Platforms have become an integral part of many an adviser's working life, and the industry is well-etablished.

There are now plenty of platforms, and many are so well-established that they are being forced to go through a massive replatforming exercise.

This has been far from an easy process, with the scale of client assets and the re-engineering of technical foundations meaning that such an undertaking is a time-consuming exercise.

The fact that so many advisers have come to rely on these platforms so fundamentally means that for most adviser businesses replatforming has been an arduous process.

Nonetheless, companies running technology-based services need to keep on top of the infrastructure, so the replatforming is a necessary exercise.

There are numerous checks one needs to do when selecting a platform: how much will it cost? what functionality does the platform offer? what does the client need?

Ultimately, platforms have become central to many an adviser's life, so it is important to remain informed.

This guide is worth an indicative 60 minutes of CPD.

Contributors to this article include: Verona Kenny, head of intermediary at 7IM; Barry Neilson, chief customer officer at Nucleus; Ben Hammond, principal consultant at Altus; Steve Neilson, consulting director at the Lang Cat; Andrew Ashwood, senior analyst at Platforum; Christopher Woolard, executive director of strategy and competition at the FCA; Bella Caridade-Ferreira, founder of comparetheplatform.com.

Jenny Turton is a freelance journalist