Is Outdated Wealth Management Technology Costing You Business?

Advisors opined that digital onboarding could have the biggest effect on their practice and the way they work with clients. Indeed, 25% categorized their current onboarding process as a constraint when it comes to getting new client relationships off the ground.

Respondents’ biggest complaints about their existing platforms concern the lack of automation and functionality. For example, 41% of advisors said they spend two hours on average scheduling, running and reconciling reports before each client meeting, and 26% spend more than two hours.

In addition, 58% of advisors said their account aggregation capabilities need to be improved.

Staying Connected to Clients

Although advisors said the most important aspect of a client’s digital wealth experience is the ability to see a complete picture of their financial lives, many firms are coming up short on delivering.

Forty-three percent of respondents said their technology is primarily advisor-facing, not client-facing. Survey participants reported that their clients are product-savvy, so they want technology that gives them access to products that are specific to their client’s financial goals — the highest client demand is for structured investments, annuities and long-term care insurance.

According to the survey, advisors are also striving to use technology to connect with clients in ways that are familiar outside of the financial planning world. Seventy-three percent of respondents said millennials and Generation Z require a different type of engagement than baby boomers and Gen Xers, but tech-savviness has no age barriers.

Seventy-six percent of advisors noted that the ability to securely text or direct message clients of all ages has transformed client relations. Eight in 10 said integrating social media platforms into client-facing tools is a must-have, with a third considering this extremely important.

“Firms with the right technology improve their advisors’ ability to offer robust financial guidance and form deeper client connections, which ultimately translates into strong, healthy businesses,” Hart said.