Discussions With Orion On ChatGPT And AI’s Future In Wealthtech, White Glove On Digital Tools For Lead Generation, Hubly Launches Partner Workflows
On the first day of T3, I had the opportunity to speak with wealthtech executives from Orion Advisor Tech and White Glove about crucial changes and developments that demand industry attention and adaptation, while process management platform provider Hubly announced a new branded partner workflow system.
ChatGPT And The Future Of Wealthtech
I spoke with Brian McLaughlin, President of Orion Advisor Tech, to understand how ChatGPT and similar AI tools are changing wealthtech and the future those tools will open for us.
McLaughlin noted that ChatGPT’s launch “shook the world a bit,” and predicted that the release of ChatGPT 4 this week will again draw focus to its capabilities and the changes it can bring, both in wealth management and broadly across the globe.
Companies such as Instacart, Shopify and Snapchat already have begun to leverage ChatGPT to increase functionality. In McLaughlin’s company, CRM provider Redtail incorporated ChatGPT capabilities into its Speak function, creating text replies for advisors to send to clients based on past communications with the specific client. Redtail also leverages the technology for other purposes, including building client meeting agendas.
“We’re just scratching the surface of AI’s capabilities,” said McLaughlin, who has monitored and commented on the development of AI and its potential applications in wealth management for several years.
With all its advances, McLaughlin says that AI is not ready to address the emotional side of investment and client communication. He notes that AI can’t read faces and gestures accurately to date, but at some point it should be able to do so, helping advisors address clients’ emotional needs.
Lead Generation’s Digital Tools And Future
Technology not only helped the wealth management industry survive COVID, it yielded many benefits that will remain for the long term after the pandemic passed. According to Lara Galloway, SVP of Channel Management at White Glove, many of those benefits can be found in lead generation.
Galloway says that before the pandemic, advisors eschewed webinars in favor of in-person seminars and meetings, generating leads through personal, face-to-face connection. However, after COVID began, advisors had to adapt to reaching potential clients through digital means, especially webinars, which permanently altered the landscape.
“Nothing beats an interpersonal connection with a knowledgeable, friendly, trustworthy advisor,” she says, but at the same time points out that an array of available digital tools save advisors time conducting follow-up, which is typically necessary until the prospect reaches a life event significant enough to nudge them to seek financial advice.
Some advisors are reluctant to go back to in-person seminars after learning the power of webinars, Galloway says. Many advisors discovered they can cultivate markets in other states using webinars, then gain licensing in that state once sufficient prospect interest has been demonstrated.
Looking to the future, she warns that advisors who do not learn how to reach the Next Gen with digital means will be left behind, as they don’t attend live seminars like previous generations, but rather go straight to digital means to find and validate financial advice. “Advisors don’t have a good path to reach them now,” she says, but when the shift occurs, “You’ll age out if you’re not digital.”
Hubly Announces Partner Workflows
Process management system provider Hubly announced the launch of Partner Workflows, a system that features workflows created and curated by XY Planning Network, fpPathfinder, Policygenius Pro, MaxMyInterest, Caribou and Trust & Will. According to Hubly, Partner Workflows can help users streamline areas such as estate planning, life insurance, healthcare planning, client service, tax operations and money movement.
Each workflow will carry the branding of the partner that provided it, and partners will have the option to make their workflows exclusive to their networks or clients. Hubly is seeking further partners for this initiative. Later this year, Hubly plans to launch a platform promoting partner workflows to be made available for download or sale.
Julius Buchanan, Managing Editor at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at jbuchanan@wealthsolutionsreport.com
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