3 Ways Advisors Are Using AI Right Now
- Emily Bennett
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
(No Tech Background Required)
If you've held off on using AI because it feels like something built for the technically inclined, you're not alone, and you're also working with outdated information. The advisors getting value out of AI right now aren't coding anything or building custom models. They're using off-the-shelf tools that plug into the existing workflows.
Here are three ways advisors are actually putting AI to work today, none of which require a technical background to start using.
1. Meeting Assistants That Handle the Follow-Up
The most immediate use of AI in advisory practices is also the simplest to adopt: tools that sit in on client meetings, take notes, and turn those notes into action.
Zocks is one of the more widely adopted options, built specifically for wealth management conversations rather than as a generic transcription tool, so it understands financial terminology and compliance requirements out of the box. Jump AI serves a similar purpose, automating meeting administration and pulling client work into a single workspace. Focal AI is a Canadian AI meeting assistant that focuses on end-to-end meeting workflow, from meeting preparation to documentation without re-keying information. Continuum is another example of a robust meeting automation tool.
2. CRMs That Act on Information Instead of Just Storing It
The second shift is happening inside the CRM itself. Rather than being a database advisors have to manually update, AI-powered CRMs are starting to monitor client data and take action on their own.
Wealthbox and Salesforce have rolled out AI Agents autonomous processes that monitor CRM data and act automatically when certain conditions are met, and pair them with Playbooks for multi-step automated workflows and a conversational AI assistant for the CRM itself.
One firm credited automated workflows inside Wealthbox as one of the biggest drivers of client satisfaction, since it lets them standardize the client experience and track where each client sits in their
lifecycle without relying on manual follow-up.
This is the kind of AI use that doesn't require advisors to think about AI at all day to day. It just quietly reduces the number of things that used to fall through the cracks.
3. Faster, Smarter Meeting Prep and Onboarding
The third area is meeting and onboarding prep, historically one of the most time-consuming parts of an advisor's week.
One firm's onboarding process now runs prospects through PreciseFP and RightCapital for data intake, then processes that information using Holistiplan for analysis.
What used to take four to six hours of prep now takes about an hour on average, with most of the client's information already loaded by the time they officially become a client.
Similarly, a paraplanner task that once took four hours to complete is now finished in minutes, with planners spending under 15 minutes outside most meetings on notes.
Some other tools: ElektraFi – AI Powered financial planning tool
Portfolio Pilot – portfolio analysis and scenario modeling (based in Vancouver)
The Common Thread
The advisors seeing the biggest results aren't necessarily the most technical people in the room. They're the ones building a connected stack where AI handles repetitive work across meeting prep, analysis, and onboarding, and firms doing this are saving an estimated 10 to 19 hours per week, worth roughly $5,700 in billable time.
That's the same pattern we talked about in this month's Insight: the gap is more about who starts using AI in one practical place and builds from there, more than it is about technical skill.
P.S - If you want to go deeper on what this looks like for your specific stage of business, that's exactly what Emily Bennett will be covering in our upcoming webinar.
*Disclaimer: Check with your compliance and firm policies to see what tools are permitted for use.
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