Latest / Financial Planner Life Podcast / This CPD Strategy is Like “Netflix For Financial Advisers?!” | David Tait, Redmill Advance

Transcript

This CPD Strategy is Like “Netflix For Financial Advisers?!” | David Tait, Redmill Advance · Financial Planner Life Podcast

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Financial Planner Live podcast, and today we talk about CPDs with David Tate from Redmill Advance, and it's the Redmill Advance Learning Hub that we take a deep dive into.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: And if you or your business are not using this platform right now to deliver CPD training, then you are simply missing out.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: We deep dive into how they structure this platform for you and your staff and the reporting functions around it, how they keep up to date, what information you're going to find on there, and how they've gamified CPD, and also how you can customize it to your business.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: If you haven't used Redmond Advanced Hub yet for CPD, get stuck into it and learn all about it today on this episode.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, David, thanks so much for joining me again on the Financial Plan of Life Podcast.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: How are you?
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing very well.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Sam.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's a pleasure as always to be back.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're going to tackle that really interesting subject, which is CPD.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Is it just a compliance tick box or is it actually something that people can enjoy?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we're straight there.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Excellent.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: It is a compliance tick box, but it is definitely something that people can enjoy.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: You've got to think about CPD in terms of what it is in the broader context, really, Sam.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, advisors need to record 35 hours of CPD annually.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: They have to do it.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: And the 50 hours, in fact, if you're a pension transfer specialist, so you have to do that extra 15 hours.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: So that's one of the punishments for becoming a PTS.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: You get to record an extra 15 hours of CPD.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: So 35 hours is a must-do.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Now, um, you said, is it just a compliance tick box?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's part of it.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: So any compliance officer will turn around and say, look, there's mandated learning annually that you have to do as part of your CPD.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: So that's anti-money laundering, it's um TCF, it's whistleblowing, it's all of that, you know, uh mandated FCA required um learning through the year.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: But it's far more than that, is you know, when we look at it, I mean, you think about the solution that we have, which is the Red Mill Advance Hub.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: And what we've tried to do, Sam, is we've just tried to basically bring everything under the one roof, make it really, really easy for advisors that use that solution.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um the way that I always explain it to people is I just say think about it like Netflix, but for CPD.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're at home and you're, you know, you're looking for something on Netflix, a particular movie genre or a particular video, you're going to go and search that.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly the same with our solution.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: You can jump in there and you can search for CPD, whether it's technical, whether it's FCA compliance, whether it's cyber content.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: But actually, there's a lot of fun stuff in there as well.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I say fun.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Can you make CPD fun outside of technical learning?
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe a little bit, but there's lots of things like, well, we want to look after you.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: So well-being content, stress management content.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: There's lots of good stuff around soft skills and behaviors, time management, how to ask good questions, how to actively listen, all that kind of good stuff that advisors might want to search for.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know if that answers your question.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: Is it just a compliance tick box?
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: It is, because it needs to be done, but it's far more than that.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the thing is, CPD can sound, sorry, can be really interesting, right?
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: You can learn something from it whilst getting your points towards your CPD accreditations.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: I, you know, it it and as you said there, you know, like a Netflix style learning platform.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: You can go in and do it on your own.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think probably one of the biggest challenges I hear with people is quite fragmented.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you've got a podcast out there that's a CPD accredited, you've got a webinar, you've got an audio, you've got a book, whatever it might well be, there's lots of different things out there.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess one of the things is as well, is like, how do you how do you keep a track of all those CPDs you actually do?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: And does the Redmond Advanced Learning Hub, for example, does it cater for that?
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it really does.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a great point that you make because in that sense, CPD is very fragmented.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: So you've got advisors who are out and they're searching for CPD from multiple sources.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: And if you think about that, I mean, let's think about it in the context of um let's say, let's say you're a business and you have, well, you spoke about is it just about compliance tick boxes?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: So let's think about it in the example of you're a business and you're a compliance manager and you have to roll out that mandated learning every year.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, the AML and the TCF and the stuff we mentioned earlier.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: So you can instruct your advisors to go and do it.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: You can even send them stuff by email and you can ping it out and say, read this, you know, whether that's particularly engaging or the best way to learn is, you know, debatable.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: Give me the answer of that.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: But um, you know, that compliance manager might send that out to 50 advisors.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: But how does he know if they've opened it?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: How does he know if they've looked at it?
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: How does he know if they've completed it?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: And let's even assume that they're feeding back on email and they're going, I've opened it, I've looked at it, I've completed it.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: How is that compliance manager compiling all of that information so that they've got it in one place?
