Registered investment advisors are one step closer to being able to automate everything.
An AI-driven business-support system, named benjamin, launched this week using a common data model to help integrate all of an RIA and custodian’s tech stack, enabling over 100 separate advisor workflows and tasks to be automated.
“We’re focused on integrating the technologies that financial advisors utilize to allow them to use them in a more efficient way,” said Matt Reiner, co-founder and CEO of benjamin. “Too often, advisors have disparate technology stacks. Benjamin not only helps to integrate with these disparate tech stacks, it is also an AI-driven automation assistant that takes care of the menial tasks that until now have fallen on the advisor’s team day in, and day out.”
At launch, benjamin will already be able to support the client experience from “end-to-end,” enabling streamlined client prospecting, simplified onboarding, meeting scheduling and preparation, and ongoing client engagement and relationships, including automated communications via text and e-mail directly with clients to drive more continuous engagement.
Benjamin also unifies the RIA tech stack, including CRM and portfolio management systems. The platform integrates with software from major custodians, the most commonly used CRM systems and portfolio management and reporting platforms.
“We’re not just showing advisors and clients the data and bringing it into one hub, but we’re acting on that data in an effective, elegant and efficient way to allow for the elimination of tasks,” said Reiner.
The system is designed to be ready right out of the box, configured with RIA-specific business rules to help advisors remain compliant.
Benjamin was originally built to address back-office issues. Reiner, a certified financial planner who currently also serves as a managing partner at Atlanta-based Capital Investment Advisors, wanted to efficiently support back-office workflows. As technology evolved and artificial intelligence was implemented, the platform became truly end-to-end, potentially enabling advisors to become “bionic” human-technology hybrids that can serve clients traditionally, or completely digitally.
“With the AI, it goes from being a reactive ‘pull’ situation, where we’re pulling data from a CRM, to more of a proactive ‘push’ situation,” said Reiner. “Things are pushed to you when it’s relevant and when you need to take a big action.”
Ideally, only one or two users in any firm will ever need to log directly onto the benjamin platform, said Reiner, as the system is intended to work “behind the scenes” to support advisors.
As the system continues to be built out, benjamin will become even more proactive, said Reiner, offering advisors more business ideas and thought leadership that can be implemented based on how their firm is faring.