More than three quarters of U.S. and Canadian advisors in a recent survey reported losing business due to inadequate technology as the coronavirus pandemic took hold.
In a survey of 254 advisors in June sponsored by Broadridge Financial Solutions, 77% said that they lost business as a result of not having appropriate technology tools to interact with clients. Advisors reporting losing business on average lost 21.7% of their book.
An even greater portion of the surveyed advisors reported adjusting to a reality where face-to-face communication with clients isn't possible, with 87% reporting sustained changes in communication methods. Advisors were also staying in touch, with 67% of the respondents communicating with clients on at least a weekly basis.
Broadridge found a generational divide between advisors. While 51% of younger advisors in the millennial generation reported communicating with clients on a daily basis, 62% of the elder baby boomer advisors reported communicating with clients monthly or less frequently.
Eighty-nine percent of the respondents said their desktop software and firm-provided technology had become more essential during stay-at-home mandates; and 74% wished their firm had access to better technology tools.
More than half of the surveyed advisors, 51%, said that they often think of leaving their current firm for one with better technology tools, with younger advisors more likely to think about leaving firms than older ones.
"Financial advisors are reliant on their firms for technology that allows them to best serve their clients wherever they may physically be and whatever market conditions are like that day," said Michael Alexander, president of wealth management at Broadridge Financial Solutions. "In the fallout from the pandemic, wealth firms are going to face increased pressures to invest in modernizing their advisor technology or risk losing their advisors to firms that already have next-generation wealth platforms."