Investment Adviser’s annual platform survey reveals that more than 40 per cent of advisers have used a platform for between one and five years, with the majority of respondents (47.1 per cent) using three platform services.

With increased regulation and scrutiny on risk, many advisers are looking to outsource to third parties such as DFMs or using model portfolios that target a particular level of risk or volatility. As such platforms have an increasingly important role to play, albeit for different reasons.

For example one respondent noted that for some businesses the ability to load model portfolios onto a platform was “critical to the ability to run client money”, even though those businesses might not be too interested in accessing traditional discretionary fund managers.

Therefore it was not surprising that when asked how important access to DFMs or model portfolios on a platform was, there was a mixed response from our readers – 41 per cent suggested access was important, but almost 18 per cent claimed it was very unimportant.

David Tiller, head of adviser platforms at Standard Life, suggests: “Larger businesses currently running advisory models with dedicated investment experts will be thinking seriously about taking discretionary permissions. For many, the small increase in capital adequacy is more than offset by the process efficiency of not having to secure the clients’ agreement for portfolio reviews and flexibility in being able to implement changes at the optimum moment.

“Moving to discretionary management also enables the levying of a discrete investment fee, helping clients to better understand what they are paying for. To realise similar efficiencies, smaller businesses may choose to hand responsibility for their clients’ models to an external discretionary manager operating on their chosen platform.”

Interestingly, the biggest driver of change in platform usage was not the RDR or cost – although these were each cited by almost 12 per cent of respondents – but technology. Of those surveyed, 23.5 per cent argued technology had the biggest impact on their platform usage, either positively or negatively.

Further regulatory changes also had a significant impact on platform habits, with 41 per cent of respondents noting that some of the technology and tools on platforms fell short of helping advisers cope with increased regulations.

There were, however, some positive signs of change, with more than half of the respondents (52.9 per cent) suggesting that the pension reforms announced in the 2014 Budget Statement would allow them to provide a more holistic planning service through a platform.

More than a year on from the RDR it is clear many advisers are taking advantage of the tools and technology available to them.

Nyree Stewart is features editor at Investment Adviser

This special report is sponsored by Alliance Trust Savings. All editorial is independent.