For a long time digital and physical channels were considered to be enemies, but new trends are showing a symbiosis of the two is the real market opportunity.
FinTech Global recently sat down with Fredrik Davéus, CEO and co-founder of Kidbrooke, to explore how industry shifts are leading towards integrated digital-to-human wealth journeys.
Morgan Stanley’s CEO Ted Pick recently noted that the firms’ efforts to funnel workplace and self-directed channel clients to full-service advisors was working. It claimed that over $100bn has migrated from digital and workplace channels into advisor-led relationships within a single year, highlighting a rising trend of digital channels being designed to feed human advice. Elsewhere, J.P. Morgan has highlighted how combining advisor talent and advanced technology helps reshape wealth management competitiveness.
This, according to Davéus, is part of a growing trend that has been slowly growing over the years. Large firms are starting to see how digital channels can help complement their advisory services and even guide more self-service customers to human advisory support.
For firms looking to build a seamless digital and human journey for customers, there needs to be a balance. Both sides have their advantage, but also their limitations. For instance, while the human advisor is not as seamless, it helps to offer deeper products and insights, while self-service is quicker, but things have to be simplified.
He said, “The trick here is really to have key things available as self-serve and then still kind of put into these experiences enough decision support to make it interesting and truly useful. We see with our clients and their end customers that if you put real useful stuff in there, engagement goes up.”
Additionally, Davéus noted that digital self-service channels help give investors’ confidence and decision support that when they transition to a physical or advisor-led channel they are more mentally prepared. It allows them to ask the basic questions to get an understanding and then get more value when speaking to the advisor.
For more insights into the future of digital and physical channels in the wealth management industry, watch the full interview. It covers:
– Why digital channels are best for preparation and then transitions the investor towards an advisor.
– The risks caused by a lack of consistency and alignment between digital, workplace, and advisor channels.
– How firms can leverage data from digital channels to improve customer experiences in digital and advisor-led services.
– How a well-executed digital-to-human strategy change for a wealth manager’s business model.
– What the future looks like for the digital-to-advisor model.
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