How technology impacts the wealth management industry

Asset management technology

As technology advances, so does our dependence on it. Gone are the days of entering details into a spreadsheet and using basic formulas to calculate the numbers. Now, artificial intelligence is a player in the workforce, especially the wealth management sector.

There are concerns that AI will take over jobs and remove employment for people. Instead, the technology can be used as an important tool due to its machine learning for wealth management. Here are four ways in which technology is transforming wealth management.

Helping customer service

When businesses scale, they often have trouble keeping up with customer demands. With more business comes more customer queries, regardless of what kind of product they're selling. Often, companies hire new staff without giving them adequate training because there’s a need for them to be implemented as soon as possible. AI can assist with this aspect and make hiring new staff a significantly easier process.

While new staff members are still coming to terms with systems and processes of the company, AI chatbots are able to assist by vetting unnecessary queries. A customer may just want to know what the terms and conditions are for a company, which the AI can answer. That way, only high-priority and important queries are sent to the human operators, and customers are first vetted for information as well.

After enough customer interaction training has been captured, AI can improve on staff training by simulating customer interactions. This gives new staff members a feel for their position before they deal with live queries and issues.

Predicting the future

One of the biggest benefits to using technology, or specifically AI, is its ability to process large amounts of information at a time. What would normally take a human financial wealth management advisor weeks or months, an AI system can do in a matter of hours or days. These systems are able to look at the past and current trends in wealth, as well as outside factors, such as news articles, social media, and product reception as well.

Calling it ‘predicting the future’ may be a stretch of the imagination. In reality, a machine is able to create a far more accurate possible outcome than a human can, but it cannot actually assess the data. Humans are still required in order to make sure all of the information is correct and indeed realistic.

Creating unique offerings for wealth management clients

AI technology is able to assist financial wealth managers in creating unique offerings for customers. The systems can use the data gathered, as well as information on the client, to determine which products they should invest in, or where their money can be spread.

This is a benefit to wealth managers as it makes their job easier. Though AI may give a broad overview of offerings for the client, humans are able to refine the information further, creating bespoke product offerings for each client.

Smoother operations

Any operations manager or auditor can assess where something is wrong in the company at a surface level. This is done by looking at specific data, such as the time a call is logged, or how long a task takes to complete. For smaller and medium sized companies, this is invaluable information. When your operation has over 150 employees running daily tasks, it’s may become a bit of a nightmare for humans to handle. This is where AI comes into play.

By integrating into your current customer relations management (CRM) / production software, AI systems are able to monitor every aspect of the workflow for staff members. For example, the system is not only able to see how long a task takes to complete, but which category of tasks take the longest and where hiccups are taking place. It is then able to give that information to the manager in charge who can take the necessary steps to smooth out the situation.

A machine also isn’t able to tell whether a worker is doing their task correctly, or whether the staff member is being utilized to their fullest potential. While this kind of judgement can only come from humans, AI can help a manager figure out those conclusions.

These are just a few ways in which humans and machines can work in tandem. For a more in-depth look at AI and private wealth management, have a look at our article on the subject. It looks at CRMs and chatbots in finance.