Through its intelligent understanding of both specialist financial terms and everyday language IFA Answers delivers instant, accurate online answers to questions asked by IFAs, enabling specialist staff to concentrate on more complex queries.

Transversal's new compliance module will allow financial service providers to control the content of outbound email using automated quarantine and approval workflow. Messages sent via IFA Answers containing content from a set of banned words or phrases, such as, "we advise", "we recommend", and those containing unsuitable language, or reference to competitors, can be held back for appproval before being sent out. This reduces complaints and avoids potential cases of misselling.

Already used by organisations such as Standard Life, IFA Answers enables regulated organisations to improve the accuracy and quality of customer service information provided online. As well as providing full content audit trail, showing the history of changes made to a specific item of information, edits can be quickly and easily added to related content thus ensuring consistency across related topics within a centralised knowledgebase.

"The Internet is fast becoming the communication channel of choice for IFAs looking for fast, accurate answers from financial services providers," commented Davin Yap, CEO, Transversal. "However too many have simply created static extranets that are quickly out of date and force advisers to call or email contact centres on even the most routine matters. By using IFA Answers with its new compliance module organisations can free specialist staff to focus on more complex queries and adding value to financial advisers, while guarding against potential misselling."

Importantly IFA Answers enables financial services organisations to gain invaluable intelligence about the requirements of their intermediary sales channel. By analysing the questions asked through IFA Answers financial services companies can prequalify IFA requirements in order to deliver improved customer service and potentially cross-sell other products.

Research has revealed that although the majority of IFAs are now embracing the online channel, intermediary websites and extranets are creaking under the strain. A lack of centralised knowledge bases mean that it is difficult to ensure information is up to date or consistent, leading to ad hoc answering of routine queries which adds to costs and can open financial services providers to future litigation.

IFA Answers uses a dynamic knowledgebase that is populated organically, with replies to new questions becoming part of a constantly evolving information source available to both IFAs and contact centre agents. Advanced content management features ensure that information is always consistent, accurate and up to date.