Financial advisor technology innovations forging the future of financial planning
Being technically savvy means something different for everyone. For advisors, it means harnessing the power of technology to innovate for their clients — preserving their wealth and promoting financial wellness. In this blog, we’ve outlined the technology trends we believe will have the most powerful impact on the future of financial planning.
Advances in CRM technology
CRMs have been evolving year over year, giving advisors a better view of their clients’ personas and tendencies. In addition, the emergence of tools built around automation and analytics opens up an even greater opportunity to research a client’s portfolio and make informed decisions on how to improve their financial wellness.
Automation on the backend
Incorporating automation into a CRM can help reduce repetitive and mundane tasks within the tool, freeing up time for advisors to analyze trends and gain a more holistic view of their campaigns.
Adding analytics to the mix
Quantitative analysis can provide a wealth of knowledge for advisors. For example, numerical data can shed light on a client’s behaviors and how they manage their wealth over time. This level of insight can help an advisor make strategic decisions that can improve the value of a client’s portfolio.
Client experience tools
Just as a CRM can provide helpful insight for an advisor, client experience tools can do the same for clients. Tools like customer portals and applications can help them better manage their finances, stay organized, and achieve their financial goals. Leveraging these tools also provides a convenient and secure way to access financial information and transact from a mobile device or computer.
Budgeting, expense, and investment tracking
Many tools allow clients to create a budget and closely track their expenses, helping them better manage their money and avoid overspending. They can also track investments, monitor performance, and adjust portfolios accordingly.
Bill and loan management
Bill payment features allow clients to quickly pay their bills electronically and set up recurring payment schedules to help them avoid late fees. Additionally, financial portals can help clients manage their loans by assisting them to monitor their payment and interest rates.
Financial goal setting
One of the most underrated benefits of using a client experience tool is the increased ability to create and pursue financial goals. Many tools allow clients to work toward a life goal, like purchasing a house or paying off debt, by setting and tracking goals within the platform.
Cloud technology
Cloud technology has become an essential tool for modern financial planning. It can enable easy scalability, improve avenues of collaboration and communication, and enhance data security.
Scalability of services
Being adaptable is as vital as ever. Financial advisors are discovering how cloud technology can help them adapt by allowing them to scale their services up or down quickly, depending on their clients’ needs. They can quickly increase or decrease their computing resources and storage capacity without investing in expensive hardware or software.
Across-the-board collaboration
Cloud technology can create an open line of communication between advisors, their clients, and partners, regardless of location — allowing them to share data, documents, and reports securely and in real time.
Enhanced security measures
Cloud technology offers robust security measures to protect sensitive financial data, such as encryption, access controls, and backup credentials. This measure protects clients’ information from cyber threats and other malicious entities.
The power in numbers — integrating big data analytics
Quantifiable information is one of the greatest tools for an advisor. While maintaining a high-level view of their clients’ financial status is important, it is in the details that they can uncover patterns and fine-tune their clients’ financial strategies.
Identifying and managing investment opportunities
Analytics can help financial advisors identify profitable investment opportunities for their clients. By analyzing market trends, financial statements, and economic indicators, big data can provide insights into which investments are likely to perform well and which may be prone to risk.
Mitigating risk
The best way to predict the future is by looking at the historical analysis. By analyzing data and market trends, advisors can identify potential risks and develop investment strategies that mitigate risk and promote greater returns.
The value of predictive modeling
In today’s volatile economy, predictive modeling is an incredibly useful skill for advisors. It helps them forecast market trends and identify potential investment opportunities for their clients. By leveraging tools like Google Analytics and other data-crunching platforms, advisors can develop predictive models to help them make informed investment decisions for their clients.
Machine learning
Recent advancements in machine learning are drawing attention from all across the world. We are in the wild west of AI as industries race to integrate it into their business models and decide how it can benefit their offerings. Large language models like Chat GPT and generative AI like Midjourney have stolen the spotlight. Still, there are countless — almost infinite — opportunities for innovators to integrate machine learning into business models.
Artificial intelligence (AI)
It’s no wonder why AI has gained traction over the past year. If used tactically, nearly all of the topics covered in this blog can be enhanced with some degree of AI assistance. With the new technology, advisors can quickly access abundant information that can help them promote financial wellness for their clients and better engage with them.
Integrative automation
Like AI, automation has been the talk of the town over the past year or so. Machine learning has reached a milestone, as it can seamlessly integrate into processes and procedures across many business sectors — including financial planning. Now, advisors can spend less time on routine tasks and more time prioritizing their clients. This is just the tip of the iceberg, however. Machine learning and automation will continue evolving and free up time for advisors to do what they do best.
At intelliflo, we’re committed to staying on the cutting edge of technology innovations to ensure our advisors are equipped with the tools they need to remain competitive and client-focused in an evolving industry. To learn more about our solutions, click here.