the temperature start to rise as we head towards RDR!

We were really interested in a couple of stories from Cofunds – they’ve called for more clarity on the treatment of legacy assets for re-registration and also expressed a hope that the industry doesn’t get hung up on the labels ‘restricted’ or ‘independent’.

Skandia started the year with some interesting predictions – mainly that the number of platforms around serving IFAs would reduce to 10 and the average price would reduce by half to about 0.25%. There’s also an interesting piece on their RDR plans here.

Our take on these things is always filtered through our specialist view, which is running and resourcing large, complex change programmes. And it strikes us that really, both of these are tech stories.

Let’s explain. The issue with re-registration is that the FSA have said that re-reg does not have to be an advised event. That means that in-built trail commission can continue to be paid after a re-registration event. But new units or shares in the same fund or OEIC bought on an advised basis can’t pay out that commission; it all has to be done on adviser charging. Cofunds’ point is that it’s extremely difficult to keep proper records so that you can ‘split’ an existing holding into parts that generate trail and parts that don’t. You’d also need new business rules around that for which holdings you sell first to generate income or pay charges, for example.

Our thing is – this shouldn’t be impossible to do. We understand that providers have a huge amount on their plates and this is an extra headache they don’t need. As Stephen Mohan points out in the piece, the ISO messaging standards the providers have developed don’t take account of it. What we take from this is that providers with a forward looking, well-run and disciplined change and technology function will be able to flex to deal with these requirements. Providers without that solid foundation will struggle, to their commercial detriment.

That kind of leads us to the Skandia story. Will there only be 10 platforms left in a few years? We wouldn’t feel confident in making that prediction, but we do think it’s inevitable that we’ll see some consolidation in the sector over the coming months Some of that will be driven by competitive pressure, but we think the greater driver will be the demands of technology development of exactly the kind described by Stephen Mohan above.

Our prediction is that we’ll see the smarter, more able providers start to compete and differentiate on operational and technological excellence. In effect they’ll use RDR as a springboard for making the kind of improvements that genuinely create efficiencies for IFAs, and valued outcomes for consumers, which sounds pretty good to us.

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