Woolwich has recently updated its intermediary website in response to an increase in online applications. Overall the site contains excellent information, some good functionality and is a good advert for the Woolwich and Barclays’ brands. The site does take a little getting used to but it is worth persevering as there are a few good items that are worth discovering. The re-designed site has resulted in a simplified look that includes a host of new tools. It is worth spending some time looking at ancillary product areas, such as commercial and international, to see if it may open up new sectors of business.

The design is consistent throughout and reinforces the strong Woolwich branding that most intermediaries will be familiar with. The menu systems and pages are clearly laid out and, although there is less glitz and glamour than some other sites, there is just enough use of images to make the site friendly but remain practical.

The content is laid out in a way that offers a practical progression in finding out information by moving through sections such as client type, mortgage type and then onto explanations about fees, charges and lending policy. Included in the content is information about the commercial and international product pages, offering very practical summaries of what Woolwich offers. A new addition to the content of the site is the product search facilities. These enable advisers a more refined way of searching for products via either the product route, or based on the profile of the customer. A nice addition to the content of the site is the award-winning ‘ask’ button, which appears on every page. This interactive reference section is very good for searching the whole site.

The menu is simple and practical. Working your way around the Woolwich site is easy at first glance. The expanding menu running down the left of the site works well but I did get a little confused about which sections I needed to be registered for. The quote system was in the registration section but accessing the online application was not. I presume this is because it is filled in by the client. Also, with the IntroTrack case monitoring system, it brought up a separate browser window and asked for a personal identification and password in a page that had slightly different branding and I was not sure if this was a service for advisers or clients? This is nothing that a quick fix could not cure and there is some good new functionality, such as the ability to search for local intermediary business managers by name or postcode.

Despite the navigation issue, by entering the registered user section the user gets taken to the Home Financing Centre, which really is a no-nonsense centre for all e-commerce quotes and activity. They can access a quick quote for the client based on a specific product which gives an outline of the monthly repayments and then generates a KFI online. The AIP section is also worthy of note as this is an excellent piece of functionality with a clear menu system and a good ‘demo’ that helps the broker understand the process before they begin.