In today’s advisory landscape, technology is no longer optional. It is central to how advisors communicate, operate, and grow. During a recent advisor roundtable, financial professionals shared the tools, habits, and workflows that are helping themuse technology to drive efficiency in their practices without sacrificing the personal connection their clients value.
This article highlights the most practical, repeatable strategies advisors are using to leverage technology to drive efficiency and scale today. There is no theory or vendor pitch. It is simply real-world practices you can adapt to your firm.
1. Clients Expect Seamless Communication: Texting Is Becoming Essential
Advisors overwhelmingly agreed that client communication preferences have shifted. Clients now expect fast, friction-free communication. Phone calls feel too formal, and emails can sit unread for hours. That’s why advisors are leaning heavily into compliant texting — not as a casual shortcut, but as the fastest way to respect clients’ time.
Advisors described using texting for:
- Quick confirmations and appointment reminders
- Document requests that used to take several back-and-forth emails
- Short video recaps sent after meetings
Many firms are pairing texting with short video summaries to boost engagement. One advisor described sending a 30- to 60-second BombBomb after meetings, then delivering it via a compliant texting platform. The result: near-100 percent open rates on messages, compared with typical email open rates around the high 70s. Teams are also using group texting for events, scheduled reminders, and quick confirmations; this reduces the back-and-forth that used to clog phone lines and inboxes. The shift is not about being casual, it is about respecting clients’ time and meeting them where they are.
The takeaway: Texting isn’t replacing personal communication. It’s replacing unnecessary communication so advisors can spend more time on conversations that matter.
2. Smart Forms and Pre-Filled Paperwork Save Hours Every Week
One of the biggest efficiency wins discussed was the rise of digital forms that automatically prefill client data from custodian systems or CRMs. Advisors emphasized how much administrative burden this removes from their day-to-day operations.
Key benefits include:
- Significant time savings on routine tasks such as beneficiary updates or address changes.
- Higher accuracy and fewer corrections, because data is pulled directly from existing records.
- Map CRM fields directly to custodian forms
Advisors are piloting solutions like FormsLogic and other form-mapping platforms to pre-fill paperwork and automate signature workflows. These tools reduce data entry errors, minimize back-and-forth corrections, and significantly shorten onboarding timelines. Clients benefit too — they no longer need to fill out long, repetitive forms, and advisors experience fewer NIGO events and smoother processing.
The takeaway: Smart forms eliminate repetitive data entry, reduce errors, and streamline onboarding by pulling information directly from the CRM and automating form delivery and routing.
3. Reviews and Meetings Are Becoming More Strategic, Not More Frequent
Advisors noted that clients do not necessarily want more meetings. They want better information delivered in more efficient ways. Advisors are restructuring their service models to emphasize meaningful annual or semiannual reviews, supported by lighter digital touchpoints throughout the year.
Advisors highlighted:
- Reducing unnecessary meeting frequency without compromising service quality.
- Using short emails or text updates to communicate timely information between review cycles.
Ed Bosch explained how Meetings Hub reshaped his review process:
“When we get done, the client will actually get a digital summary. It’s like a digital magazine of all the reports, whether that’s an Aldridge report or a portfolio crash test, whatever it might be that we’re using, along with some notes that we approve. All of that flows through very quickly and easily, and it’s all connected through that same CRM.”
What used to be a single review conversation now becomes:
- A short, personalized video recap
- A magazine-style packet of reports and meeting notes
- Automated follow-up tasks that ensure next steps happen quickly
The takeaway: One well-structured meeting can produce multiple, high-quality client touchpoints — a clear video recap, a downloadable report packet, and automated follow-up — reducing the need for extra calls and ensuring clients leave with accessible, meaningful takeaways.
4. CRMs Are Becoming the Operational Hub When Advisors Commit to Using Them
Advisors acknowledged that a CRM only becomes powerful when it is actively used and integrated into daily workflows. Instead of relying on memory or disconnected notes, they are leveraging CRM automation to make operations predictable and repeatable.
