The upgraded James Hay platform could be ready “towards the back end of this year,” although the company is keen to avoid committing to an exact date.
When the platform and retirement business acquired rival Nucleus in February last year, it also signed a deal with technology provider FNZ.
The Nucleus name was adopted for the combined group and while, eventually, both platforms will migrate to FNZ technology, they currently remain separate.
Nucleus chief executive Richard Rowney previously indicated the James Hay platform would be first in line for any technology upgrade.
He said this remains the case as advisers have already had a lengthy wait for an improved platform.
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Speaking to Money Marketing in August 2021, he suggested it might not be until the summer of this year until the firm effectively had a new platform to offer the marketplace.
Now he says the company is a “long way advanced” in its platform build and plans for the migration approach.
“We’ve never been overly driven by a rigid plan. I’m always a bit worried about projects which do that because I think it then forces them into making poor decisions,” he told Money Marketing.
He outlined that when companies anchor to a date it can compromise on quality, testing and business readiness.
“I’ve been very clear with our board by saying we will only go at a point of time that we feel absolutely comfortable and we’ve tested it to death.”
Rowney said the work is not being taken lightly.
MM Meets: James Hay chief executive Richard Rowney“It’s an absolute burning platform for our James Hay customers – they have waited 10 plus years.
“There is a desire from advisers to get new technology, a new platform and the functionality that could bring.
“Our plans are still to go first with James Hay because there is the greatest need and the greatest desire to do that.”
He said the firm is taking a collaborative approach to the platform upgrade project and has ensured advice businesses have been involved in the design, testing, functionality and migration aspects.
“A lot of the complexity with these things is not necessarily the actual build of the platform, it’s how you handle the length of time you want to run the migration for.
“There can be some pressure to go quickly because it’s hard to dual run the two platforms and yet there are others that say do it in a more phased and considered way,” he said.
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Rowney added: “My view is we will be ready towards the back end of this year. We’re in a great position – we’ve got the scope and the design and we’re reasonably well advanced with the build and development of it.
“But I’m not going to go out there and say to advisers this is the date.”
The platform boss admitted the firm will need to give a date at some point but will wait until it is fully confident.
He said there would not be a “big bang” suddenly one day and instead advisers will be informed about how the plans progress.
“Our mantra in all of this and the challenge everybody throws at us is quality.
“We all know historically that migrations will always have some bumps in the road. But a lot of those probably could have been avoided by spending a bit longer and being a bit more thoughtful in that planning and design phase.”
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What about Nucleus?
Meanwhile, the Nucleus platform will remain on Bravura technology until the contract with the provider expires in 2025.
Rowney said: “We’ve done the review of the two and concluded FNZ is the right technology provider for the combined businesses.
“It makes no real sense to have FNZ and Bravura but we’re not in any rush.”
He added: “We have a good relationship with Bravura and we’re continuing to spend money. I think the risk would have been that we spend no money on that.
“We’ve done two quite big upgrades with Nucleus already. We are still committed to the development over the medium term with Bravura.”
By the time the contract runs out, the James Hay migration is expected to have taken place and the firm would then look to migrate the Bravura elements of the IT onto the new FNZ-powered platform.
“That has to be the right answer for our customers and our advisers because otherwise you’ll get into a horrible situation where you’re on different models. I think that’s why some people in the industry have made mistakes where they haven’t bitten the bullet and gone on to a single operating model and have those complexities,” Rowney told Money Marketing.
The Nucleus platform will move onto the single platform, but the firm has “no intention” of trying to do the two at the same time.
Rowney thinks James Hay will be the more complex migration because of the nature of its books, products and legacy.
He also said the company is looking at “creative ways” in what it can do with porting and the front end of the platform.
When asked if there is an overall cost in mind for the replatforming exercise for James Hay and Nucleus, Rowney replied: “The cost is the cost.”
“We have been clear in the way we have structured the economics of the deal with FNZ. It’s a jointly owned cost.
“We’re very comfortable. We have all of the economics of this fully factored into our plans.
“We have guarantees that above a level it’s not our worry, it’s FNZ’s. It’s a bit like having it done for a fixed price contract.
“Anything above that is FNZ’s risk, not ours.”
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