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, typically it's with Excel spreadsheets.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: So fragmented CPD in that sense, it's a nightmare.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: Advisors have got to basically record all of that information, they've then got to pass it back internally in for you know the all of their individual CPD, and someone's got to collate that into one place.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then think about that in the context, same example, same, let's say 50 advisors, but you're a training and compliance manager in that firm.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: And now you don't just have mandated learning to worry about, but you've got the 35 hours of CPD that needs to be done annually because they've got to get their statement of professional standing at the end of the year.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: So you're relying on those advisors going to money marketing, going to Aviva, going to wherever they go to read content and record it.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: You're relying on them sending you their spreadsheets that they're recording it on, and then you're having to compile all of that information into some master spreadsheet so that you've got all the information together.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: So your fragmentation in that regard is an absolute nightmare.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then even in terms of you think about it if you're an advisor, you go and do that reading, you go and do that CPD.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: What if you don't record it properly?
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: And it comes to the end of the year and you're running about because you need to do your 35 hours and you're thinking, what was my reflective statement?
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: What were the learning outcomes of that?
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: How much time did I actually spend in that?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: So, what we've tried to do is we've tried to bring this solution together that just fixes all of those problems.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you're an advisor, you jump into the CPD hub and everything you could ever need to achieve those 35 hours is under the one roof and is accessible.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, not only that, but it actually does a lot of the automation for you.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: So when you complete a module, it reports into a CPD tool.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: It tells you it pulls across the learning outcomes, uh the time spent on that particular module.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it pulls across uh you know the area that you've learned.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: So it will post it into mortgage or it will post it into PTS or it will post it into your course, so it segments it in that regard for you.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: And the only thing it leaves for you is your reflective statement because that's individual to you know you as an advisor.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: So actually it's making it easy for you, it's helping just bring all of that information into you know the one area.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: And actually, that advisor can just click export and it will export all of that information out so it's all in the one place.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: For firms, that's a dream.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you're now that compliance manager, in the example I gave, or you're that TNC manager, you can go into the one system, you can look at um where everybody is against their required hours, you can understand where their gaps are, what they've still got to do.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: Not only that, you can drill down at an individual level.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're that compliance manager, you can go, well, these 50 people who's opened it, how far through are they?
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: Did they complete it?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: Did they pass it?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: Did they fail it?
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: All of the data you're going to want to have at your fingertips.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: And again, all of that can be exported in one click.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: So the purpose really is about saving time.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's about saving advisors' time, making their life easy.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: And it's about saving those senior managers within the organization's time in terms of pulling those reports.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Automation, is that part of it?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: It is, yeah.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: So the learning happens within a learning management system that automatically reports into the CPD recording and reporting tool in real time.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: So when you're running through any particular piece of learning, it will push it into that CPD tool and it will record it in the correct category area.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: So if it's protection, it will push it into IDD.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: If it's pension masterclass, it'll push it into PTS and so on and so forth.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it's recording it in real time.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: The other thing our systems will allow companies to do is they can via OAuth API, you know, the integration options at the back end of the system.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: They can actually integrate other um systems that they utilize internally.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: And that's useful.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's useful for creating kind of workflows and automations because it may be that a company's single point of data truth is their CRM or another system that they use.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: So they might want to get some of that learning information out and push directly into that system so it's all contained in the one place, you know, like in a unified data reporting model in one particular system.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, they can link up all of those systems and they can push and pull data in and out of the LMS, but it certainly reports in real time into the CPD tool.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: So, what have you got in place that's going to incentivize advisors, for example, or anybody in the business to do their CPD?
