Integration is a competitive advantage. But only if it can scale.

For investment platforms, integration has become an increasingly important part of commercial competitiveness. Advisers expect the platforms they use to connect with the technology already embedded within their firms. From client onboarding through to account servicing, the quality of those connections increasingly shapes how easy a platform is to do business with.

That's good news for platforms. The easier advisers can access and use a platform through the systems they already rely on, the more attractive that platform becomes.

APIs have transformed what's possible, making it easier than ever for platforms and adviser technology providers to connect. But while APIs solve connectivity, they don't necessarily solve for consistency.

The hidden cost of success

Every integration creates an opportunity to reach more advisers. It can also create another connection to support, monitor and maintain.

That may not feel like a problem with a handful of integrations. But as platforms build relationships with more adviser systems, the operational burden can grow quickly. Regulatory requirements change. Legislation evolves. Technology moves on. Each integration needs to keep pace.

Where integrations have been developed in different ways, making those changes can become increasingly resource-intensive. Teams that might otherwise be focused on new capabilities and adviser experience can find themselves spending more time maintaining what already exists.

For many platforms, the challenge is no longer how to connect with more technology providers. It's how to do so without creating a growing estate of bespoke integrations that become harder and more expensive to manage over time.

Why standards matter

This is where industry standards can make a meaningful difference.

Criterion's Platform Account Opening Standard provides a consistent framework for exchanging information between platforms and technology providers. Rather than approaching every new connection differently, firms can build around a common structure that can be re-used, repeated and scaled.

Importantly, standards do not mean uniformity.

Platforms remain free to innovate and differentiate through their proposition, service model and adviser experience. The standard simply provides a common approach for exchanging information, reducing the effort required to establish and maintain integrations.

As adoption increases across adviser technology and platform providers, the benefits become more significant. Each new connection becomes less about starting from scratch and more about extending an approach that already works.

A more scalable and commercial approach to connectivity

The benefits are practical and commercial.

Scalable: Platforms can extend their market reach more efficiently by building integrations that can be repeated and reused across multiple technology partners.

Sustainable: As industry requirements evolve, Criterion maintains and develops its standards, helping firms reduce the complexity associated with updating a growing number of individual integrations.

Fast: Building on established standards can reduce development effort and accelerate time to market, allowing resources to be focused on innovation and adviser-facing improvements.

Making the next integration easier

Most platforms recognise the value of connectivity. The more difficult question is how to make connectivity reusable, reliable and sustainable.

The platforms that gain the greatest advantage won't necessarily be those with the highest number of integrations. They'll be the ones that have trusted connections and can expand their reach without continually increasing the cost and effort required to support them.

That's ultimately what standards are designed to achieve. 

Find out how Criterion's Platform Account Opening Standard can support a more scalable approach to integration here or get in touch at [email protected].