Advice firms should “take their time” when integrating AI into their businesses, First Wealth managing director, Anthony Villis, has argued.
Speaking at the Financial Advice Forum, Villis explained that, at the moment, there is a danger that firms feel as if they are being left behind as the technology is advancing so rapidly.
“However, if you look at the off the shelf products they are generally massively underwhelming,” he said.
Therefore, Villis advised that firms should be more restrained and take a more holistic view of their businesses to implement AI more effectively.
“Look at the entire journey, from the initial conversation, even before that, how do you market? how do you onboard clients? what sort of clients are you looking for? how do you present your advice? how do you do your annual review?” he asked.
“You’re almost trying to build an ecosystem, what do we do at the moment from start to finish? where do we think there’s a user case for AI? And then it is trying to start plugging the gaps.
“Otherwise, I think there’s a danger where we all end up with a load of licences and they’re all doing similar things and nothing really solves the problem.”
Villis therefore advised that firms should practice patience, stating: “Take your time and have a think about exactly what you’re doing.”
Additionally speaking on the panel, Aventur co-founder and director, Stacey Body, advised that firms should strive for clarity in their AI use.
“You really need to understand what the problem you’re trying to solve is,” he explained.
“Everybody is using AI in different ways and really understanding where the use cases are within your business can be hugely beneficial."
Meanwhile, LIFT-Financial Group director of strategy, Colette Noble, encouraged firms looking to utilise AI to do their due diligence before entering any client information.
“We have a standard, fairly comprehensive due diligence pack that we can send to any AI provider and you can tell by how fast they respond to the due diligence.
“Make sure you know what’s happening to the data, where it is being stored, if you’re comfortable with that, before you start using it for client data. “
tom.dunstan@ft.com
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