Super funds slow on the technological uptake

Super funds have been slow to switch over to the new digital landscape and may need to take a technological "leap frog" to keep up, a new study finds.

IQ Group's ‘Benchmarking digital and mobile services' showed super funds' slow uptake of mobile-optimised sites, with only 36 per cent delivering the facility.

Market researcher eMarketer predicted more than 2.23 billion people worldwide, or 48.9 per cent of mobile users, will go online through mobile at least once a month in 2014.

Over half of the mobile audience will use mobile internet next year, it said.

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A mobile optimised-site is vital for engaging with device-driven members, where the sites are built especially for smartphones and tablets and load quickly.

The research also found only 54 per cent of the funds offer member online sign-up facilities and 42 per cent offer employer online sign-up service.

Only 14 per cent of funds offered mobile apps for members and there were no specialised employer apps available.

"With 1 million apps in the App Store today one would expect to find some of these targeting the superannuation sector but the global rush to build an app has not yet reached the superannuation space — neither in Australia nor in the international pension fund sector," the report said.

IQ Group surveyed the top 50 retail, industry and public sector superannuation funds. The group represents $717 billion in funds under management across 21.7 million memberships.

"To be truly effective, the digital experience must be designed from the member and employer perspectives. And in an environment of continuous change, this will be an incremental delivery involving a wide range of alternatives for digital devices and services."