In November 2011, IRESS announced that it was entering the UK market with its XPLAN advice platform and that it had secured a first client in Sesame Bankhall Group, which would go live in July 2012.

Since this announcement, IRESS has established its UK team, localised its product to the UK market, established its UK datacentres, and configured the solution to meet the needs of Sesame Bankhall Group, completed on schedule and within budget.

The technology solution covers core advice components configured to uniquely reflect Sesame's advice IP. Functionally the solution covers comprehensive CRM, workflow and document management, as well as providing an electronic advice centre containing a suite of advice tools, an attitude to risk and asset allocation tool, several planning calculators, quotes and apply functionality, and Suitability Report.

In the seven months since November 2011, IRESS has also integrated with six third-party systems to provide UK based modelling, fund data and quote services as well as a range of Financial Product Providers to manage electronic contract enquiry data.

Mark Thelwell, IRESS' UK Managing Director said "I am immensely proud of how much the IRESS team has achieved in such a short period of time. The breadth and depth of our software platform on which we are basing the UK business is a key part of our success as is the configurability of software to be quickly adapted to clients' specific needs. I believe the flexibility brought by XPLAN is a technology necessity for UK advice businesses as they face reforms under RDR and I look forward to helping other advice businesses adapt and drive process efficiencies."

James Stevenson, Head of Adviser Technology at Sesame Bankhall Group, added: "This is an exciting period for adviser technology within the Group and we are delighted with the progress we have made with IRESS to date. Establishing the core foundation of our new Practice Management System by July was fundamental to our Adviser Technology strategy, and we now look forward to the next stage of development that will see firms across the UK using this new technology solution for the first time. The feedback from advisers during the development stage has been very positive and as we roll out XPLAN to more firms over the coming months we will be working closely with IRESS to ensure that our members maximise the full benefits of this innovative technology."