Adviser View: The Standout Technology Solutions Of 2023

For several years, practices have been using technology to cut down on production time, improve client engagement and access a greater volume of data to make decisions. But advisers have consistently told us several of the longstanding solutions on offer fail to tick the boxes when it comes to improving efficiency.

In the past year, we’ve seen more of a divergence among advisers’ ratings of practice technology, with one provider achieving a particularly high satisfaction score. As Chart 1 shows, ProductRex achieved a top score on the metrics of adviser support, client experience, value for money, functionality, comprehensiveness of its modules and accuracy of data feeds. The results are from a survey of more than 1300 advisers for our Adviser Landscape Report 2023.

In comments we collected as part of the survey, advisers noted that continual improvements also set ProductRex apart from its competitors.

Chart 1 – Harvey Ball analysis of adviser software solutions


Source: Adviser Ratings' Australian Financial Advice Report 2023 *Note: Harvey Ball analysis has been applied only on software solutions with statistically relevant response rates and scores have been included. The results have been subject to Bayesian and random forest regression techniques.

Fellow newer player Advice Revolution was also a favourite among advisers, particularly for its online fact-finding capacity. Meanwhile, the more-established Worksorted received the third-highest overall satisfaction score when all metrics were considered.

Satisfaction versus market share

As we’ve said in the past, it’s difficult for newer players to break the stronghold of incumbents that have been embedded in practices and licensees for decades now. That’s true even if satisfaction with these longstanding providers is low.

Xplan continues to be the market juggernaut, with the highest number of users across our survey. Its market share has consistently grown since 2019, but its satisfaction scores have not. Similarly, Midwinter and Salesforce each have higher penetration rates, but like Xplan, their adviser satisfaction is in negative territory. This year, the negative feedback was largely related to price, navigation, design and ease of use.   

It should be noted that there can sometimes be a bias towards newer, shinier solutions, which are able to start from scratch and don’t have the legacy issues some of the more established players have.

And with several of the newer players promising continual updates and releases, seeking feedback from practices and developing products around today’s problems, less responsive providers have been put on notice.

Chart 2 – Software satisfaction scores vs. relative response rate



Source: Adviser Ratings' Australian Financial Advice Report 2023  *Notes: Ball sizes are reflective of response rates (general usage). Chart includes only software solutions with statistically relevant response rates. The results have been subject to Bayesian and random forest regression techniques.

Was this helpful content?Let others know - share and vote-up