Less admin, more advice? What Tella and Newpark’s changes mean for advisers
Moving client information between systems, documenting recommendations and keeping communication records up to date can absorb time that advisers would otherwise spend with clients.
So yesterday Tella Group announced three significant changes for their business and most importantly, their advisers, with an aim to address different parts of that workload.
“MyDash is becoming Intella, reflecting its expansion beyond mortgage applications into broader advice business management,” explains Tella Group CEO Andrew Chambers (pictured, who is also a Director of Newpark), as he reflects on the platform’s developments and widening brief.
“MyDash started out as technology to help mortgage advisers manage applications, but Intella is about something much bigger. We are building a platform around the whole advice business, and increasingly using AI to do the administration that sits around an adviser.
“Alongside that shift, Newpark is refreshing its brand and adviser support proposition, while an integrated risk insurance advice process brings Quotemonster information into Intella.”
Together, the evolution of these platforms raise a practical question for advisers – how much can connected technology and network support simplify running an advice business while keeping advisers in control of their work?
From managing applications to supporting the advice business
For existing MyDash users, the move to Intella signals a broader role for a platform originally focused on home loan applications.
“Our goal is simple – less admin and more advice,” says Chambers.
“We want advisers spending more time talking to clients and building their businesses, rather than moving between systems, re-keying information and completing repetitive administration.”
He explains that the functionalities now span client pipelines, loans, insurance policies, claims, documents and tasks and Workspace brings email and calendar functionality into the platform, with email matching helping maintain client communication histories.
“The practical aim is to make more of the information surrounding a client relationship available in one place, reducing the need to switch between applications or piece together previous conversations before a review,” adds Chambers.
Intella is being developed as an AI-native platform, with its AI agent, Stella, designed to help with work such as documenting meetings, preparing notes and action items, and populating fact finds. However Chambers says the intention extends beyond adding individual AI features.
“This isn't about putting an AI button on an existing CRM. Our ambition is to rethink how adviser technology works when intelligence is built into the platform from the beginning.
“The traditional model is that the adviser operates the software. Our direction with Intella is increasingly that the adviser tells the platform what needs to happen, reviews the outcome and stays in control.”
So that leaves advisers responsible for checking and approving the finished output, even where technology assists with preparing it.
There is also a distinction between existing functionality and future development. Conversational interaction through Ask Stella, expanded AI-supported compliance, workflow automation, mobile capability and an investment advice process sit on the roadmap.
For businesses assessing the platform, that means considering the tools available for their current workflows alongside the longer-term direction. And for clients? The potential gain is more adviser time for discussing needs and explaining recommendations.
What’s behind Newpark’s new identity?
Newpark’s first major brand refresh since 1999 was launched yesterday at its Professional Development Day at Auckland’s Butterfly Creek, alongside a new website and Adviser Hub.
Chambers says the intention is to reflect changes in the advice market while retaining the network’s established identity.
“Newpark has a long history in the New Zealand adviser market. The challenge wasn't to throw that history away. It was to create a brand that respects where Newpark has come from while properly representing where we are going.
“Financial advice has changed enormously. Technology is changing, compliance expectations have changed and the businesses advisers are building are becoming more sophisticated. Newpark needs to keep evolving with them.”
The refreshed positioning brings aggregation, compliance, technology and education together under the Newpark brand, with Intella supporting its technology offering. So Newpark retains its own identity, while moving visually closer to the wider Tella Group.
And for advisers, the relevance lies in how those services work together. Adopting a new technology process, for example, may involve training, changes to internal procedures and questions about how compliance requirements are reflected in the workflow.
Chambers places the emphasis on the support behind the identity.
“Ultimately, Newpark isn't a logo. It's the combination of the people, community, technology, compliance support, education and provider relationships sitting behind an adviser.
“The new identity is a much better representation of the Newpark we're building for the future, and of its place within the wider Tella Group.”
Connecting risk advice with Quotemonster
The third announcement offers a more specific example of how connected systems could reduce double handling, with Intella’s integrated risk insurance advice process – including its Quotemonster integration – aiming to reduce double handling and connect advice with ongoing policy management.
Chambers says bringing information together was a central consideration in its design.
“Risk advisers work with a lot of information. Client information, existing policies, needs analysis, quotes, recommendations, Statements of Advice and then the policies themselves. Historically, much of that information has had to be moved manually between different systems.
“With Intella, we're bringing those pieces together and using integration and AI to remove as much re-keying as we can, while keeping the adviser responsible for reviewing and approving the advice.”
Advisers can bring Quotemonster quotes and comparison information into the platform, while AI can help extract information from insurer documents for adviser review. The process connects client discovery, recommendations and documentation with ongoing policy records.
Chambers says the broader objective is to give advisers a more complete picture of their clients’ circumstances.
“Clients don't think of themselves as a mortgage file over here and an insurance file somewhere else. They have one financial life.
“The opportunity for Intella is to give the adviser that same whole-of-client view and build the advice processes around it.”
Tella’s move to Intella, Newpark’s refreshed adviser offering and the Quotemonster integration reflect a push to bring technology and business support closer together.
And as technology takes on more of the administration surrounding advice, advisers have an opportunity to rethink how they work and where they spend their time – the next step is understanding how these tools and support services can fit into daily practice, freeing up capacity for client conversations and ongoing relationships.
