[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In what's quickly becoming an annual event, it's time for our predictions of the state of the web for financial types in 2015. 2014 was an interesting year for us, with a couple of our predictions coming true (more D2Cs etc) so let's see how this year pans out for you lovely financial types!
Without further ado, let's kick off with our top five predictions.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width="5/6"][vc_column_text]
1. Archaic template web services die a fiery death
We’ll pretend to be sad about this one, but from what we’ve seen in the last few months, advisory firms are cottoning on that those template web services that have been around for many many years are a little behind the times with regards to the features that your present-day visitors would expect to see. No-one cares about news feeds from the FT on an advisory site, nor do the majority of visitors care too much about those jargon buster pages; it’s all a bit old-hat.
With the prevalence of powerful website builders and bespoke services (such as us!), many firms will result to kicking out the old in favour of technology that’ll actually help them, and not burden them online.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width="1/6"][cq_vc_animationfw icon="fire" size="5x" animation="bounce" color="#e89735" float="pull-left"][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width="1/6"][cq_vc_animationfw icon="bullseye" size="5x" animation="wobble" color="#4b9c48" float="pull-left"][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width="5/6"][vc_column_text]
2. Engagement becomes more than buzz word
Ian McKenna can often be found talking about engagement online with advisory firms, and I have to say, he’s right. Clients want more than a static page of information, and the web is a great avenue for making your firm stand out. We’ve been banging this drum since day one, but the financial web horizon is still a very, very exciting place to be, for all involved. Client portals nowadays can do more than just provide links to mass produced PDFs, why not consider secure communication, video calls, appointment booking, document signing, illustrative / informative calculators (on steroids) and the list could go on. It’s all about offering a service that sticks your client to your firm; a honeypot if you will. We can help with ideas on that front.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width="5/6"][vc_column_text]
3. Website security (SSL) starts to become a popular add-on for sites
Since the small comment from Google that having the little padlock sign on your site is now a ranking “signal” that they use to score sites on, I imagine business owners that want to get a leg up on their competitors online might be exploring how to enable this on their site. There was a time that SSL was so cost prohibitive that you used to have to sell your first child and your car in order to jump on the backwagon, but alas, those cowboy days are over! Providers such as Rapidssl and Comodo now offer SSL certificates for less than a fortnight’s indulgence of coffee (if you live in London!).
Before you go ahead and jump into this, it might be worth chatting to your website developer to ensure that your site can be locked down, as not every hosting provider (especially those cheap and nasty ones) can deal or offer this functionality.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width="1/6"][cq_vc_animationfw icon="lock" size="5x" animation="pulse" color="#e89735" float="pull-left"][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width="1/6"][cq_vc_animationfw icon="laptop" size="5x" animation="float" color="#4b9c48" float="pull-left"][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width="5/6"][vc_column_text]
4. Existing D2C platforms will mature, new systems will crop up
2015 will be a good year for the services and sites out there leading the pack. Companies like Moneyhub will most likely iterate their services further to show their understanding of the maturing D2C sector. Whilst the bigger D2C sites focus in further towards their target audience, this will most likely create opportunities for new D2C platforms within niches. The number of times we’ve spoken to advisers and they’ve mentioned the fact they specialise in helping provide advice for those within certain professions is proof that opportunities still exist to exploit industry knowledge.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width="5/6"][vc_column_text]
5. Social media becomes content media
This is a cop-out, as this started towards the end of 2014, but advisory firms will start to become publishers in their own right; cranking out the content to further establish themselves as the people to go to on certain topics. With the prevalence of funky technology that automatically distributes content throughout social networks, a high percentage of advisory social media accounts will be more content based than personality led.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width="1/6"][cq_vc_animationfw icon="pencil" size="5x" animation="wrench" color="#e89735" float="pull-left"][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]