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that is a really good question because really it should be the businesses that are ensuring and incentivizing that their people are doing their CPD.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: Now, we make that easier for them with our systems because within our systems, you can, for example, roll out certain um mandatory learning modules in a certain way.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: So it might be that you want to roll out those mandated modules in half one of the year.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: And you can say, well, we'll push out in an automated fashion uh AML in January and TCF in February and whistleblowing in March and you know, on and on it goes.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: So, in terms of um the companies, they can actually automate the rollout of um certain types of CPD to their advisors.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: So that makes life easy.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: In terms of incentivizing individuals to come in and actually use the system, like that comes down to the breadth and the way that the content is developed.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's not dry, Sam.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's not um, you're not reading a website, you know, an article and then completing, you know, five questions.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the content is uh designed in a way that it is interactive.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: So um some of the content is gamified, you know, you can go in, there's cards to flip, there's mini tests to do, there's little embedded videos within e-learning that you have to interact with.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um so it's engaging in that sense that actually um, you know, you're not going to be left reaching for a glass of wine when you're doing your CPD in the evening, but actually you might be a little bit more engaged and enjoy it and ultimately learn something because that's the purpose of CPD.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's not just about, well, I've got these 35 hours to do, so I'm gonna do them wherever.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: And ultimately, I'm probably gonna cram them in at the end of the year because I know I need to do them for my SPS.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: But actually, the purpose of it is it's about increasing your knowledge, it's about staying at the top of your game, it's about, you know, biting off CPD throughout the year in little chunks with stuff that is actually educating you, that is upskilling you, that is helping you to help your clients.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: So the strategy for somebody when it approach when they approach CPD, if they do it in the right way, they should really be enhancing their whole journey and their expertise, right?
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: So, what is a good strategy for somebody when they approach their CPD so it doesn't feel like something they're rushing around doing at the end of the year?
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: So you again you want to bite it off in bite-sized chunks, right?
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: So you want to make sure a great strategy is ensure that you're doing, you know, three, four hours of CPD every month.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: Make that commitment.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you're going to visit a certain type of CPD every month.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: That means that you're not going to be running around at the end of the year trying to achieve your 35 hours.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: And really think about it.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if you are an investment advisor and predominantly the clients that you are working with are investment-based, you're probably going to want to think about that type of CPD.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if you feel that you've got a gap maybe around esoteric investments, for example, so um EIS and VCT or something along those lines, then go and focus in on that type of CPD in a particular month and really upskill around that, run the tests, you know, see that you can that you're upskilling your knowledge in those particular areas.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: And this is really what it's about.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's about actually ensuring that you have um that enhanced technical expertise and areas that you could really use that little bit of support with.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: And ultimately that's going to make you, it's going to allow you to provide the best possible advice to your clients.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, I mean, bite it off in bite-sized chunks, you know, throughout the year.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: Do not cram at the end of the year.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's a terrible strategy that you want to do it in bite-sized chunks throughout the year and aim at stuff that's relevant to you and the clients that you advise as well.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you've seen a lot of CPD probably in your time.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: What makes good CPD and what makes bad CPD?
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's all about how it's put together, it's all about how that learning is actually um developed.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when we look at any of our learnings in CPD is no different, we think about that end user, how do they learn?
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's better to have a um variety of um different assets within that learning.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: Spoke about this a lot, but videos and e-learning and testing to reinforce learning and reading material too, because some people love to print PDFs and get their highlighters out and make notes, and that's totally fine.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think that um, well, no CPD is bad CPD because any learning is good.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, if you're going to websites and reading articles and stuff like that, that's great.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you're increasing your knowledge.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: But what we found is that the CPD that is engaged with the most is actually well written with you know multiple assets in there, some gamification, testing during the module itself, not just at the end.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: So reinforcing that learning as you run through the CPD again, just doesn't have to be massive, but little bite-sized chunks.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, maybe little mini questions, or it might be, you know, um connecting answer A to answer B in the right order, or it might be flip around this card and choose the correct one, or pull this card into this particular true-false box, you know, so you're actually interacting with the content.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, good CPD is CPD that actually engages you whilst you're learning.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I think you do that through having those multiple assets in there and bits of gamification, and you're actually having to interact with the module itself.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: I love what you said about it being like the Netflix of CPD, uh, the Red Mill Advanced Learning Hub.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but what can somebody find on there?
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: What sort of topics can they find?
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: So we have um something in the region of around 500 learning modules, CPD modules on that platform.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: And we categorize it into it's about 10 or 12 different categories.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um so there is all your technical learning.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: So that's really important, obviously, if you're an advisor.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: So that's all the technical learning across pensions, investment, protection, mortgage, those kind of product sets.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: And it drills all the way down into master classes for pensions, and I mentioned esoteric investments and things like that as well.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: So there's the technical CPD, there's all the mandatory stuff that you would expect.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: So all the FCA compliance and all the good cyber stuff in there, making sure InfoSec and everything is covered.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: There's soft skills and behaviors, so again, really, really important.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: So these are all the um really good soft skills and behaviors, not just as an advisor, but you know, as a paraplanner or an administrator, whoever's um accessing that content.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: So it can be things as simple as time management, prioritization, um, dealing with stakeholders, delivering good presentations, things like that, and all the way through to um really specific stuff around um dealing with clients, um, how to deal with um challenging clients, how to fact-find, how to um ask the correct questions, you know, appropriate probing questions, um, appropriate close questions, things like that.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a big variety of soft skills and behaviors in there.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: But then it goes much further.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you've got um content in there specifically for managers, so you know, manner uh management leadership, how to manage teams, how to get the best out of your teams.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: There's content in there around well-being, very, very important.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: So um stuff to ensure that you're doing everything you can to stay um, you know, mentally fit within the workplace, that you're dealing with stresses, how to deal with simple things like um email stresses.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: Prior to coming on this podcast, um I uh logged in just to check my emails because we're we're down in sunny Bristol today doing this, and I had 172 unread emails from today.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: Horrendous, right?
