“You’re only seeing the BGLs and so forth now starting to come to the fore but the rate of acceleration is going to be enormous,” he said.

“The rate of growth and the opportunities of what software companies can provide will be very quick.”

Mr Dunn said document integration, actuarial certificates, and integrating cloud software with SRM platforms and marketing systems are already possible.

“Overseeing audit processes and so forth will come along and I think we’ll see a very different type of industry in terms of the solutions that technology providers can provide to the sector within probably five years,” he says.

“The fact we are a far more connected world in terms of integrations, not only in the SMSF sector but more broadly will only come in and resonate with the SMSF sector as well.”

Mr Dunn said technology today enables automatic feeds with institutions like banks sending in data on a daily basis into SMSF software.

He said while the Future of SMSFs report, conducted by the SMSF Academy in 2014, showed a high level of businesses are still providing an annual compliance service and billing on a time cost basis, the way practitioners can deliver services to clients is changing.

“It will be interesting to see what the take-up is when we do the report for this year and what people are doing with their business model in terms of charging and engaging with their clients on an ongoing basis,” he said.

In the future, Mr Dunn said laggards reluctant to adopt cloud technology will find it difficult to remain competitive due to the efficiencies it provides in workflow.