Next Generation Tech for the Next Generation of Consumers

The millennials are here. Legacy technology needs to evolve in line with their expectations.

The millennial generation has not only been brought up with technology supporting their lives. They now expect technology in their workplace to do more and to support or even perform repetitive and mundane tasks.

So, some of the legacy architecture that would have been adequate in the workplace 20 years ago is now unacceptable. If companies want these platforms to survive the next generation of users and owners, they need to be modernized in line with their expectations.

To succeed, your platforms and processes must be flexible enough to cope with any new products and services (without introducing manual workarounds) as well as providing instant access to data and smart analytics.

In addition to the day-to-day working requirements, employees also expect a more sophisticated technology experience to manage the total benefits package provided by their employer.

For example, in the modern working environment, retirement planning is no longer incumbent solely on government or employers, with defined contribution schemes now the norm. Individuals are now taking a much keener interest in building their own wealth for retirement planning. They therefore require modern technology to give them transparency into how their investments are tracking.

Also, individual investing used to be fairly black and white. Pension fund governors looked for the lowest costs, meaning index tracking with more exposure to equities for younger investors and weighting towards fixed income and bonds for the older ones.

However, as education and data become more available, millennials are becoming choosier. For example, new products like environmentally sustainable (ESG) funds are growing at a rate of 50 percent per annum because many millennials don’t want to invest in companies that they deem harmful to society or the environment.

The industry is coming out with certifications for companies that can applied to these securities. Artificial intelligence is accelerating in this area and, with the advanced investment funds, will create algorithms and strategies whereby the ESG credentials could be applied.

Retirement planning is also changing. Private equity and long-term debt investments are becoming more mainstream. And other assets are now coming to the fore. Traditionally, everything had to be liquid. Now we’re seeing multi-asset class products for more long-term horizons, such as wrapper funds that have a mix of liquid and illiquid assets to create more opportunities for growth.

To grow and sustain the next generation workforce, next generation platforms are now mandatory.

Tags: Technology, Investments