The Role of Financial Advisors in a Digital Age
As with any industry facing disruption, financial advisors often fear how technology will alter their jobs; however, with the proper tools at their disposal they can thrive in this digital era.
User-friendly and intuitive software solutions help them streamline processes for the benefit of their clients, such as making it simple for clients to sign documents electronically, medical underwriting quickly and quoting insurance policies quickly.
Technology that Crystalizes the Big Picture
Financial complexity can be intimidating for customers. A good financial advisor can bring great value in making data, documents and tasks simpler for clients to comprehend their own finances.
Modern technology also assists financial advisors by automating tedious and repetitive tasks, freeing them up to focus on more high-value activities such as building relationships and offering sympathetic guidance.
Given the proliferation of low-cost digital investment platforms, financial advisors must set themselves apart by offering personalized investment advice and direction that cannot be replicated by automated technology. They must do this efficiently while still managing costs responsibly – this way they can build their business and attract a younger clientele – one effective strategy being an all-in-one solution with robust tools and features.
Intuitive Software Solutions
As financial advisors work to serve clients across generations, they can find comfort knowing that software solutions exist that facilitate communication and collaboration. Client relationship management (CRM) tools offer advisors an intuitive way to connect with their clients directly and overcome challenges posed by inaccessible databases or spreadsheet programs that don’t offer sufficient insight for effective analysis.
eMoney offers financial advisors solutions that facilitate more planning-led relationships with their clients by streamlining data through a client portal and offering tools such as organization, mapping, goal setting and stress testing. Their Blueprint platform integrates financial planning with household data for an easy way to organize client accounts while their client billing solution manages the process of collecting and processing account details.
eMoney also offers risk and planning-led solutions, including the industry’s first Risk Number to help advisors differentiate their value and gain new clients by quantifying a client’s unique level of risk tolerance. Furthermore, its Trust & Will solution enables advisors to digitally deliver legal-ready documents that comply with individual state guidelines for estate planning.
Customization
As new robo technology and index-based investing becomes more prominent, traditional advisors that want to stay relevant must strategize how they will provide an elevated service that’s appropriate to today’s market – beyond bio pages, location maps and static templated websites that don’t cater specifically to each customer.
Hyper-personalization is possible, but requires access to data beyond what’s usually provided during initial client meetings or through direct exchanges. Such data must include customer personas, values and beliefs as well as transactional and engagement data for optimal performance.
Netflix and Spotify utilize technologies that enable them to provide personalized recommendations to their users, opening up opportunities for investment management firms to incorporate client values and preferences into investments, which could go a long way toward maintaining client retention rates.
Connectivity
As an advisor, you know the importance of building strong relationships with clients is of the utmost importance. Although it may seem obvious, digital disruption has revolutionized certain professions: doctors remotely monitor patients remotely; lawyers provide legal counsel online and software can complete taxes or even invest your funds automatically.
Financial institutions need to develop tech-driven solutions such as goal progress trackers and account aggregation that allow investors to see their entire investment picture through one lens, rather than multiple platforms. This can improve efficiencies by freeing up human advisors to spend more time with clients.
Technology will also play an integral role in drawing in Millennials, who are projected to account for most of the wealth creation over the coming decades. Being able to connect in an engaging digital environment that resonates with them could make all the difference – an openness towards innovation and technology could attract this younger audience, whereas those that are closed off risk losing out altogether.