Until advisors can clone themselves, the only path to growth for them – and the firms for which they work – is to get more done in the same amount of time. Technology is part of the answer, but how that technology is applied is even more important.

Artificial intelligence (AI) seems to be everywhere these days, including (if they are lucky) at the fingertips of financial advisors. AI, when designed specifically for wealth management, can help advisors be more efficient, focus less on administrative tasks and more on actual client engagement. And AI continues to evolve and mature. In the next few years, advisors can expect AI to deliver even more highly intuitive, time-saving features that will free them to concentrate on what matters most in serving clients.

We recently caught up with Andrew Cant, Vice President of Financial Services Solutions for NexJ, to explore what’s next for AI in wealth management and what advisors can expect and look forward to:  

The life of a financial advisor is a constant juggling act – and one where the balls in the air aren’t all of the same size, shape and weight. To be successful, an advisor needs to keep track of prospects, make new clients feel welcome and reassured, help existing clients navigate legal and regulatory hurdles, and help clients who are moving on to a new phase in life enjoy a seamless transition.

“You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” It’s an old adage in business, and like many it has its limits, but clear, comprehensive data and reporting truly is crucial for advisors and advisory firms looking to maximize their business.

The challenge is that this data might be locked away in multiple systems, or data from one place might be needed to calculate or give context to data in another. NexJ has solved this challenge with its Analytics and Reports, a key component of the Integrated Advisor Desktop solution we have deployed for major firms.

Most advisors need to juggle multiple applications, searching for the client or account each time, to properly service a single customer. Advisor productivity and client experience suffer as individual tasks take longer to perform and mistakes are made. Advisors need a consolidated view of their customers with embedded tools and not just links to other applications.

Leverage your CRM investment with a sound user adoption strategy.

Who doesn’t want their team to work faster? And not just faster, but better as well? It’s what we all want. That’s why ‘increasing productivity’ is a key driver behind many a financial firms’ upgrades. It’s also the reason so many vendors promise productivity right from the onset. So, how do you sort out the fluff from the legitimate ones? 

From an advisor’s point of view, not all investors are created equal – in addition to the obvious differences in assets, age, employment and lifestyle, different people have different levels of receptivity to the advice and assistance an advisor can provide. At the same time, an investor’s position is not fixed: It changes with time and in response to outside influences. So how can an advisor best tailor the experience they provide to each unique and evolving individual, multiplied by the size of the advisor’s book?

Needless to say, the pandemic has upended the advisor / client relationship like no other event in our lifetimes. How, where and why financial advisors engage with their clients looks very, very different than it did pre-COVID. From Zoom meetings to virtual events to AI-driven online dashboards, clients have become accustomed to a very different way of working with their advisors … and frankly expecting much more.

Wealth managers have talked about “personalization” and “client-centricity” for years. But is that actually how clients feel about the service they receive, or does it sound to them like more marketing speak?

Wealth management is all about trust. It is about giving an advisor control of your financial health and security and depending upon that advisor to make or recommend decisions that help you meet your financial goals. When we, as CRM vendors, focus on features that give our products an edge, we always focus on how specific features can help advisors build more trust. This is what makes relationship hierarchies so important.