“The only constant is change…” goes the old expression, and perhaps nowhere is that more true than in the world of technology. Here at Advisory Services Network (ASN), we are constantly monitoring the wealth tech landscape to identify services and solutions that help the advisors on our platform best serve their clients and manage their businesses. We also strive to weed out the “buzzy” offerings that might arrive with a great deal of hype but offer little in terms of real-world use cases.
Looking back over the past few years, we’ve seen several tech tools emerge that have become essential to the day-to-day operations of many advisory businesses, including:
Robo-advisors: Automating portfolio management tasks, primarily for larger, more institutional firms, and providing streamlined investment solutions tailored to individual client goals and risk tolerance levels.
CRM software: Becoming indispensable for managing client communications, organizing key data, and enhancing approaches to client engagement.
Financial planning software: Enabling advisors to create comprehensive financial plans, integrate investment analysis and retirement planning, provide tax optimization strategies, and much more.
Advanced analytics platforms: Leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide actionable insights and enhance decision-making and investment strategy formulation.
“Will technology replace the advisor?” is a question we often hear. Our response is a resounding “absolutely not.” Each offering listed above is a tool, and the finest tools still require the hand of a skilled craftsman.
Over the coming weeks, we at ASN will publish a series of blog posts focused on key questions around the role of technology in running a modern advisory practice, our thoughts on emerging tech like AI, and the critical role advisors play at the nexus of all this innovation to ensure the end client’s needs and goals are met. Stay tuned for Part 2, where we will discuss how ASN evaluates the pros and cons of different approaches to augmenting an advisor’s tech stack.