While there is no substitute for face-to-face contact, Super fund members may soon wake up to an alternative. Yes, in not too distant a future, fund members may begin to receive automated financial advice in “bite-sized chunks”.
Automated financial advice is a nice option. What about regulatory restrictions?
The concept has always been floating in the air; it is just that too many regulatory restrictions do not allow it to become a reality. Once the red tape vanishes, there will be no difficulty in conceiving a scenario where automated financial advice is delivered to the members.
This, however, is no news to rejoice about for the consumers. Contrarily, they are a little petrified about a possible change in guard. Yes, they do not much like going through call centre operators and having their queries resolved but no one likes a sudden change either.
To reiterate, before such an event becomes a reality, the Super funds will have to probe deep into regulatory glitches; case in point being product disclosure information.
Such service will fill ‘bad advice’ holes
Look at it this way — it is because people fail to find precise answers to their problems through customer support desks that they go to their friends and colleagues. Now, this is where all this can take a bad turn. You never know how well-informed the friend you are confiding in happens to be.
I am sure the “automated financial advice” will work. The apprehension consumers have is a temporary thing. Already, we have warmed up to machines answering us which drug to use for migraine and arthritic pain. The same principle can also hold for the Super fund industry.
If we can Google, why not “bite-sized chunks”?
Any fund member looking for instant information about his “insurance within Super” levels or his particular product (or the need to change it) can receive automated information in an instant. Great for the turnaround rate!
And think for a moment; if we can warm up to Google and seek information from it, bypassing calls to customer support, why can’t we seek automated advice?
What is your take on automated financial advice? Do you think it can be a better option than the traditional one?
