How do you avoid a similar fate to the likes of once mighty brands like Kodak, SAAB and Borders Books, while remaining relevant and visible in today’s increasingly digital world?
This was the question that social researcher and author, Michael McQueen asked delegates at the IMAP InvestTech 2018 conference on 8 November.
“How do you avoid disruption to your brand and ensure you survive and thrive into the future?,” McQueen asked. “You can’t outrun the future if you don’t see it coming.”
With the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, McQueen said established industries and technologies are coming under increasing pressure, including the financial services sector.
“Technological innovation, like chatbots, are becoming all pervasive. We’re already seeing this happening in financial services, so now is the time to start gearing up for technological change. In fact, the time to reform a business is when business is good, not when it’s bad and you become reactive.”
McQueen warned financial services businesses not to make the mistake of looking at conventional competitors as being their main threat. Instead, he said the biggest disruption to business will come from unconventional competitors that are “fuelled by technology”.
“Your main competitors will be the ones who own good data and client insights, like Amazon, Google and Virgin. They are tapping into a new generation of clients, like the Millennials.”
McQueen added that automated investment services, like Wealthfront, are appealing to an entirely different demographic.
“Millennials are a different generation and so, different things appeal to them. As a sector, you need to engage with them differently,” he said.
“That means understanding their needs. Sixty-seven per cent of Millennials would rather receive advice in digital format, while 50 per cent of high-net-worth Millennials view digital advice as being more independent than that given by human advisers.”
To assist advisers to remain relevant in an age of digital disruption, McQueen offered the following three tips.
- Focus on friction
“You need to remove the complexity, red-tape and confusion of what you do with your clients. This means simplifying your processes, and that’s where technology can help. By implementing the right technology solutions to your practice, you can streamline your business and improve your client engagement.”
- Think revolution, not evolution
“While there is a place for evolution in business, if you get stuck with the evolutionary process, you will become disrupted very quickly. Instead, business requires revolutionary thinking. We need to change the very paradigm of how we operate.”
- Foster healthy paranoia
“It’s a harsh reality but only the paranoid survive in business,” McQueen said. “Healthy paranoia provides a business with the hunger to succeed and the humility to do so. Both are necessary to remain relevant and to stave off complacency and arrogance. They keep you at your A game.”
