Advisors who are scrambling to keep up with the latest in technology are hindered because they are laboring under a number of myths about adopting the digital solutions their firms need, according to Jeff Haines, enterprise architect for the Thrivent Advisor Network.

Adopting the latest technology for your firm is supposed to bring immediate improvements to the workflow and lives of the staff and clients. But there are common mistakes that can prevent that from happening, Haines said in an interview.

Advisors believe the main reason to spend money on technology is to improve the efficiency of the firm’s workflow, but in reality that is only one of the benefits, he said. The adoption of a good tech platform will also spur growth for the firm and help create peace of mind that the staff is operating at its peak to benefit clients. With those three benefits, the expense of technology is warranted, said Haines, who works with Thrivent advisors in adopting the most suitable technology.

“I have worked with advisors who go from meeting with 50% of their clients in a year to meeting with 90% because of what technology enables them to do,” he said. “Many are also worried about things falling through the cracks and not getting done.” Technology helps prevent that from happening, adding to the peace of mind for advisors.

Thrivent Advisor Network was launched in 2019 in part to help advisors work through these issues. The subsidiary of Thrivent now has $6.5 billion in AUM, with 27 advisory teams in 17 states.

Working through Thrivent Advisor Network, Haines advised putting good business practices in place first, before adding automation. “You can’t automate what is not there,” he said. “Automation is not magic; you need to have behaviors in place first,” which includes knowing who is doing particular tasks and when, “then put automation on top of that.”

Many firm owners expect immediate improvements in workflow after they install technology, but the firm has to be ready for an adoption process that takes time, he said.

“I call it going from ‘unconsciously competent’ before high tech, when advisors do tasks without having to think about them, and going to ‘consciously incompetent’ when trying to learn a new system,” Haines said. The adoption of any new system takes an emotional toll on those learning it, and the firm leaders need to be ready for that, he explained. Then employees will learn the new system, which is the "consciously competent" phase and eventually get back to the "unconsciously competent" stage when they do not have to think about how to use the new technology.

Undertaking updating technology can seem like a daunting task, but many firm leaders spend too much time reviewing, line by line, the requests for proposals that are submitted by firms bidding for the contract, Haines said. The bottom line to successful adoption of technology is how it is implemented once a firm or platform is selected, Haines advised.

In the last year to two years, advisors have shifted their attitudes toward protecting information from hackers and have accepted the fact that it is something they have to deal with, Haines said. Advisors used to feel that cybersecurity was something the vendor had to deal with and not them.

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