Overview of 1st and its products

The philosophy on which 1st bases all of its activities is simple. For a firm of financial advisers to become more successful and profitable, it must create as much time as possible for advice. By reducing the hours spent on compliance and administration, time is created to prepare and deliver the highest standards of advice to private and corporate clients. As industry specialists, 1st has the people, skills and technologies to make this possible. In fact, 1st is currently working with over half of the UK’s leading financial advisers on giving them that time, making it the leading provider of services and solutions to the retail financial advice market.

1st was launched in 1996 to develop and market software systems for the financial adviser and intermediary community. The company has won national recognition in the Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100, Sunday Times ARM Tech Track 100, Deloitte & Touche IT Fast 50 and Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards.

1st already has over 11,000 adviser users across the UK, ranging from national brokers to sole traders. The Adviser Office range has been developed out of 1st’s years of experience in providing the leading client management system and associated products and services for the financial adviser and mortgage intermediary market.

The latest version of Adviser Office, Adviser Office: Intelligent Workflow, is the leading client management system for professional advisers dealing in financial planning, portfolio management, retirement planning, protection, mortgages and corporate benefits. Enhancements for this version include:

• Intelligent Workflow to apply standard business processes and procedures company-wide for both front and back office efficiency
• Objective-based financial planning incorporating Tillinghast-Towers Perrin stochastic modelling techniques as used on Standard Life’s IFA extranet
• ASP & Consultant Client Transfer enabling fully mobile working by giving access via internet,
• ASP, desktop, laptop, tablet and PDA
• Full audit trail of every change made to the database
• Mortgage Manager (formerly Mortgage Tracker) completely redesigned to form a single process
• Employer Services completely redesigned to form a simplified, intuitive process
• Increased best of breed integrations to cut out the costs of re-keying and duplicating data (Continuing expansion plans in this area. Data sheet available with latest information, please call 0845 068 1000 or email marketing@1stsoftware.com to request this)

Adviser Office supports business with tools to:

• Enhance the sales and advice process, pre-filling fact finds & application forms with client-specific data, producing graphical needs analysis and client financial reports
• Manage client service and administration, with online valuations, policy servicing, a central database, event tracking and automatic document production
• Help maximise business productivity, with vital management information covering new business prospecting, compliance and marketing
• Produce full audit trails and compliant reports across all business areas

Adviser Office is available in four versions, suitable for all sizes of business and covering the broadest range of financial planning tools available. Key Features include:

Business management	Administration & sales support	Client management
Lead tracking Commission & fee accounting Compliance process & monitoring Business reporting Database marketing & mailing	Workflow Document management Automated letter writing Business processing e-Business Microsoft Office	Fact find Financial planning Portfolio management Life & pensions Employee benefits Mortgage tracking Financial reporting

Adviser Office is a desktop software solution available in four versions - Premier, Professional, Enterprise or Enterprise Wide – each one tailored to suit the specific needs of different size adviser firms, from the sole-trader to a large national organisation.

Premier: For advisers working alone or as a registered individual in a larger firm, priced from £148 per month

Professional: For up to 12 users, connected on a Local Area Network, priced from £200 per month

Enterprise: For 12 or more users, at up to four sites, connected by a Wide Area Network, priced from £850 per month

Enterprise Wide: For large firms with a network of branches, connected over a WAN, priced from £2,500 per month