The Australian Xplan Unlocked series has now wrapped. We brought 106 members of the financial advice community together with Iress people across Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney to talk about the things that matter in their day-to-day work.
The events were designed to be practical. Each session focused on the everyday challenges advice businesses face: moving faster, maintaining clean data, strengthening governance and creating better client conversations.
The result was an open exchange of ideas, questions and experiences. Advisers explored ways to make better use of Xplan today, while sharing the feedback that will help shape its future.
Practical learning, built around everyday needs
Xplan Unlocked focused on three areas that matter to advice businesses.
- Making everyday work easier: The workflow sessions focused on how practices can create more consistent and effective processes, using automation features in Xplan to reduce manual effort and improve the way work moves through a business.
- Keeping data under control: The data sessions focused on data hygiene, segmentation, exception reporting and bulk clean-up. Clean data supports better reporting, stronger governance and more reliable advice processes - plus forms the basis for AI, because the quality of the output depends on the quality of the data underneath.
- Creating better advice conversations: Interactive Visualise sessions showed how advisers can bring what-if scenarios and strategy discussions to life, helping clients understand complex information and participate more actively in the conversation.
What attendees valued most
Attendees valued the opportunity to meet the Iress team face-to-face, learn from peers, and discover capabilities they were not previously aware of.
One Sydney attendee said:
“Being able to speak to the team. All very friendly and giving with their time.”
Another described a Visualise session as an “a-ha moment” after discovering that the functionality could be used beyond Xtools+ and toggled for client data entry.
A third attendee valued the broader perspective:
“Seeing the full picture of where things are heading, and starting to form a view of how that may fit with and complement our own internal initiatives.”
Listening, learning and adapting
The event format evolved as the series moved across Australia. Feedback from Perth reinforced the importance of practical, human-led sessions and real examples that advisers could apply immediately. It also highlighted the value of giving people space to engage with Iress experts face to face.
That’s really what Xplan Unlocked was about. . The events were not only about sharing information with the advice community - they were also about listening to what makes a difference in their businesses and using that insight to improve the experience.
Looking ahead with Xplan Evolution
The same principle sits behind Xplan Evolution.
Xplan has always provided depth and capability for complex advice. Xplan Evolution is about making that power easier to access, with a more intuitive experience and new capabilities shaped by your feedback.
That includes a more connected adviser workspace, easier access to information and data, smarter tools across the meeting journey, and an improved Client Portal experience. The focus is to help advisers spend less time managing complexity and more time supporting clients.
The conversations at Xplan Unlocked are part of that work. They help connect the priorities the advice community are dealing with today to the improvements being developed for tomorrow.
The conversation continues
The Australian events may have wrapped, but Xplan Unlocked will continue in New Zealand this December.
The next stop will extend the same focus on practical learning, adviser feedback and the future direction of Xplan. It will give more clients the opportunity to share what matters to them, learn from their peers and find new ways to unlock the value already within the platform, so people have the confidence, support and practical insight to put it to work.
We enjoyed bringing the Xplan Unlocked to you across Australia and hope you found the sessions as valuable as we did.
