Financial services company Friends Provident and IT managed
services provider Nextra have unveiled an innovative strategy to
roll out hardware and software to financial advisors.
Under the scheme, Friends Provident will resell Nextra's IT
services as a way of offering independent agents access to its back
end systems and online tools.
In 1999, Friends Provident developed a chain of Appointed
Representatives (AR) - a sales channel consisting of 200
independent UK businesses exclusively selling Friends Provident
products.
As part of its channel strategy Friends Provident has signed a deal
with Nextra, who will provide the ARs with a managed desktop or
laptop PC capable of running Friend Provident in-house financial
applications over a dial-up Internet connection.
From June, Friends Provident will use the Nextra infrastructure to
automate parts of its sales process through its computer assisted
sales process enhances results (CASPER) initiative.
This system is designed to replace the largely paper-based approach
to handling customers. ARs will be offered tools that work out
future pension needs of customers and then auto-complete electronic
forms based on customer information provided.
The ARs pay for the Nextra service through a leasing contract with
Friends Provident.
Alan Dorey, manager of business operations and director of the AR
technologies project at Friends Provident told CW360.com the
company needed a way to standardise IT infrastructure if it was to
support its ARs effectively.
"Every one had different IT," said Dorey. Some ARs had older PCs
and word processors; others used paper-based filing. This made it
quite difficult for Friends Provident to update its quotation
systems, which ARs used during customer consultations.
Another issue facing Friends Provident was that the ARs were, in
effect, unsupported remote workers. "Most ARs had not considered IT
support, maintenance and anti-virus [updates]," said Dorey.
Dorey's deal with Nextra will see the ARs provided with IBM
Thinkpad T22 notebook PCs, IBM 6792 NetVista desktop PCs, a mix of
laser, ink and bubblejet printers, Windows 2000 Professional,
Microsoft Office 2000 and Norton anti-virus software.
The PCs are backed up on CD-R discs each time the user shuts-down
the system. Nextra also provides a restore disk, allowing ARs to
restore their PC to its initial configuration.
While Nextra provides the managed infrastructure Doley's Friends
Provident team will support and train the ARs in the use of Friends
Provident's in-house applications. This approach, he said will help
develop business relationships with the sales channel.
Friends Provident's decision to offer a managed IT service for its
independent sales channel is part of a growing trend, according to
Forrester analyst, David Metcalfe.
When businesses operate within a fragmented market resellers often
do not know enough about your products," Metcalfe said. Many, he
added, do not have the resources to put in place sophisticated
IT.
By offering both products and the services to support their sale,
organisations can gain competitive advantage.