The current economic climate calls for an intelligent approach to IT spend. The use of cost-effective, externally hosted applications may well have a big part to play as we look towards 2009.

As technology develops, it would seem there are no limits to what is possible. Who would have envisaged that you would now be able to store all the contents of your filing cabinet on the IT system and access client data from anywhere in the world, all via your computer? While you might think this type of solution is only available to large companies, there are solutions that make it possible within the budget of even the smallest IFA office.

One of the advantages of technology is its scalability – it doesn’t matter whether you are an appointed representative of a large national organisation or a sole proprietor working from a home office, you can access largely the same level of technology support and that has never been truer than now with the exponential growth in use of mobile communications.

I have been speaking and writing about IFA software for about 15 years and it still surprises me just how many financial advisers still have no back office system. Part of the reason is that many of the advisers concerned tend to be sole proprietors or small partnerships, who handle most of their administration personally.

Today even a small IFA office probably has two or three PCs networked together and possibly a small server holding the primary client database. This also means that if something goes wrong everything is liable to come to a complete standstill until the problem is fixed.

Over the past year, more and more IFAs have switched to the new broadband Internet access services. The advantages of ADSL are considerable but also mean that your office systems may be wide open, allowing easy access to all your confidential files and information and even to take control of your system.