Using AI-powered Digital Assistants to Improve Advisor Productivity
Of the few things that will shape the future of the financial services/ wealth management industry, the need for an improved investor (customer) experience (CX) ranks right at the top. Investors are used to being treated to an impeccable experience in all other aspects of their lives and will expect more or less the same from wealth management firms. How can firms manage the customer experience ripple effect?
Disruption in the wealth management sector has long been in the cards and the influx of technology startups into the market has compounded the challenges for established players. They will now have to empower financial advisors with tools that will drive better engagement with leads or existing clients.
Heightened Competition
Pressure from new entrants who leverage digital technologies including AI to offer cost-effective and holistic solutions to investors is very much evident in the market. Automated investment management solutions like Betterment are gaining traction. Thematic investment platforms are improving investor engagement and offering them new and relevant value propositions. How have the established players responded to this?
The traditional players have responded back with similar services. But the biggest casualty of digital disruption is that it has taken a toll on the advisor commissions. This has put the financial advisors under a lot of pressure. According to Deloitte, investors increasingly feel they are capable of handling their own portfolios with access to new digital platforms. With the rise in competition, wealth management firms need to empower financial advisors to be more efficient and effective at work.
According to Forbes.com, “Almost 60% of executives surveyed said that expertise with technology will be highly important for wealth managers to succeed. That’s because technology experts understand how technology can make routine processes, such as onboarding, more efficient.” This isn’t just theoretical, either.
Figure 1. Firms introducing new technologies are disrupting expectations of performance:
Focus on Client Relationships
Financial advisors play a major role in the distribution of investment products. Investors are constantly in touch with their financial advisor and digital transformation should rightly start with them. Whereas in the past, investors would spend time with their financial advisor out on the golf course or at the country club, now, due to greater constraints, many advisors have lost that personal contact.
There are two major challenges that every financial advisor faces which can make their work more difficult. Being an information-intensive industry, financial advisors spend most of their day searching for the right information. In addition, most of their day to day activities involve repetitive and mundane tasks.
CogniCor’s AI-powered digital assistants solve both of those problems. Not only do they make information accessible and easy to obtain in real-time as needed, but they are able to automate standard tasks so financial advisors can get back out on the course to spend valuable time with their clients. We want to use state of the art technology to help financial advisors get quality time with their clients back, and our experience proves that through the automation of standard procedures, it is possible.
Specifically, our recent deployment of a proprietary virtual assistant (VA) built for the largest independent broker-dealer in the United States has proven extremely effective for both subject matter experts (SMEs) and financial advisors alike. SMEs interact with the VA to retrieve industry and company-specific information in real-time without the need to conduct any kind of search. This reduces call times and increases productivity overall.
Technologies are freeing advisors from repetitive tasks so they’re able to spend more time providing specific insights based on what each customer wants to do. This way advisors can be more proactive, and actively coach their clients throughout their lifetime to ensure they are able to meet their financial goals from the cradle to retirement. Ask us to learn more about how digital assistants can empower financial advisors, and be sure to check out CogniCor CEO Sindhu Joseph’s recent webinar on Accelerating the Productivity of Financial Advisors with Digital Assistants for more details.
Authors: Kathryn Bouchard, Sharhad Haneef