Vib Arya, chief operating officer of Shufro Rose, said at WealthStack, part of Wealth Management EDGE at The Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood Beach, Fla., that he centers the 86-year-old company's technology stack around the idea that automation removes friction.
“We have multi-generational relationships that are so precious to us,” he said. “We want advisors to spend as much time as possible with clients.”
As part of its technology group, Shufro Rose uses AI technology through CogniCorwhich allows it to have a built-in AI assistant.
Leslie Dentinger, deputy CTO of Dynasty Financial Partners, said the company built a data lake for their “holistic data strategy.” And Jon Meyer, Captrust's CTO, said the firm uses Microsoft Copilot to write code, ChatGPT for marketing and has created its own in-house chatbot. Meyer said he has focused on aggregating data into his CRM system for maximum efficiency.
“Once you figure out how to put it into your CRM, it's easy to use elsewhere in the business,” he said.
However, Dentinger said it can be cost-prohibitive to pursue the lead of these larger businesses if a firm is under $2 billion in AUM. Because wealth management is a relationship business, they consider their technology a selling point.
“(Advisors) can say, 'I take the security and privacy of your data seriously,'” she said. “Use technology to sell who you are and what the experience with your firm will be like.”
Because Dynasty is a network of firms, this means something different to each advisor based on the channel they are in.
“We try to create a technology stack that matches those different needs,” she said.
Arya said his firm is constantly trying new things to stay adaptable, which was especially helpful when COVID-19 first hit.
“Advisors found they could work the same way at home as they did in the office,” he said. We have instilled the mindset and confidence in our people to use technology.”
Dentinger said Dinasty carefully considers how adding new pieces to their technology stack will help them in their work.
“There are so many shiny objects out there,” she said. “We're serious about asking ourselves, 'What problem are we solving for our customers?' Is this a better mousetrap or a mousetrap with a new coat of paint?”