Preserving Your Greatest Asset in the AI Age

Only a few years ago, roboadvisors were considered by many to be an existential threat to the advisory profession. But not only did IAs survive that threat, there’s now some concern that there are actually too few advisors to serve all the people who will need advice in the coming years.

So at a time when algorithms and artificial intelligence are rapidly gaining ground in almost every industry, the human element is actually proving itself to be the most valuable asset an advisor has. Can you protect this asset and still use technology to help grow your practice?

Wealth is one of the aspects of our lives that are simply too important to hand over to a faceless program—or at least, that’s one of the possible reasons many traditional advisories remain unscathed by the rise of the roboadvisor. Even with their efficiencies and lower costs, automated financial services lack the wisdom and empathy that give clients peace of mind. For high-net-worth or ultra-high-net-worth individuals especially, roboadvisors have never been a realistic option, and thus not a real threat to the advisors who serve them.

But today, those same advisors are adopting aspects of this technology, incorporating AI into their processes, and doing so successfully, in order to help foster growth and serve more clients. What they’ll need to look out for is a tipping point, where these tools stop adding value and start eclipsing the human element.

AI might help clients troubleshoot problems with online account access or contextualize their quarterly performance reports, but it shouldn’t replace contact that is meaningful. It can help generate proposals and plans more quickly, but these services need to be clearly couched in your personal, experience-based insight, to prevent them from short-circuiting the trust connection that is so vital to client loyalty and referrals. As for all the things you do behind the scenes that cannot be automated, from behavioural coaching to coordinating third-party specialists, it’s more important than ever to make sure clients and prospects are aware of them—through your communication practices and outward brand.

As more people are inheriting generational wealth, approaching retirement and looking for clarity in an increasingly complex financial landscape, tech tools in traditional advisory practices will only become more relevant. However, advisors with a long-term perspective will use those tools to complement and enhance the client relationship, preserving the notion of hands-on, person-to-person advice that is the wellspring of their value.