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, dealing with that, that's stressful.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: So things like how do you deal with that?
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: So these you know, little well-being modules in there to look after the individuals.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: There's EDI very important for any employer, so making sure that we're looking at talk looking at and talking about subjects within the workplace like menopause, talking about uh neurodiversities.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: We were speaking about that earlier.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: So all of uh really good EDI content in there.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we even have content in there that will teach you, it's called the micro learning range.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: So it's little short burst videos that will teach you the entire Microsoft 365 suite.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to know how to do a pivot table.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: Jump on and watch this video for three minutes and it'll teach you.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: We've got advanced um intermediate beginner level stuff across Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Copilot, teaching you how to do that.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a massively broad um uh content base covering everything that you need as a business or an individual to ensure you maintain those 35 hours, but it goes so much broader than that.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, sorry for interrupting this episode, but I just wanted to let you know that it's sponsored by Red Mill Advance.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: They're the UK's leading provider of interactive e-learning courses, specifically for the financial advice sector.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: Their best in class e-learning CPD courses span technical knowledge, leadership and management skills, business skills and compliance knowledge, while their exam support courses help your people pass their CII, CISI, and NIBF exams first time.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's all delivered on a powerful learning platform that makes reporting CPD to the FCA seamless and gives leadership teams full knowledge and skills visibility across their entire organization.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's why companies like St.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: James's Place, Quilter, PLC, Hascot Lloyd, Foster Lenovo, and DeVere trust Redmill to keep their advisors and wider teams competent, compliant, and at the top of their game.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: So to book a free demo, get yourself to redmilladvance.com and they'll do the rest.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: Love it.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of upskilling.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: It is the standard CPD, but then there's upskilling at the same time.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: What about customising it?
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of firms want to customize platforms when they bring them in, make it look like theirs, or maybe add some videos in, uh, change some things about it.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: Can they do that?
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they can.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and actually for our corporate clients, that's exactly how we work.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: So um, more often than not, our clients will want the learning management system in their own brand, their own banners.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: So we build them actually to that client's brand specifications.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: And as part of the process, when we bring a client on and we ask for their branding guidelines and we start to build that out.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's very much in their brand.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: And actually, to all intents and purposes, Sam, um that's partially why over the last, you know, eight years, um, we haven't necessarily, you know, not everybody knew the name Red Mill Advance, despite the fact we were bringing on, you know, these large clients, these large white label clients.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: And that's because we do brand it into our clients' brand.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: And we're kind of like the almost the you know, the engine that sits behind the vehicle that is our client, you know, we white label it into their brand, but they can do that.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: The other thing that they can do is it may be that they want to course author on there.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: So what's fairly typical for us is we will say, look, here's a really cool learning management system to our clients and a really cool CPD recording and reporting tool that makes life easy for everybody.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's absolutely loaded with content that's going to suit the whole of your business.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: So 500 modules in there across all of the ranges that I spoke about.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: Six and a half thousand technical questions sitting behind it that's going to test people for like advisor competency testing and things like that, and obviously all the exam content.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: We say, There you go.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: But we also say, but if you want to build stuff into the system, you can do that.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: So it's got a full course authoring tool, and um, you know, it may be that they want to bring all the content that's currently sitting on their intranet or you know, in um OneDrive or whatever into that learning management system.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: Huge benefits in doing that, of course, because you can start to track data in terms of how people are engaging with it.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but we even go a stage further and we say, look, not only can you do that, but if you want to um build your own learning pathways and utilize some of our content as part of that, you can.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: So actually, all of a sudden, um CPD for that business um becomes more than that.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: It almost becomes um a kind of personal development plan for segments of that business's population.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're an advisor, here's a 12-month PDP.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: Now it's got all the mandated mandatory learning in there, um, as well as a bunch of other stuff.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: If you're a paraplanner, here's a similar 12 month, 24 month, whatever track.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: If you're an administrator, and actually they can build in the soft skills and behaviors, you know, around that particular discipline to make sure that they're accessing that content.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: In a very structured way over a structured time frame.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, I mean, long way to answer your question, to be fair, Sam, but they absolutely can.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: The system is built that they can build their own content and interlace it with their own.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: What size businesses are using this then?
