This is a question we’ve been asked a lot in our 25+ year history as a leading pensions tech provider to more than 30 SIPP and SSAS firms.
Our commercial director Claire Court highlights six ways Delta’s tech can help ambitious and customer-focused firms grow and streamline operations.
One of the most common questions I’ve been asked during my 14+ years working at Delta is; when is the right time for my SSAS administration business to invest in tech?
Well, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to that question. Every SSAS firm is unique and has different requirements. But, generally speaking, SSAS businesses that have an ambitious growth strategy, underpinned by a commitment to high-quality customer service stand to make the biggest gains.
This isn’t always the case, however, as there can be various reasons why a firm may be looking to invest in market-leading technology – be that increasing profit, keeping costs under control or relying less on manually intensive processes and systems. I’ve summarised below some of the key benefits our industry-leading technology can bring to SSAS firms based on my 30+ years of experience working across the SIPP and SSAS sectors.
Increasing scale
There’s a lot to unpack here, but the most obvious point is our tech helps SSAS firms grow and add more clients in a faster, more efficient and cost-effective manner. It does this by reducing the amount of manual intervention or keying needed to help onboard and administer SSASs, enabling firms to increase onboarding and servicing capacity by as much as two-thirds.
For example, we recently worked with Sestini & Co, a boutique SSAS Administrator and trustee based in Bristol, to help the business scale up without adding more staff. Through working in close partnership, we introduced the business to our Platinum SSAS~Pro application and, in a matter of weeks, they were able to increase the number of SSASs they could onboard and service from 60 to 100 per year. Check out our in-depth case study for further information here.
De-risking against future regulation
Like the rest of the pensions sector in the UK, the SSAS world can be a confusing web of regulation, which can – and often does – change at the drop of a hat. In recent years, SSAS providers have had to deal with a range of regulatory changes – not least the recent changes to the Lifetime Allowance, Annual Allowance and other limits – and this can pose real challenges when looking to safeguard compliance.
Because we work with a sizeable number of SIPP and SSAS firms, we ensure that any regulatory change is built into our solution, at no extra cost. This means you don’t have to spend days updating your proprietary tech, or even weeks manually editing spreadsheets – it’s all done for you ahead of time. What’s more, not only do we thoroughly test our updates, but in effect they are also tested daily by our other clients to help us optimise our solutions based on the needs of the end user.
Boosting staff productivity
Although our tech is never going to replace the need for people, it is an enabler to let your staff be more productive, in less time. That means our tech can take the strain and free up your time from doing manually intensive tasks – like fund splits, benefit calculations, Pension Scheme Returns, bank reconciliations and much more – letting you concentrate on your clients and growing your business.
With talent acquisition being a key challenge for lots of SSAS firms, tech can be a genuine game changer to help reduce the need to hire, something which can take months if not years to find and train the right person. Many of our clients say that working with us is like having a new team member, so let tech be your next new team member and you’ll quickly start seeing the benefits.
Partnering with genuine experts
Unlike other providers, our tech hasn’t been retrofitted to administer SSASs, it’s been designed from the ground up over many years to meet all SSAS administration requirements.
We know this because we’re already a trusted partner for more than 30 SSAS and SIPP providers, and most of our team are domain experts having worked in the SIPP and SSAS industries before, turning their experience to tech. We understand your business and speak the same lingo.
Creating industry-wide credibility
We already work with some of the biggest SIPP and SSAS providers in the UK today and many are attracted to our solution because they can be safe in the knowledge that our tech will never let them down. By partnering with Delta, you can be sure that you’re getting a future-proofed and compliant solution that is widely trusted across your sector, and which could also make your business more attractive for future consolidation or investment.
We’ve been recognised for the breadth and quality of our technology on a number of occasions, most recently winning the coveted award for Best Pensions Administration Technology in Goodacre’s Systems in the City Awards 2023 for a fourth time in five years (read more on our website here).
Cost is an investment
Many SSAS providers are small, independently run businesses. That means that every penny counts, and each investment needs to deliver a return. Linked to the issues of recruitment, many businesses may decide that investing in technology is a more cost-effective approach when compared to hiring a new person and all the costs that can bring.
You can further drive down costs because all our solutions are fully cloud hosted, meaning that your staff can be based anywhere and you won’t have any IT support costs, including cyber security measures or new hardware. Not to mention that all our cloud hosting costs have no hidden fees.
So, what are you waiting for? Even if you don’t think now’s the right time for your business to invest in tech, you might be surprised at the extensive benefits it can bring to your business.
Get in touch with our team of experts today and find out how we can help.