Advisers embrace digital fact-finds in 2020

75% of advisers and 77% of clients now prefer to use digital fact-finds over hard-copy versions, marking a significant shift in how financial advisers collect client information during the financial planning process.

At the same time, the number of advisers preferring hard-copy versions dropped from 41% in 2019 to 13% in 2020.

The research found that the vast majority of advisers continue to believe a digital fact-find is an efficient way of gathering client data remotely, increasing slightly from 81% in 2019 to 85% in 2020. Only 7% thought they were inefficient.

86% of advisers think digital fact-finds help save time, with 33% saying they save on average 30 mins – 1 hour by getting the client to complete a digital fact-find rather than a physical hard-copy version during a meeting.

The number of advisers who think digital fact-finds are an accurate way of gathering client data also increased from 31% in 2019 to 56% in 2020.

Ray Adams, Director of CashCalc, said: “The results of the research we conducted in 2019 and 2020 demonstrates a positive shift towards the use of digital fact-finds, which is incredibly exciting. Not only do digital fact-finds offer a host of benefits, such as their ability to collect client information remotely and their ability to be customised to a particular client, but they can be the key to help streamline the entire financial planning process.

"For example, if the client provides the necessary information via a digital fact-find, this information can then be instantly sent to your back-office system or your financial planning tools, or it can even automatically generate documents such as a Letter of Authority – and not once have you had to key in any information. Digital fact-finds can be very powerful and it’s exciting to see financial advisers are starting to embrace such technology and enjoy the benefits.”