The concept of union-site visits will take on a whole new meaning due to LUCRF’s signing with Provisio Technologies for its rapid-advice delivery software.

LUCRF (Labour Union Co-operative Retirement Fund) has signed up for the latest iteration of Provisio’s RAD (Rapid Advice Delivery), and advisers with laptops are already visiting sites to provide superannuation advice face-to-face with members.

Response has been very good, said the fund’s CEO, Greg Sword. “Fund representatives have the advice software on their laptops and they sit in lunchrooms talking with LUCRF members. It takes away members’ fear of phoning and the cost.

“The feedback has been great – people really appreciate you making the effort to visit. It’s hard for them to go to seminars after work,” he said, “and employers have been really supportive too,”

Sword said most of the fund’s members “did not need complicated advice. Most of the people we represent don’t have large accounts”.

LUCRF, established in 1978, has more than 185,000 members and more than $2.5 billion in FUM.

Sword said his members’ post-retirement needs were not complicated. “Most (of our) people want to maximise their opportunity to get the age pension, and a transition-to-retirement pension,” he said.

The provision of this service had been in LUCRF’s plans for over three years, with the fund contacting Provisio Technologies six months ago.

This particular software had been chosen because it was “easy to understand and scaleable”, said Sword.

Provisio Technologies’ director, Cameron O’Sullivan, said one of the newest features of this iteration of the RAD software was the adequacy strategy which focussed on salary sacrifice, and transition-to-retirement.

“The portability is essential: it’s fully functional without Internet connection,” said O’Sullivan.  “This adviser-driven model does not depend on the internet because it can be too slow to load in remote locations.”

He said that the software was built by financial advisers, so it supported what financial advisers wanted, which was “a balancing act between simplicity and speed and complexity”.

Through its choice of this software, LUCRF joins other industry funds such as HESTA, legalsuper and ESI Super, as well as Australia’s largest administrator, Superpartners, in providing rapid advice through Provisio.