Software services giant Iress is looking hard at the performance of its UK and European businesses.
In annual results published on Monday 20 February the Australian-based company flagged the performance of its businesses in the region.
It said: “Iress’ UK & Europe business again delivered a disappointing result, with constant currency revenue growth of just 1%. While significant growth opportunities exist in the UK, the company needs to improve shareholder returns in that market.”
These were the first annual results delivered by the company’s new chief executive Marcus Price.
He started in the role on 3 October 2022 after former CEO Andrew Walsh announced his intention to retire last summer.
Iress is known for Adviser Office and has said it will crease support of the system from mid-2023.
An industry commentator speaking on condition of anonymity, said “news that the new Iress CEO is considering a UK exit must be very worrying to firms who have recently moved from Adviser Office, or are about to take the final decision to do switch.”
They added the UK advice tech market is likely to be far more competitive over the next few years with several new players.
This is because Twenty7Tec, has recently acquired the Bluecoat Fin Plan software.
Also 360 DotNet has built a significant following in mortgages and is “now aggressively” looking to grow in the wealth market.
And Dynamic Planner recently announced a substantial deal with Quilter that has historically been a “major Iress customer”.
They added: “Morningstar acquired WealthCraft, a Microsoft Dynamics based CRM products as part of the recent acquisition of Praemium and, judging by recent appointments are clearly planning significant moves.
“Add to that the emergence of the new systems like Plannr and particularly the new CRM solution from Fluido, a top level Salesforce partner, who are ultimately part of Infosys, and you may want to ask, are there enough advisors to keep so many system suppliers profitable?”
Iress chief executive Marcus Price said: “Our focus is on configuring our UK business for success, doing more for our clients and improving the overall financial performance of the group. Moreover, we are committed to accelerating improvements to our software and service for clients in the UK.
“We are reviewing the best structures and approaches to deliver an outstanding experience for our UK clients. This means that Iress is increasingly open to collaborating with other companies to drive innovation and product development in the pursuit of delivering new levels of value and service.
“We have a great business here, with excellent people and excellent clients—many of them at the heart of the financial services system. Our goal is to create the right conditions for success in this important market.”
He added: “We are committed to making Xplan the number one advice and wealth management software in the UK. Our mortgages software is already the UK leading mortgage originations platform. The Exchange remains the UK’s market-leading quote and apply portal for financial professionals.
“We are completely focused on delivering excellent software and service to our clients along with value to our shareholders. We are refreshing our strategy for doing so and look forward to sharing this with our clients and investors in April.”
Why is your industry commentator posting with anonymity? Goes against all journalism, especially when everyone knows who that that industry commentator is.
This is puerile tittle tattle and not accurate reporting. It is also a payback attack. “I’ll get you Buttler”
Did you ask IRESS for comment? Or just say across the office “lets have a go?”
Last fact check. Dynamic Planner has been bought by Quilter in addition to IRESS Good try at FUD
There is accuracy around the market becoming more competitive, with a number of niche players trying to do what the big boys- IRESS and Intelliflo have spent many millions building. While this is interesting for industry commentators, like world war pilots, advisers can be old or bold, but there are no old and bold advisers.
https://www.professionalplanner.com.au/2023/02/calling-time-on-that-one-iress-to-review-international-business/
Thanks for the link, but that just says that Marcus Price is putting a time box around international returns as part of an overall review of the business.
Dynamic Planner is not a CRM system, but a risk profiling, investment research and review system, and cashflow modelling – i.e. front of office. So it seems to me that Quilter will still need a CRM system to handle all the back office stuff, and given the investment they have made to tailor the Iress system to their requirements I’m not sure that’s likely to change anytime soon.
Correct
Well done for correcting your article. It might be a good point to take the rubbish fed to you by your “anonymous” contributor out of the article as well. Let him stick to his column?