Darren Tedesco, President of Advisor360°, joined Julie Cooling, Founder and CEO of RIA Channel, to discuss how AI can enhance the efficiency of financial advisory firms.
Advisor360° is a wealth management platform that serves over 25,000 home offices, advisors, and their clients. The firm started in the technology department of Commonwealth Financial Network and spun out in 2019. Advisor360° is a software company that doesn’t provide asset management or custody services. The firm employs over 500 engineers working to provide the best technology platform.
Tedesco states that artificial intelligence means different things to different people. Each user sees AI in a different role, such as analytics or note-taking. The main goal of AI should be to enhance business efficiency. Efficiency is important because the community of 300,000 financial advisors needs to serve 330 million American residents. While approximately 10% of American investors are served by financial advisors today, AI has the potential to allow more investors to access the benefits offered by advisors. Tedesco notes that “AI won’t replace financial advisors, but it will replace financial advisors who don’t use AI.” Advisors who don’t embrace AI will find it difficult to grow and compete within five years. Advisor360° uses large language models, agentic AI, and recently acquired Parrot AI, a note-taking application that interfaces with CRM systems.
It is important for technology platforms to facilitate compliance with financial market regulations. Advisor360° keeps all of the required books and records and works with compliance officers to configure the system to meet their needs.
Resources: