Robo-advisers vs humans in financial ring

STAY RELEVANT: COUNSELLING AND STRATEGY Ultimately, there must be a meeting of advisers and technology, as both will have to adapt to be sustainable.

not easily gain new customers.

“This is the argument for a hybrid approach, where the digital-only experience and face-to-face experience will meet in a service that will address the needs of the customer in depth, but still with the adviser as the central point in the service,” says Cucco.

One area where there’s a lot of room for technology to play a role is in product selection. If a financial adviser wanted to be truly independent and offer clients advice on every product available, they’d need to know thousands of different offerings. Besides being practically impossible, it’s extremely difficult to be impartial.

“There is always room for error and personal bias in selecting products, so the adviser is not always acting in the best interests of the customer,” says the IDC Financial Insight’s Thomas Zink. “They are more likely to recommend something that they know and can hold their ground on in discussions.”

“Technology can both remove these biases and analyse a full array of products, potentially identifying suitable solutions that the adviser may have missed. Particularly in selecting risk products, this can be hugely beneficial.”

The technology is simplifying the work, not taking it away,” says Lorenzo Pagnin of Objectway. “Many advisers work with excel spreadsheets to try to keep track of client information, but now they have automation to do this. This also frees up more time for them to add value.”

The future adviser must offer something the client can’t do for themselves through a digital platform and provide meaningful interactions. “When it comes to counselling and strategy, that’s where human interaction is important,” says Pagnin.

Patrick Cairns attended the Objectway OWIN18 conference in Rome courtesy of Objectway