NextWealth Financial Advice Business Benchmarks Report 2025 - Report - Page 27
NextWealth Financial Advice Business Benchmarks Report / October 2025
Component 5:
Tech & ef昀椀ciency (the mechanics)
/
Con昀椀dence and satisfaction
Tech & ef昀椀ciency sit third from the bottom in adviser
con昀椀dence factors: only 13% are fully con昀椀dent, 45% are
somewhat con昀椀dent, and 9% report low con昀椀dence. Small
wonder that only 29% are satis昀椀ed with their current tech
stack, even if that’s up slightly on last year.
Integration
Advisers tell us their biggest tech frustration is ‘nothing talks
to anything.’
Integration remains the weakest link across adviser tech. AI
ampli昀椀es this: while it relies on clean, connected data, the most
common deployments - meeting summaries and suitabilityreport generators - often operate as standalone tools. Data
then has to be re-entered into back-of昀椀ce systems, introducing
friction and risk. A number of 昀椀rms are imposing structure on
meeting notes to improve extraction, but in many cases current
AI implementations are another layer outside the existing stack.
Our takeaway from recent conversations is that integration
only works if your data model is right. Sometimes the
reason integrations keep falling over isn’t API problems;
it’s inconsistent 昀椀elds and de昀椀nitions. If systems don’t share
the same core 昀椀elds and de昀椀nitions, APIs just move mess
around faster.
Larger 昀椀rms can throw specialists at this; smaller 昀椀rms can
start by standardising a handful of key 昀椀elds.
Upgrades & changes
Seven in 10 昀椀rms (70%) made changes to their stack in the past
year, with 20% focused on data analytics and 26% implementing
AI meeting-notes tools.
AI & automation
Adoption has moved beyond pilots and experiments: over 50% of
昀椀nancial advice professionals now use AI for notes/summaries.
Go deeper: Tech & ef昀椀ciency
Go deeper: AI
Get practical, up-to-date guidance in our Adviser
Tech Stack (Quarterly) report.
NextWealth’s AI Lab community helps advice 昀椀rms explore,
understand, and apply AI in practical ways with:
• What’s changing: 7 in 10 昀椀rms retooled last
• Quarterly live events: Each season, advisers and providers come
together to learn from early adopters, share use cases, and explore
emerging challenges and successes with peers.
year; top moves included data analytics (20%)
and AI meeting-notes tools (26%).
• AI in the work昀氀ow: over half now use AI for
notes/summaries.
• Frustration with fragmented tech stacks
continues: adviser cite operational
inef昀椀ciency, poor client experience and
regulatory and compliance risk as key
consequences.
Open the Adviser Tech Stack: Adviser
Reviews report >
• Practical sharing: Through conversations, 昀椀rms uncover what
works, what doesn’t, and how to make AI meaningful and impactful,
not just shiny.
• AI Index tracking: Beyond the meetups, we keep a pulse on how
the industry is adopting AI over time with our AI Index.
Click here for more details
NextWealth also hosts a directory of AI providers and helps 昀椀rms
decide which tools to use, from fast-tracking research and due
diligence to provider selection.
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