Research house Investment Trends has released a new report on developments in technology used by financial advisers to improve delivery of offerings and services to clients.

The report provides a detailed benchmark ranking of Australia’s advice technology providers across four main areas: Strategic Advice, Financial Advice, Advice on Platform and Advice with Product.

It covers the features/functionality used to support the advice delivery process, spanning 32 sub-categories across 740 criteria, Investment Trends says.

According to the researcher, many of the leading Australian advice software and back-office applications are now owned by companies operating across international borders.

Analyst Ian Webster says the acquisition of AdviserLogic, Midwinter and Coin - the second, third and fourth most widely used planning applications, respectively - has brought a global perspective to the local market for planning application development.

“Local advice tech developers are focused on lifting practice efficiency and anticipating future changes to advice delivery models, but over the horizon, there is emerging competition from integrated applications like Salesforce-based Wealth Connect and Intelliflo Intelligent Office from the UK, a trend that is set to grow,” Mr Webster said.

“Now more than ever, advice firms have access to an array of globally available, low-cost digital services to manage their client relationships and augment their advice production applications.”