A Towers Watson survey titled Changing Times – the Digital Shift in Superannuation Education and Communication showed the rate of funds using multi-channel member communication, including social media, mobile apps, online calculators, multimedia/video and email, currently lies at only 45 per cent.
The survey also revealed that only four per cent of the respondents considered themselves as early adopters of technology.
The main reasons for resistance against technology among the 28 corporate and industry funds surveyed mostly related to compliance and regulatory issues, resource and time constraints, and the challenge of engaging with members reluctant to connect with their fund.
Some funds also noted increased digital interaction posed a challenge in guarding the security of members' data.
Towers Watson head of technology and administration solutions for Australia, Richard Body, said the slow adoption of technology has been surprising given the high levels of take up in other finance-related industries such as banking.
The survey indicated, however, that funds plan to significantly increase their use of technology-based member communication in the next few years, with the usage rate expected to reach 77 per cent by 2017.
Fifty-seven per cent of the funds surveyed said they had increased their spending on technology-based member education in the past year, with funds allocating between $20,000 to $150,000 towards channels including apps, calculators, games and social media.
All the funds agreed there were significant benefits to using technology to communicate with fund members, such as accessing members in remote areas.
Mr Body said the research indicated there would be a strong shift towards digital communication to deliver education and superannuation information over the coming five years and across all fund sizes.
“Even funds that have started to use digital technologies need to keep adapting and modifying what they have in place to keep pace with an ever-changing technology landscape, particularly in the evolution of tablet devices and increasing mobile adoption,” he said.
Despite this, Mr Body said very few funds intended to make considerable increases in spending to develop the appropriate channels and products to drive member take-up.
“An increase in usage by members is going to be very difficult to achieve unless funds review their budgets,” he said.
