Top RIAs view talent and technology as biggest challenges

Tired man being overloaded at work

They want more bang for big tech bucks, poll of advisers by Pershing finds.

While 41% of top RIA firm executives consider hiring and developing talent to be their biggest challenge, wringing more value from their large technology budget is viewed as the biggest business challenge by 37% of the executives, according to a poll taken by BNY Mellon’s Pershing at its recent 2019 Elite Advisor Summit.

An overwhelming majority (80%) of the 27 advisory firms that participated in the poll are planning to increase investments in technology in 2019, according to the poll. Almost half (45%) cited creating a better client experience — online or otherwise — as the top goal for technology investments, followed by creating more capacity for advisers (29%).

(More: RIAs needn’t fear the large custodians)

The biggest technology challenge, according to 44% of respondents, is the adoption of technology by advisers, followed by identifying the right technology stack (28%).

In building an optimal client experience, 62% of respondents said they were funneling their technology investments toward integrations (customer relationship management, custodian, account opening, etc.), while 27% said they were focusing on building client portals or websites.