Professional Adviser: Finding signal in the noise: How AI can drive greater personalisation

AI has tremendous potential to accelerate opportunities for financial advice to become more accessible and impactful, writes Sneha Shah

The world of financial advice is changing faster than ever, and one of the most significant industry disruptions has undoubtedly been the mainstream emergence of artificial intelligence (AI). Within just five days of launch, ChatGPT reached 1 million users and climbed to 100 million within two months, making it one of the fastest-growing platforms in history.

AI has tremendous potential to accelerate opportunities for financial advice to become more accessible and impactful.

As generational wealth transfer and changing client expectations create greater customer retention challenges for advisers and wealth managers, harnessing AI to deliver truly personalised experiences can be an important way to meet clients where they are, and engage them in the next part of the journey.

In order to harness technology disruption for their clients' benefit, advisers must embrace curiosity, be willing to challenge long-held conviction and convention, and look for signal in the noise.

Improving efficiency and productivity

If we shift our mindset from the current adviser/client model to the framework of the future, we can see many signs that the future of wealth management will centre around personalised experiences. The next generation of clients are digital natives who expect personalisation in everything from their social media feeds to their apps.

We are exposed to an overwhelming amount of information daily, and there is increasing pressure on productivity and efficiency within our professional and personal lives. Advisers can no longer ignore the demand to digitally transform in order to meet customers' needs for connected experiences that are tailored to their goals. In this context, AI is not a threat, but rather a critical way for advisers to grow their businesses and become even more relevant and helpful for their clients.

AI has the potential to significantly benefit advisers' businesses and enhance the quality of advice and relationships. With its ability to analyse vast and disparate amounts of data in near real-time, AI can transform labour-intensive tasks, such as drafting reports and content, into automatic and personalised communication.

This transformation can empower advisers to focus on the tasks that truly matter: understanding customers' unique needs and life and financial goals, providing holistic and deeply personalised advice, and building stronger relationships over time.

AI will make us more human, not less

Rather than sapping our creativity and humanity, emerging technology like AI can be a co-pilot or effective partner to industry leaders who leverage the fast-developing tools. Of course, there are necessary guardrails, such as ensuring the training data and models we build are truly representative and ethical and being transparent with customers about how and where data and AI are being used in the process.

Ultimately, clients will value the personal relationships, emotional intelligence, and tailored advice of their financial advisers in a world where there is a lot of noise. For example, AI could be used to generate real-time updates based on their latest financial position, habits over time, and current interests and news for clients at any time rather than only during scheduled meetings.

The promise of human intelligence and AI-generated insights working together in the best interest of clients is exciting. It can bring greater access to wealth advice for those who can't currently benefit from it, as well as more tailored knowledge, intelligence-sharing, and positive impact for clients and their advisers over time.

The power of partnership

The pace of change in the world today shows no signs of slowing down, and in order to stay ahead, wealth management firms must embrace emerging technology and human trends.

While the implementation of AI-powered tools may feel like a daunting task, working with a strategic partner can help de-risk and accelerate the journey. Importantly, a strategic partner should invest time in understanding a firm's mission, goals, and culture, as each adviser and organisation's path to success will look different.

The road ahead

Although every industry shift and change comes with inherent risk and impact, the potential for emerging technologies like AI to positively impact our lives has never been greater.

By embracing new mindsets and tools, partnering with others, and leveraging the power of AI to enhance the quality and personalised nature of client experiences, advisers can find signal in the noise-and help their clients and businesses to continue to thrive.