Common use cases include:
- Automated workflows for onboarding, money movement, or annual reviews.
- Task reminders and follow-ups that ensure nothing falls through the cracks.
Jonathan Hunt emphasized how deeply integrated his CRM has become through AI-assisted documentation:
“Jump isn’t just an AI note-taker… it will capture the notes, and it’ll flow through Redtail. After the meetings, it assigns tasks in Redtail for different team members—we just say who gets the task and the due date.” That flow — meeting recording, auto-transcription, CRM sync, automated task creation — shrinks the time between client conversations and execution.
The takeaway: Advisors are using CRM automations to create guardrails that make processes consistent. A withdrawal request might trigger a scripted sequence — a safety confirmation text, a trader checklist, a post-trade settlement call — ensuring every step happens the same way, every time. When the CRM functions as a living operating system, it eliminates “tribal knowledge” and makes true scale possible.
5. Technology Lets Smaller Teams Operate Like Larger Firms
A major advantage of modern advisor tech is scalability. Many advisors shared that, with the right systems, they can serve more households and run more sophisticated operations without growing their staff.
Examples included:
- AI-driven meeting notes that save hours of documentation each week
- Automated scheduling and reminders that eliminate manual outreach
- Outsourced asset management and model tools that reduce portfolio workload
Aaron Klemm described the tangible capacity gains he’s seen from AI for notes and email: “I think I save 5 to 10 hours a week… summarizing all of those conversations used to be so cumbersome. During annual audits they want to see all that information—this just knocks it out of the ballpark for me.”
Pairing that time savings with tools that draft email responses in the advisor’s voice further frees senior staff to focus on planning and business development. Advisors also mentioned portfolio-management connectors, model-management tools, and outsourced asset management as ways to add investment sophistication without overflowing headcount. In short, technology does not replace team members, it lets them do higher-value work.
The takeaway: Technology doesn’t reduce the need for people — it frees them to spend time on the work only humans can do.
6. The Most Effective Technology Is the Technology That Gets Used
While new platforms emerge constantly, advisors cautioned against adopting tech simply for the sake of it. The real value comes from deep adoption and thoughtful integration of a lean, functional tech stack.
Their advice:
- Keep the tech stack simple, because more tools often create more confusion.
- Choose platforms that integrate, and support the way your team actually works.
- Test new solutions with a small group before rolling out
Practical examples from the roundtable included choosing a CRM that integrates with the advisor’s chosen meeting note tool, email automation, and planning software; standardizing on one scheduling tool; and assigning a team member to shepherd API connections and syncs. Advisors also recommended running beta pilots with a small group before widescale rollout. Many found the biggest gains came from mastering the tools they already had, rather than chasing the next shiny product.
The takeaway: Consistency beats complexity every time.
7. Scaling Comes from Consistency, Not Complexity
Across the conversation, a recurring theme emerged. Operational maturity is not about sweeping changes. It is built through small, consistent improvements that compound over time.
Examples advisors shared included:
- Automating recurring reminders so nothing needs to be manually chased down.
- Creating simple workflows that eliminate repeated explanations or steps.
- Alerts when tasks are overdue
Ed Bosch’s team has documented processes down to 15-minute response SLAs for referrals, automated task handoffs in the CRM, and alerting when tasks slip. They also use quarterly reviews to test whether a process still makes sense; when it does, they standardize it, and when it no longer works, they remove it. Small touches, such as sending a timely book after a client’s surgery or scheduling follow-up calls three days after a request, add up to loyal relationships. These incremental efficiencies free advisors to spend more time on planning, prospecting, and client relationships. Those are the tasks that directly drive growth.
The takeaway: Efficiency is built through small habits repeated consistently, not big, complicated systems.
Conclusion: Technology Supports Growth, Human Connection Drives It
The roundtable reinforced that advisors are not using technology to depersonalize their practices. They are using it to remove administrative friction, reduce errors, and create more capacity for meaningful client conversations.
When technology, workflows, and communication preferences align, advisors can deliver a smoother client experience, scale sustainably, and operate with confidence in a fast-changing industry.
