Podcast Center
Video Center
Webcasts
Resource Center
Events
By 
August 04, 2021 at 07:01 PM
What You Need to Know
- Investing in technology should be a priority for all advisory firms.
- There are two types of tech: one for internal efficiency and the other for enhancing the client experience.
- Start by focusing on serving your clients, and then add better internal technology.
All business owners, including advisory firm owners, want a fast track to solving their problems. Advisors want to get operational efficiency and improve their client experience, and they want to address both issues with a single technology solution.
But having all the problems in your firm solved by a single technology isn’t realistic, and it’s risky. What happens when you want to switch tech that is an all-in-one solution? Operationally, it is hugely expensive.
The problem, though, isn’t the technology itself — it’s your expectations of what the technology should do. When looking at how to invest your technology budget, have a clear understanding of what to expect from the technology.
Two Kinds of Advisor Techn
Advisor technology tends to get clumped into a single large category, but actually there are two types. The first is the tech that increases operational efficiency by helping advisors and their staff work smarter and faster. This technology saves time and money and increases capacity.
The second type of advisor technology enhances the client experience. This technology gives clients a way to communicate with their advisor or to interact with their investments and portfolio. While it may save an advisor some time, that is not its core benefit.
Every advisory firm needs to be serious about implementing great technology in its business for one simple reason: It makes people’s lives easier.
If you have bad technology, your employees won’t want to work with you, even if you have a good culture and benefits. When outdated or cumbersome technology makes a job more difficult, it’s not reasonable to ask people to continue using it over the long term.
Which Technology to Invest in First
It’s a given that great technology needs to be included in your firm. The question is really is: which one to invest in first: operationally minded solutions, or client-driven tools?
