Why platform innovation starts with adviser reality

Bringing adviser insights together shapes better platforms and outcomes. What’s front of mind for advisers right now?

That was one of the questions running through our recent adviser event in Glasgow. While every firm has its own priorities, several discussions came through clearly: preparing for regulatory and inheritance tax changes, creating capacity, and helping existing clients and their families make confident decisions in volatile markets.

At the same time, clients’ expectations are rising. Experiences delivered by companies in other industries have reset the bar for speed, ease and innovation. Clients increasingly expect the same from financial services – with implications for how advice firms operate.

Together, these pressures point to a broader challenge: how firms can grow and scale while continuing to deliver high-quality, personalised advice in a market that rarely stands still.

We believe good advice supports better financial decisions, stronger long-term saving habits and more effective wealth transfer between generations.

That belief, aligned to (our parent company) Lloyds Banking Group’s purpose, ‘helping Britain prosper’, is one of the reasons we are committed to investing in our platform and in our relationships with advisers.

But investment matters most when it makes a practical difference.

For me, the real test of platform innovation is not whether a new feature sounds impressive. It is whether it helps an adviser firm operate more effectively on a busy Tuesday morning.

Does it reduce rekeying, improve validation, support compliance and make reporting easier? Does it help firms grow their value while delivering great client outcomes? Does it remove friction so advisers can spend more time with clients and less time on administration?

We are in the fortunate position that we are financially strong and can invest to enhance our platform’s core functionality and digital user interface. This investment has helped our platform ratings rise quickly across a range of adviser surveys and in research by independent consultants.

But the best answers to those platform questions come directly from advisers themselves. They know what works, where processes slow them down and what can get in the way of delivering the service clients expect.

Adviser feedback is where the real insight sits – in the day-to-day challenges you don’t see on a roadmap. It helps ensure platform development is focused on the areas that genuinely support efficiency, confidence and better client outcomes.

It also helps us understand where we can do more, whether through technology, proposition development, sharing technical insight or service improvements.

A good example is drip feed drawdown, which forms an important part of many retirement strategies, particularly for clients who want a structured and tax-efficient approach to taking income.

When developing our drip feed offering, advisers were clear in their feedback. They did not want added complexity or a separate process. They wanted something intuitive, easy to explain and aligned with how they already work with clients.

That feedback directly shaped both the design and the language of the journey. The aim was simple: to make a commonly used advice process easier to deliver.

This is where collaboration adds real value – not just in identifying what to build, but in ensuring it works in practice.

This is what partnership should look like. Not simply telling the market what has been built, but involving advisers in how propositions are designed, refined and communicated.

Adviser feedback is where the real insight sits — in the day-to-day challenges you don’t see on a roadmap.

Events – in Glasgow, Southampton, Nottingham, Sheffield and Birmingham – are also about sharing practical insights which advisers can take back into their businesses.

That came through strongly at our earlier London event, where advisers said they valued the inheritance tax expertise and the opportunity to hear from specialists.

Their feedback was clear: advisers wanted more opportunities to have these conversations, and valued being part of them.

When advisers tell us they value access to technical insight, want more opportunities for discussion, or feel that their feedback is influencing development, it reinforces what matters most.

The value is not just in what is delivered, but in how it is developed.

Our ambition is to build a community of advisers who feel supported, informed and actively involved in shaping the platform they rely on. One where insight flows both ways, and development is grounded in real-world experience.

Technology, products and processes all play an important role. But their real value is in what they enable – better conversations, stronger client outcomes and more resilient adviser businesses.

And judging by the energy, discussion and shared thinking at our recent Glasgow event, those conversations are already driving something more powerful: a platform shaped not just for advisers, but with them.

Find out why advisers are choosing Scottish Widows Platform.