The technology sector is arguably the most dynamic aspect of the financial planning/investment advisory profession today. Custodial capabilities are evolving in an arms race of new features and increasingly tight integrations. New automated software, sometimes called “robo,” is appearing not only in the online investment space, but also in automated procedures appearing in CRM and financial planning programs. A new generation of all-in-one suites is also emerging.

This constant, rapid evolution presents increasingly stressful challenges and, at the same time, greater opportunities than the profession has ever experienced.

They are two sides of the same coin: every year, advisors wake up to the potential to automate a growing number of rote tasks and provide deeper analysis and better service for their clients. This is balanced by the constant administrative headache of keeping track of all the innovations, and defining how they relate to your firm.

• At what point does it make sense to make a switch?
• When does the newer tech represent enough of an improvement over existing technology to warrant a potentially painful change in procedures, plus the purchase price and training costs?
• How do I increase my utilization of existing (and evolving) software capabilities from a current 15% to something closer to 50%, and is there a migration/training/process path to getting toward 100%?

These were key points of discussion at the 15^th annual T3 Technology Conference held February 6-9, 2018 in Ft. Lauderdale. If you missed the presentation that Bob Veres (www.BobVeres.com) and I delivered, you will want to read this special report thoroughly once or twice – and I encourage you to MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW for the 2019 T3 Advisor Conference to be held January 29 – February 1, 2019 in Dallas. If you are an executive with a broker/dealer or financial services firm that supports independent advisors, we would love to see you at the upcoming 2018 T3 Enterprise Conference being held at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas October 22 – 24, 2018.

The 2018 Advisory Profession Software Survey was created to help industry managers and executives survey the tech landscape from a high level, and zoom in on the opportunities that make the most sense for them. We asked the readers and members of the T3, Inside Information and Advisor Perspectives / Advisor View communities to tell us what tools and solutions they are currently using — to give you a look at market share statistics.

In software categories where there was a high overall market share, we took a deeper dive into the numbers, and correlated the responses with the demographics. This information was provided on the theory that the reader would want to know which programs are most popular with their age cohort, the size of their business, and their business model.

Now in its second year of production, this special report provides an analysis of the market share and user satisfaction rates of SaaS (cloud-based software) and desktop software that is currently available in the financial planning/investment advisor space.

T3 Technology Hub subscribers are encouraged to download and benefit from the 2018 Software Survey.

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