Millennial advisors are more attuned to the importance of technology in driving profits than their elder colleagues, according to a survey commissioned by Nationwide Advisory Solutions.
The survey, whose findings reinforce the commonly held view that older advisors are lagging when it comes to technological know-how, found that 29% of millennial advisors say that adding new technology will be the most important thing they do over the next year to improve profitability.
Only 11% of baby boomer advisors felt that way.
"As the first digital natives, millennials have spent their entire lives with instant online access to almost everything, giving them a distinct advantage when it comes to leveraging new technology to stay a step ahead," Craig Hawley, head of Nationwide's annuity distribution, said in a statement.
But that doesn't mean millenial advisors don't have something they can learn from their baby boomer peers, he added.
While they may not be as technologically savvy as millennials, baby boomer advisors do seem to appreciate the personal side of financial advice. For example, the survey found that more boomer advisors than millennial advisors (44% vs. 20%) work more with a client's family and children and that boomers are more likely to focus on personalized advice for a holistic financial picture (25% vs. 19%).
"Just as boomers can take a page from millennials' playbook, by adopting AI, robo and other technology, millennials can follow the lead of more experienced advisors by not losing sight of the human connection, building strong one-on-one relationships and working with their clients' family and children to build a more profitable practice," Hawley said.
The survey found that 20% of millennial advisors say consolidating existing technology is most important to enhance profitability, compared with only 3% of boomers.
Millennial advisors are also more than twice as likely as boomer advisors to say they plan to integrate mobile websites, mobile apps and artificial intelligence into their practice over the next year, according to the survey. They were almost twice as likely to say the same about incorporating interactive websites and robo-advisors.
While millennial and boomer advisors agreed that adding new clients is the top driver of profitability, millennials were more likely to incorporate technology into their client recruitment efforts, according to the survey. For example, 20% of millennial advisors said they were planning to make enhancements to their websites and client portals, compared with 6% of boomer advisors.