Profida's web-based solution certified by Astute

PROFIDA, a leading financial needs analysis (FNA) and practice management system whose desktop offering has long been integrated with Astute, has announced that its web-based solution has now also been certified by Astute.

Astute allows financial advisers to automatically download data from various product providers for input into the financial need analysis process.

PROFIDA is the first platform to be integrated with the Astute system via a desktop and web-based solution.

Said Daniel Putra, managing director of the PROFIDA Team: “The web-based solution does not replace our desktop offering. Instead, each has different advantages depending on the users’ requirements.

“We undertook extensive market research and found demand amongst financial services firms and advisers for both the desktop and the web solution, depending on their needs and preferences. With this in mind and despite other FNA systems discontinuing support for their desktop solutions we decided to give the PROFIDA user community a choice.”

The decision to keep both the PROFIDA desktop and web-based editions available is also based on the fact that PROFIDA desktop has been developed and enhanced over the past 10 years using the latest Java technology. Both editions of PROFIDA will be kept updated.

“Market research also revealed demand amongst larger financial services firms and brokerages to run both systems side-by-side. As a result, we offer a joint solution that implements both the PROFIDA desktop and web-based editions,” said Putra.

This means that each adviser or support staff member can decide which system to use depending on the task at hand or where the user is located. For example, office-based staff might prefer the PROFIDA desktop version whereas the advisers located offsite can view the same data, portfolio schedules and financial planning reports via the web-based solution. “Data and views are synchronised across both solutions instantaneously,” adds Daniel Putra

PROFIDA is the only FNA system to offer a desktop, web-based and combined solution, setting the pace as a technology leader in the competitive FNA software market.

PROFIDA will be exhibiting at the 2010 convention of the Financial Planning Institute (FPI) being held on 26 and 27 May at the Emperors Palace, Kempton Park.

Angelo Hatzikyriacos, chief technology executive at Astute commented: “It is a pleasure to welcome PROFIDA’s web-based edition to the ranks of FNA systems available on Astute. Because these systems receive data directly from Astute for use in different operating modules, the advantages for intermediaries include lower administration costs and improved client service.”