Phil Quin-Conroy : Evolving the Business

The head of PLAN Aggregation Services talks about taking the company forward, and the lessons he learned from criticism of its Podium system

MPA: Is technology, specifi cally Podium 2.0, PLAN’s primary value proposition as a premium aggregator service?

Phil Quin-Conroy: We see technology as a critical component of PLAN Australia’s proposition to brokers. We think that a focus on technology can derive enormous benefi ts for brokers. We spend a lot of time on training and development, sharing best practice. The idea is how a broker can leverage technology to spend less time on data entry and more time on revenue-generating activities.

Entering data once allows the broker to model up product scenarios, to submit information to a lender for an application, meet compliance requirements, lodge a commission claim, and then deliver post-sales service – that can all be achieved by entering data once now into cloud-based technology platforms, of which Podium 2.0 is one.

MPA: You were heavily involved in the introduction of the Podium system. What do brokers demand from these systems? What do they want from these systems in the here and now?

PQC: My belief with technology is that you’ve got to build from the outside in. What that means is that you’ve got to listen to what your customer is looking for and respond to those demands. And that’s very much the approach we took, moving Podium from the launch version to the mature version when we relaunched Podium with Podium 2.0 two years ago.

And it is a balance of responding to their needs but also looking for opportunities to innovate as well, and perhaps get ahead of the curve and anticipate the needs of brokers in the future. A classic example of that for us was the eClient functionality we’ve developed. That technology allows a broker to very quickly send a client needs analysis to a customer via a secure web link ... It cuts down the amount of work a broker needs to do; it enables a quality digital interaction with the customer; and ultimately it can improve the efficiency of a broker as well. So you might not actually get that request from a broker, but in terms of opportunities you can take a big leap forward in the interaction brokers are able to have with customers.

MPA: Podium ran into some criticism upon release two years ago. How have you responded to this criticism?

PQC: It’s worth reflecting on the journey with Podium. A number of years ago we identified the need to re-platform the business, to move from desktop-based technology to cloud-based technology. It’s fair to say we underestimated the change in management challenge, to be honest, in helping brokers transition from the old world to the new world.

So after we realised that, we did a couple of things. We worked to provide the right sort of support, focusing on that change in management; and we also really changed the focus of the development of our technology solution. It was perhaps IT-led originally; we ensured that the development moved to being business-led, where we were able to listen to the feedback from brokers, respond to that feedback and deliver.

You need to go through a little pain when you’re really transforming and moving from old-world technology to new-world technology, but if we had our time over again we probably would have invested in change management to ease the pain; we certainly wouldn’t want to cause any pain. We recognised that we caused some pain and frustration, but we responded to that really quickly and it was a lesson to us in rolling out technology in the future, to ensure that we engage, and that we’ve got a really strong change management and training program in place when we introduce any changes.

 
MPA: So the problem was not so much the technology as people’s inability to adapt to it?

PQC: No, the technology had gaps. I think one of the things you have to do is recognise that you’ve got an issue, and we certainly put up our hand and said, “We realise there’s some gaps; we realise there’s some frustration...’’. I don’t think there was much resistance to change at all actually. We had some gaps we needed to close; we did that. It was a significant change that was dramatically impacting the way brokers run their business, and they needed support.

MPA: How can PLAN support brokers when technology fails?

PQC: With cloud-based technology, the system doesn’t crash. If your laptop goes down or your laptop gets stolen, you can go and buy a new one, or go use a tablet, and connect directly to the cloud and access your information. So we back up information for our brokers that is entered through Podium. The days of software crashing or hardware going on the blink and you’re out of action for days or weeks – the move to the cloud has seen those days move into the past.

From time to time brokers require support in relation to technology, no doubt; so we’ve got a strongly manned technology help desk. So if brokers are facing any issues using Podium 2.0, they’re able to jump on the phone and immediately get support on a technical level. If the support they require is more of a training nature, we’ve got dedicated trainers and a large team of BDMs who are there to support brokers with best-practice advice.

MPA: Has PLAN got any other technological innovations in the pipeline? Perhaps another update for Podium?

PQC: Every few months or so we will release small enhancements; that’s been our focus over the past 12 months. It’s fair to say, though, that our absolute focus at the minute is around assisting brokers to leverage Podium 2.0. We’ve just done a round of professional development days showing brokers how to target best practice – and a couple of years in, there are still brokers who are yet to use all of the functionality we’ve rolled out. That’s fine, because they actually have to change their business processes and client processes to use the technology, and we can help them with that.

MPA: Brokers rated accuracy and timeliness of commission payments as their number one concern in our recent survey. What is PLAN doing to improve the commission payment system?

PQC: We believe PLAN Australia has a market-leading and very unique capability in the commission space, whether that be the PLAN Australia trust, which provides a security of income stream for our members, or whether that be the fact that we pay commissions on a weekly basis through to our brokers. We have a commission query team – we want to have someone at the end of the phone or email to make sure problems are resolved and they’re resolved quickly. And rather than wait for a next commission run, usually four weeks away, with PLAN it is only seven days away and we think that is really critical.

MPA: You’ve carried out rebranding, introduced new software and expanded your team. What else do you hope to change at PLAN during your time as CEO?

PQC: I’m really proud of the fact that as a team we’ve been able to define a clear direction for the business, with a clear set of priorities which are very much based on the feedback we’ve sought from brokers. It’s a great business with a great history and reputation as a leading player in the industry; I want to see us maintain and enhance that status. I really try to instil a philosophy of needing to evolve and innovate to stay relevant and to grow. And the best way to show we’re evolving is to keep investing in the business, whether that is the team, whether that is the brand refresh, whether that is new services.

MPA: In one sentence, why should brokers go for PLAN Australia?

PQC: Our strategy at PLAN is to be seen as the leading provider of premium aggregation services to growth-orientated businesses, and we aim to achieve our strategy via our value proposition, which is around assisting brokers to achieve growth by accessing those premium services to run a great business and deliver excellent client outcomes.

 


This article is from Mortgage Professional issue #14.10. Download the issue to read more.