Canada Life has completed pilot testing of its new advisor portal, dubbed Advisor Workspace and has officially started onboarding those contracted with the company. Replacing the older system known as RepNet, the new system is reportedly more modern and “digitally current,” says Canada Life’s senior vice president of independent distribution, David Stewart.

He says the portal gives users the ability to access information from most devices – phone screens, tablets, and computer – where the old system was built for desktops. “The old system was built using a paper-based mindset, where the new system is built using a digital mindset,” he adds. “It was not designed thoughtfully for a modernized end-to-end system that people expect today.” 

Launched officially on April 25, he says the workspace has been extremely well received. Onboarding is simple and can be accomplished without help, or advisors can tap the support being offered by a dedicated team convened to help onboard Canada Life’s 30,000 advisors before RepNet is retired at the end of the year.

“Any services you are using on RepNet are still available on the new system. It’s just easier to do search functions and find information on the new system.” The system also includes illustration capability, client access to the portal, dashboards which show policy anniversaries and opportunities connected to the moment when clients are receiving their annual statements. “It reminds advisors that it’s a good time to do a review,” Stewart adds. “All advisors have different ways of managing their client base. We’re trying to build a tool that will accommodate their style of management by simply providing information as it becomes available.” 

Although advisors are the target user, managing general agencies (MGAs) and national accounts can also use the system to support advisors in the same fashion they did using RepNet. “It should be an easier experience,” he says.

Future iterations of the program coming this year include wealth management onboarding processes and continuing education (CE) learning and development opportunities. The company has also made its large case program available to anyone who has a large case they want to work on. “There’s no qualification to run the program,” Stewart adds.

Overall, he says the workspace offering puts the company on the same footing as competitors who’ve already proven that advisors are willing to convert to a digital experience. “I think we’re generally delivering table stakes,” Stewart says. “We aspire to have better tools and services on ours than others, but that’s for the market to assess.” 

He says the company expects to have 90 per cent of its core advisors signed up to the program by September.