Advisors want more client time. Is AI actually giving it to them?

On a global scale, AI-related investment across all industries is forecast to reach $1 trillion this year, according to Goldman Sachs. Yet a new survey by Vanguard reveals that in wealth management, what 72% of advisors want most is more time to devote to prospective and current clients. The juxtaposition raises questions about what advisors are doing with the new technology, what they are using the time savings for and whether those efficiencies translate into actual firm growth. 

According to Vanguard and Escalent's Cogent Beat Advisor survey of 549 advisors on topics including practice growth, technology and AI adoption, respondents said their primary uses of AI were for administrative and productivity tasks, like drafting emails (38%), conducting research (35%) and taking meeting notes (27%).

Despite the potential time savings, AI adoption and automation remained limited among many advisors for several reasons, according to the survey, with respondents citing several barriers, including:

• Compliance hesitance: 37% cited uncertainty around compliance policies.
• Limited proficiency: 31% said they need more time and training to fully deploy AI tools.
• Being undercut: 22% worried AI might decrease the value they provide to clients.
  

Time saved is the first layer, according to Julie Littlechild, founder and CEO of Absolute Engagement, who said in an email, "We can also use AI to help advisors understand their clients at a deeper level, to identify changes over time and to uncover lurking risks, hidden needs and untapped opportunities. That's what takes the meeting from efficient to engaging, and ultimately makes them more human."

For now, however, many advisors remain focused on using AI tools to make existing tasks faster and easier.

"Many financial advisors have only begun to scratch the surface of AI's potential," said Lauren Wilkinson, Vanguard chief information officer of financial advisor services, in a statement. "To fully realize the benefits of AI, firms will need to evolve from using the technology to assist with tasks to using it to automate them. Doing so can unlock more time for higher value work." 

Getting past the administrative layer takes more than good intentions. 

As Edelman Financial Engines founder Ric Edelman wrote in a recent column, "Sure, a note-taking tool saves you 45 minutes after each client review meeting. But unless you convert that three-quarters of an hour into another client meeting, another prospecting call or the capacity to serve more households, it won't show up on your or the firm's P&L." 

The following articles focus on three concrete ways firms are taking that step to translate AI use into concrete wins.

The regulators are coming — are you ready?

AI governance is still in formalization stages where the SEC is concerned, but that doesn't mean firms should get complacent. A good starting point that wealth management firms can focus on is crafting written policies for advisors that specifically cast the "human in the loop" role to oversee AI processes. 

See five things RIAs should do before the SEC comes knocking: Find out more

One software services provider's AI productivity case

Wealthtech firm Vestmark recently grew to $50 billion by betting on RIAs. Meaningful AI deployment within the firm itself has assisted that growth along the way. After granting employees access to powerful AI tools and training, CEO Karl Roessner told FP that his firm saw a 65% increase in productivity. 

See how Vestmark has been using AI for growth and more: Read the Q&A

Relocation tasks handled by AI

AI tools can help or hinder a user, depending upon their knowledge of how to use it. Two new AI service providers have entered the market and they seek to make geographical moves easier for both clients and advisors. 

See how the software saves both time and pain points: Meet the programs