Despite a reputation for being unsophisticated with their use of technology, 92% of advisors would “jump ship” over bad technology and 44% say they already have.
The findings demonstrate that the next generation of wealth managers expects more from their tech stack, wealth management tech firm Advisor360 recently found. The research could have a significant impact in the battle to attract younger advisors to wealth and retirement planning careers.
“Nearly two-thirds (65%) of survey respondents believe their technology setup needs improvement,” the report found. “They cite bad data as the most pressing problem, though a lack of automation and AI-enabled tools for improving workflows ranked a close second.”
The firm surveyed 300 wealth managers, aged 36.5 years old on average, and managing an average of $40 million in client assets.
“The advisors in our survey expressed candid concerns about their technology and the data driving it, making clear that both impact the growth of their practice and their overall satisfaction,” Jeff Schwantz, Chief Revenue Officer of Advisor360°, said in a statement. “If attracting and retaining advisors is a priority for enterprises, providing them an integrated, automated platform experience is essential.”
The research pointed to growing advisor dissatisfaction over the tools they have for working with clients and for winning new ones. Fifty-eight percent of respondents say they lost business over the last year because of bad technology, while 92% have lost business over the past two years.
Conversely, 93% of respondents who ranked their technology as state-of-the-art reported gaining new clients because of a competitor’s bad technology.
“Advisors also recognize technology’s role in the client experience—more than half (58%) consider their end client capabilities to be a weakness. Indeed, they call out new client onboarding as the area of highest priority for improved efficiency,” the report added.
Advisors’ approach to technology stems from a desire to connect and communicate with clients of all ages where they are. For example, 61% of respondents sid video conference calls are more effective than in-person meetings with younger clients, while 85% said in-person meetings work better for older clients.
All advisors said access to social media tools at work is “non-negotiable”—though there is disagreement over which applications are must-haves. Six out of 10 want access to either LinkedIn or X/Twitter, while more than half (56%) consider Facebook important. Just 48% of respondents want work access to YouTube, despite investors giving YouTube the highest marks for advisor usage in an earlier survey.
“The right technology choices together with clean data can unleash productivity like we’ve never seen before. To tap into this, firms need the right technology partners—ones that are forward thinking and able to satisfy multiple generations of investors and the advisors who serve them,” Schwantz concluded. “As our research shows, technology can be expensive to purchase, deploy, and adopt, but the cost of inertia is much higher when you consider the revenue impact of losing advisors."
