What’s your story? My journey to Squiggle and estate planning started initially in the banking industry. Back then, I was an adviser to a wide range of small businesses. When I listened to the stories and challenges of these businessmen and women, a pattern started to emerge. I couldn’t help but notice that many of their challenges and struggles were often at odds with the banking industry’s relentless focus on profit margins, metrics, and data. So, when I was headhunted for a senior client-facing role in the legal industry, I didn’t hesitate to make a move, as I believed I could make more of an impact as I believed at the time that this was a more ‘caring’ industry. However, several months into my new role, it started to slowly dawn on me just how archaic and traditional this sector was as well. I saw so many things that badly needed to be shaken up. Charging the client by the hour led to a transactional culture. There was a poor understanding of how technology could really help the customer and increase customer service levels. The ‘paperless’ office seemed to be a far-fetched idea in many cases, all leading to a culture of silo-thinking, poor security protocols, little or no transparency and poor knowledge sharing. This all translated into an extremely unwieldy and expensive service for the customer with bottlenecks everywhere. All these challenges represented an opportunity for me and that was when I decided to found Squiggle – to leverage the best of technology, people, and good old-fashioned customer services to provide the customer with an entirely new experience. What are currently the hottest topics being discussed in relation to Wills, Trusts & Estate Planning? There are a number of topics that are quite ‘hot’ at the moment. A key concern of mine has always been the ability of a client to access their information at any time of the day, seven days a week. Of course, this has a lot to do with the introduction of the latest technology. But not everybody likes technology for a number of reasons. First, the introduction of any technology can be seen as a threat bymany solicitors. Less interaction time with the client means less billable hours. Secondly, solicitors have often felt threatened Finance Monthly. Bank i ng & F i nanc i a l Se r v i ce s 33
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