While many RIAs are approaching AI with caution, others are already finding ways to drive operational efficiencies, according to CogniCor founder and CEO Sindhu Joseph.
The Synergize podcast explores the evolving role of the financial advisor in an emerging AI-driven world. Host and TradePMR Chief Client Growth Officer Bill Coppel brings together thought leaders and industry experts across a range of disciplines to share insights designed to help registered investment advisors thrive in the industry of tomorrow. You can listen and subscribe for free on Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube.
On Episode 5 of Synergize, Sindhu Joseph, the founder and CEO of technology company CogniCor, talks about the current state of AI technology available for financial advisors. Joseph shares what she thinks are real applications for this technology and what is still science fiction.
How does she think technology can help RIAs grow today and in the industry of tomorrow? Read an excerpt below, which has been lightly edited for clarity.
Sindhu Joseph, Founder and CEO of CogniCor: AI has been around since almost 1950; it's a very old technology.
It used to be called “expert systems,” and, later, “machine learning” caught on. Anything that a human would do with their own intelligence, if a machine can mimic that experience, that is what we call artificial intelligence.
For RIAs, it is your daily practice management, your activities, setting up meetings with your clients, looking for prospects, getting a beneficiary change for your clients, or even moving money. All of these activities you can actually instruct an AI system to do for you.
RIAs are approaching AI with, of course, a little bit of caution. The primary reaction that I always get is, “Am I going to be replaced?” That is in the back of their minds, but there is also something that has fundamentally changed in their approach [to new technology].
Previously when we would talk to RIAs, they would say, “Advisors are very difficult to adopt a new technology.” But since ChatGPT and Large Language Models have come out, the trend has reversed. Advisors came to know about it and appear to be pushing for [access to the technology.]
To broadly categorize some of the ways they are using AI, operational efficiency is one of the key immediate benefits that I think RIAs are deriving. Things like, if you want to generate content, emails, brochures, anything that is generated content that needs to be communicated to clients – that is one key area where advisors seem to be embracing this technology.
I think second is meeting management. They started with note-taking AI, but what I think is exciting is an entire end-to-end experience, where the AI can sit on top of CRMs and then look into your client base and say, “OK, these are a few clients that you haven't met in a while. You're supposed to meet them every quarter or every year and do you want to meet with them?” If the advisor says “yes,” then the AI tool would go ahead and schedule the meeting, connecting different tools and platforms like your Outlook or Calendly, and then further prepare agendas based on previous meeting notes and previous agendas. Then it could even send [an invite] to clients and then sit in the meetings to take notes, convert notes into tasks, and push them back to the CRM.
That's a great use case where advisors don't need to spend a lot of time on those operational tasks and instead focus on what the clients are talking about, what their big concerns are.
But what I'm most excited about is the personalization potential of using an AI tool. We pride ourselves in the industry to be providing a personalized service, but how can AI help promote that personalization and take it one step further? So, this is where an AI tool can sit again in the CRM and then analyze all of the interactions.
Let's say all of the meeting notes, all of the email communications, all of the phone conversations as well as the background of the portfolio planning – take all of that information about the client and then say, “Okay, this is what this client looks like, a 360 view of the client from a family background perspective, from their interests perspective, from what they have from a money perspective.”
When you're going into a client meeting, it's like a really smart personal assistant has whispered in your ear that, “Okay, this client has these preferences, like they like to play golf,” or things like that. You are walking into that meeting very confidently, and you can deliver a personalized engagement and personalized advice because now you know that these are some of the priorities and preferences of this client. You probably need to adjust your recommendation for this client and for their life scenario. So those are some of the areas where RIAs are really embracing [AI].
You can find the full conversation along with every episode of Synergize here. Be sure to subscribe on Apple Music, Spotify, or YouTube.
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Disclosures:
This content is provided for general informational purposes only. The views expressed by non-affiliated guest speakers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of TradePMR or its affiliates. Cognicor is not an affiliate of TradePMR. TradePMR and its affiliates do not endorse any guest speakers or their companies, and therefore give no assurances as to the quality of their products and services. TradePMR does not provide investment advice, tax advice, or legal advice. Trade-PMR, Inc. is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB). TradePMR provides brokerage and account services to registered investment advisors. Custodial services provided by First Clearing. First Clearing is a trade name used by Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC, Member SIPC, a registered broker-dealer and non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company.
