What does it mean to us to have been shortlisted for the Investment Marketing and Innovation Award: Proposition Development (Discretionary Fund Management/Wealth Management) for our Mass Customisation service?
It means official recognition that the idea we conceived nine years ago and which we then built for advisers to offer their clients risk appropriate portfolios that are customised to meet individual needs, is what we’ve always believed it to be: truly innovative.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery…
While the award would be fantastic to have, another recent development is testament to the fact that our thinking and delivery is spot on for advisers looking to offer something special to clients.
One of the big (for ‘big’ read ‘giant’) financial providers is launching their version of Mass Customisation. I guess the awards we’ve been winning over the last couple of years must have registered with those tasked with keeping a big life company relevant. Obviously, I’m not going to say here which of the big firms it is…I’m not going to give them free publicity, but judging from a presentation I’ve seen, it does appear our approach has almost been cloned.
While it’s slightly odd to see your invention reflected back under another firm’s brand, as Charles Caleb Colton said back in 1824, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” and there is some comfort in the fact that this Mass Customisation box we have solely occupied for so long is now a box for two.
Bring on the competition
Fortunately, the PortfolioMetrix proposition is much wider than Mass Customisation so our moat remains intact. Our new innovations in the cash flow modelling space will be revealed in the next year, which hopefully will take nine years to be copied as well.
What we’ll be doing now is putting our resources behind highlighting our track record, our performance and, of course, our shortlisting for the innovation award, which confirms we not only had the idea first but that we have been operating the model successfully for years.
Bring on the competition…we’re ready for you.
