Four Key Takeaways from the 2023 ASFA Conference
/Author: Erin Weaver
Lecterns have been packed away, Brisbane hotels vacated en masse and the 2023 ASFA Conference is officially a wrap.
Two representatives from Mayflower Consulting, Kelly Walsh and Jenny Calcott, have returned and it’s back to business as usual. What, no more week night galas? Alas, no.
Nevertheless, we have returned energised from the discussions both from the expert speakers and the contacts we met “on the grounds”. The Monday morning team meeting was certainly lively and involved a lot of brainstorming regarding how we will apply what we have learnt to service your business.
Extensive notes were taken, and we have collated our highlights from the conference into these four areas of challenges/opportunities facing the superannuation industry. This is by no means a comprehensive summary and the full list definitely does not stop at four. These were the ones that got us talking though.
1. Embrace the digital opportunities!
“Diving into Digital” is one of the seven global megatrends identified by CSIRO in their once-in-a-decade report. It was also a topic of discussion at the conference, presented by Dr. Stefan Hajkowicz, a co-author of the report.
Perfectly illustrating this trend is the current frenzy around AI, which infiltrated nearly every sector. The superannuation industry has not escaped this exploding trend, as it was a hot topic across several discussions at this year’s conference.
Whilst acknowledging the current limits of its usability, there was nevertheless a palpable buzz around the benefits of using artificial intelligence to improve efficiency and productivity at nearly every level of business.
One of the voices of support was Deanne Stewart, Aware Super CEO. She sees AI as being a powerful addition to a super fund’s toolbox. With numerous functionalities ranging from interpreting data, to producing documents, to creating personalised solutions for members, a strong AI system can dramatically improve efficiency, which will translate into lower costs.
AI won’t make human employees obsolete. AI can mimic a human experience but not replicate it and humans will still be needed to provide critical-thinking, judgment, creativity, and other soft skills.
Technology will catch up and the bugs of today will certainly be eradicated with time. Also, regulations will soon reach Australia’s shores and will eliminate the liability risk. This will all but ensure AI will be a viable partner in business in the not-too-distant future.
For those resisting, it may soon be a case of jump on board or get left behind.
Further reading on the opportunities of AI, specifically ChatGPT : Law firms Lander & Rogers, Ashurst, Gilbert + Tobin, Allens say ChatGPT an ‘opportunity, not a threat’ (afr.com)
2. Brace for the digital challenges
Whilst there are opportunities in the new digital age, there are certainly challenges.
Operating almost entirely in a digital space has left millions of businesses vulnerable to cybercrime.
The superannuation industry is particularly attractive to cyber criminals with its enormous “value of data.” It’s also extremely vulnerable due to the immense complexity of the ecosystem, with a number of internal and external access points for criminals.
The keynote speech on cybersecurity was presented by two experts in the field - Troy Hunt, security advisor and founder of data breach notification service, Have I been Pwned, and Phillipa Cogswell, a partner in PWC’s Cybersecurity and Digital Trust Practice.
What we learned from this discussion:
1. These attacks aren’t as sophisticated as we are led to believe by the victims. Hunt said that most hacks require little more than the ability to count. Optus described their breach at the time as a sophisticated attack whilst Clare O’Neil, the Minister for Cyber Security, had another interpretation, saying Optus “effectively left the window open”.
2. “Make security a reportable event”. Organisations need to have a clear and accessible channel for the public or experts to report weaknesses or potential breaches in their cyber defences. According to cyber security expert Troy Hunt, companies are largely woefully lacking in this area. His Twitter account is full of tweets asking the world how to report a breach at numerous companies.
3. Transparency from companies is vital. If you can’t back up claims around cybersecurity, then you should not be making them. People are now more distrustful than ever before of what they read or see. Technology and social media especially have given these people a voice.
4. Technology advancements will both increase and decrease incidents. “Once the scammers figure out how to use ChatGPT, we’ve got a problem” was a remark made by Phillipa Cogswell. Technology has been the chief enabler of these cyber criminals and AI is arguably one of the biggest tech breakthroughs in recent memory. All the more reason to become familiar with this technology - and quickly.
There is no question this topic would be a keynote speech at numerous conferences across many industries across the globe and will be for some time.
Our CEO, Sarah Penn, recently hosted an ASFA Regulations and Legislations Discussion on cyber risk management. The wrap-up we wrote is a helpful document for starting any cyber risk management strategy.
Also, ICYMI, the government are stepping up action: Australia to set up a new national office for cybersecurity | CSO Online.
3. Superannuation funds are not banks
The superannuation member, and not their fund balance, is the real asset and all aspects of this asset must be nurtured and protected.
Health and well-being
With the rise of chronic illnesses and mental health issues and an increasing ageing population, the opportunities exist for superannuation funds to take a more holistic approach to servicing their members.
Lifestyle-related benefits could include discounts on gym memberships, education around nutrition. Health-related benefits would include access to counselling, telehealth, and more customised insurance options. Obviously, these all need to fit within the “best financial interest’ parameters. But then, the cost of paying out claims is enormous too. Interesting times ahead, we’re sure.
Recognising and supporting differing life stages
Superannuation funds already have retirees in their scope, recognising that the retirement period will be longer than it has ever been and designing appropriate products and services to accommodate these changes.
However, equal attention should be given to those entering the workforce today and, for whom, their superannuation will be their biggest asset through life. This generation have far differing needs and characteristics than their predecessors.
4. Up the UX game
Clients, customers, members. No matter the name given, they are at the core of our industry.
A superannuation fund is in a unique position in that its members can and often do span a wide range of demographics. Catering to all is tricky, at best.
However, all humans are wired similarly, notably being that we will seek out the easiest way of doing things.
It follows that every aspect of the user experience for a superannuation fund will follow this idea and deliver an ‘easy’ experience for members.
Of course, by nature, superannuation is not always an easy beast to navigate. Only those really embedded in this world will be at ease but this is not true for the members, who often have very limited knowledge of how everything works.
So, how do we make this world of superannuation more user-friendly? One way is to remove barriers.
Adam Alter gave a fantastic presentation (Flourishing in the Face of Friction) around removing the barriers to user experience at the conference. He is both a professor and consultant in business and has successfully helped numerous companies reach their customers more easily. Or perhaps it’s the other way around.
This is done through a friction audit, which essentially identifies these barriers, removes them, and then measures the results. There’s more involved but a total audit will involve removing as many barriers between a sale and a user.
Many of the barriers he discussed are hard to capture via survey and really require observation. For instance, he spoke through a beer example. In the USA (where they clearly don’t have six-packs of beer in a mini carton like in Australia!), observation revealed that blokes already had their hands full with shopping and so could only manage one more item, in this case, one bottle of beer. Budweiser started giving out a handy, insulated carry bag with every six-pack bought and upped their sales massively. There is just no way that this information would have been gleaned through a customer survey. Who is going to admit that they only bought one beer because they forgot to bring a shopping bag and can’t juggle???
So that’s our four key takeaways – AI, digital, member first, and UX (plus a bonus beer-related case study!).
As I’m sure you can imagine, there was way more than that discussed here. If there’s a particular area you’d like to hear more about, or some other aspect of superannuation that you’d like us to dig into in a future article, please let us know.