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Is it any different shape or size?
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, so our client base ranges from um very small.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, really four or five man firms right through to the largest organizations in the UK.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I don't think it's any secret by this stage that we work with SJP and Quilter and Open Work.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think it should be a secret.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's some good names to be working with.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, and like DeVere globally and these large clients.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um typically, I guess our clients probably sit in that 200 to 800 man range, something along those lines.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, generally, what we do, uh Sam, is for the white label proposition that I'm talking about, where um we can brand everything into our clients' name, X or client's brand rather, and they get the full enterprise features of our systems where they can build things out.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: That generally suits clients that are maybe, you know, 40 man plus.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um for those that are smaller, often what's better for them is they just come inside the red mill branded platform.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: Same content, access to all the same brilliant CPD content and CPD reporting tool, and they can still report and see how people are accessing content, but it's branded redmill rather than.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: Can they still customize it slightly by playlists and things like that?
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: They can, yes.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: And but absolutely.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um so there is an element of customization in there, um, but it's slightly less, I guess, than if you had a full white label enterprise version.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: Love it.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, you want to look like you've got the full kit yourself of an you when you're uh a pretty large business.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: So when your staff are going in there, they feel like they're just part of the business.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think it's yeah, absolutely you do.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: And it's also about um organizations are becoming, I've seen a shift over the last few years that organizations are um they feel that it is more important than ever before to actually offer you know CPD to their employees rather than them going out to market and actually having to hunt that down themselves.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: And honestly, from an employee perspective, they absolutely crave this.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we onboarded a client recently and you know, the people within the business were screaming out for it.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so I found over the years that you know employers are taking more responsibility to implementing solutions like this because it makes sense.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it makes sense that uh the employer has an element of control over, well, actually, how can we, you know, see um through the good data that you get off the back of these systems that CPD is being done?
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: Where are the, more importantly perhaps, where are the learning gaps you know that we actually have to plug and fill with good CPD?
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: But I think it's bigger than that.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: They understand the importance of actually just providing really good quality content inside really good systems to their people within the business.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: How often do you update that content?
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: So we update it regularly, which is a really generic response I appreciate.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I'll be more specific.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so if it is exam-based content, we will update it in line with the various regulator, um, sorry, professional body rather.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: So CII, for example, um, they do their syllabus changeover in September.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: So months before that, we're updating all our content.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: From a CPD perspective, any technical CPD is updated.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: We watch the budgets, we understand what's happening in the budgets, and we update that just as soon as possible post-budget.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're basically changing our content the day of, if not the day after the budget.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: And we generally have everything updated within a few days so that it's technically accurate.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: Then, in terms of all the other content, mandated so cyber and FCA compliance, we're reviewing generally on a quarterly basis, but a lot of that doesn't change.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, so but we do review it on a quarterly basis and update it where relevant.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: And then similarly, in terms of our other content, we'll tend to look at that on a quarterly basis.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: But a lot of that stuff, again, it won't change.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: But we're thinking, well, how can we make it a little bit fresher?
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: What can we add into it?
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_01: What can we change around just to make it a little bit fresher?
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: Love it.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: And how easy is it to ex you know, to access the you know, the red mill advanced training hub to do CPD?
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: Can I sit on the train and do it on my phone?
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: Can I do it on my iPad at home on my TV?
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: How does it work?
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: You can do it on any of those TV actually.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's I've never been asked that question.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: Can you do it on the TV?
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you can do it on the TV.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I'll take that away and I will figure that one out.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: If you log in through um like the the the web the the web browser on the TV.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um if you can log on via a web browser on the TV, then you absolutely can.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: Well TV then.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: So then you got a TV.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I know that I've sat on my VR before and I've accessed, I've got a workspace in VR and I've accessed um everything inside that.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: So, but um so um, but yes, to all your points, um it is compatible on any device.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: So and it will also, I mean, in terms of accessing the CPD content on say a smartphone, it will adjust um depending on the smartphone that you have.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: If you know uh the firms pay per person, is it a license basis?
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: How do they pay like one-off fee on a monthly basis?
