2 October 2007

90% of schemes believe technology can raise standards of governance

The Conclusions of the latest eShare Governance Survey revealed an almost unanimous belief that the already burdensome workload of the trustees and the pensions department is going to increase over the coming years.  However, almost all schemes felt that technology had a key role to play in reducing the burden on all parties and helping meet future demands.

The results of the survey show that 93% of respondents felt they were clear on what The Regulator currently expects of them but that 93% of schemes felt that their governance related workload is set to increase over the next few years, and this will lead to some significant changes.

However, whilst that sounds like bad news for the industry, it was encouraging to also learn that 90% of schemes believe that through using technology, it can help them to raise their standards of governance.

Commenting on the release of this latest survey, eShare’s Managing Director Alister Esam said:

“We have found the results interesting and encouraging for the future of our industry.  It would appear that our respondents are realistic about their future and are already planning and anticipating the coming changes.”

“88% of people are already using some form of technology to help manage their scheme – whether that be the Internet, email or shared electronic documents,” said Esam.

eShare provide a governance software solution to pension schemes which helps them to tackle issues such as trustee knowledge and understanding, decision making, member communications and risk management.

“We have always believed that through technology, schemes can enhance their current processes and have proved that through our system we can reduce costs, reduce risks and save time.”

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