The Exchange and 1st announces integration

Following Vertex’s acquisition of 1st Software Group Ltd in March 2006, the two adviser technology organisations have now completed the first live integration between the Exchange’s Exweb portal service and 1st’s back-office system, Adviser Office.

Through a progressive roll-out, users of the Adviser Office system who also have Exweb subscriptions will gain access to ecommerce and technology services, supporting all the stages of an adviser’s business process.

David Child, managing director of The Exchange, commented: “The dynamic combination of The Exchange and 1st has brought together the ultimate best of breed partnership, not just in terms of pure technology, but also, importantly, in experience and market knowledge. This newly integrated service will create a significant step-change in the ecommerce efficiencies available to firms - irrespective of the size of their business. Of course, there is still much more work to be done, but with the first step already completed, ahead of schedule, our commitment to making life easier for our customers is clear.”

Rory Curran, executive chairman of 1st, explained: “With the need to service clients cost-effectively and also keep in line with regulatory changes, the emphasis, as always, is on advisers to manage and streamline data in an efficient and accurate way. With this exciting new integration, Exweb and Adviser Office users can now import information from one system to the other, removing duplication of input. For example, when a quote is downloaded on the Exweb portal, this data is returned to Adviser Office where it is automatically stored in the client audit trail.

“The integration between Adviser Office and Exweb will play a vital role in helping intermediaries adopt e-business to achieve significant efficiency savings through the best use of technology.”