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, how how do you how do you charge for this?
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's a PPU model, so it is a price per user model.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we will generally do that.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now, obviously, there's some economies there depending on the larger the organization.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yes, we generally operate on a on a PPU basis.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I know these larger firms wanna they want to see stats and reports.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: So what's the reporting function like?
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh very deep.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it's a key thing within the platform and the CPD tool, it's actually is is so important because you're right, that visibility is really important.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: And within the systems, I like to think about data reporting in layers.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: So no matter who you are in an organization, if you sit in the senior team, you can you know zoom out and look at things at a firm-wide level.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: So you might want to zoom out and go, right, well, where is the business as a whole?
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, in terms of everybody that's training, you know, what are they looking at?
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: What are they running through?
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, what content are they accessing?
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: That will tell you what it is, when they started it, when they last launched it, how long they've spent on it, if they've passed, if they've failed it, you know, so on and so forth, how many times they've revisited it.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: So you can look at that data, kind of zoom out helicopter view, whole of the business.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: But then you can start to drill down, Sam.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: So you can start to drill down on particular groups because you can segment your business into groups.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: And that might be groups of advisors, paraplanners, administrators, it might be that and regionally.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're a big business, you might want to create groups regionally, but it can be by you know what suits your business.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: And you can report on those.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: So you can look at segments, you can look at segments of your population and understand how they're doing in their learning.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: You can then come down to individual level.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: When you're sitting in a one-to-one, I'm sitting with Sam Oaks.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: I want to know how you're doing on your learning and development, your CPD.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I might open the Sam Oaks report, and that's gonna tell me everything you're enrolled in.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna show me where you're at against your CPD, how far off your 35 hours you are, what content you've accessed, when you accessed it, when you launched it, um, if you've completed it, if you passed it, what your score was.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna show me all of that.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: But then I might want to go a stage further than that, one-to-one, because I might want to look at that and I might go, well, do you know what, Sam?
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: You ran through these four modules and you actually failed them.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: And you failed this one on pensions, and you failed this one in protection, and you failed this one across anti-money laundering.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna want to look at the questions that were asked of you.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I might want to zoom in on the questions that were asked in those particular tests.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna show me every question that was asked of you.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna show me the answer you gave.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna show me if that answer was right or if it was wrong, and it's gonna allow me to zoom in on the answers you got wrong because those are going to be your development needs.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: So now there's lots more, but if you think about that in layers of whole business, looking at looking at it as a whole, groups to understand how groups are performing, individuals to understand how individuals are doing through their learning and development and where they're at against their CPD.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: And with those individuals, how are they doing in the exams, the testing that's been delivered as part of that CPD?
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: And where do I need to help them?
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: Love it.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: So you are the eyes, the ears, the innovators when it comes to CPD on behalf of all these companies.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: What's the point in them trying to do it themselves?
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: What's the point in them going out and telling their advisors to go and find it themselves?
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's all completely fragmented, everything's in one place, it's always updated.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's the latest information and there's fantastic reporting, and you can pretty much access it anywhere.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: So it sounds like a bit of a no-brainer to me if a company's looking for some CPD solution, but the Redmill Advance CPD solution platform is the way forward.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: I would agree.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I yeah, you said it better than I ever could think about it.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it does, it just makes sense, doesn't it?
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: If any anyone's listening to this right now and your company hasn't got it, just knock on their door and just say, look, there is a there is a solution out there.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's Redmill Advance, you know, it's it's the hub.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: We need this in our business.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's the that's the way forward.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because anybody listening to this right now and you're struggling with CPD, don't just get in contact with David Tatan.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get this into your business.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: I think so.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: And many companies have Sam, you know, again, it's um a lot of the large companies in the marketplace are currently using this solution.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um and they're accessing lots of content regularly, you know, they're really supporting the people within their businesses.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, 100%.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you're interested in um providing really good CPD to your um organization in a way that makes it really accessible for those individuals to meet the required CPD hours, but much broader than that, gives them access to content that's actually really good for them, well-being, etc., skills, behaviors, things like that.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're interested in that, but at the same time you sit in a senior management team and you want to be able to identify, you know, the data that's really important that sits behind that learning, where individuals are against their learning, um, then the hub is going to do that for you.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: Love it.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: David, listen, thank you so much for joining us today on the Financial Panel Life podcast.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: A bit of a deep dive into CPD.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it sounds like you've got one of the best solutions out there, if not the best solution.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you for sharing.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's a pleasure being here as always, Sam.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me.