NEXT CHAPTER

Steve Gresham

Don ’ t look now , but the New School needs the Old School .

DOPTION IS THE NEW INNOVATION ” IS A PITHY REFERence I made by accident on an industry event stage a couple of years ago . The fast follow to that reference was “ this is what we ’ ve learned the hard way .”

I was calling attention to the realities of enterprise software I ’ ve witnessed firsthand at companies big and small over many years . Too often a great new product is purchased for its productivity promises but disappoints upon delivery because it isn ’ t used . Fingers are pointed , frustration builds . Here I ’ m looking at all firms and all associates and digging deeper into the much needed issue of technology “ adoption .”

There are myriad explanations for the phenomenon I call “ adopter ’ s palsy .” The most common one is that the buyers and users of tech are different people — think of the corporate IT department dropping a new app on a firm ’ s financial advisors at the behest of headquarter management . The understanding of how the product will be used frequently eludes the IT people , who buy the software but are not responsible for its use . The HQ management is sold on the potential but does not have an adoption plan . The advisors weren ’ t asking for another system to learn in the first place , so the new intro gets ignored to death .

Another frequent foil to software adoption is that the company has budgeted for the software but not for the cost of training people to use it adequately . Confident that “ our team can do it ,” optimistic but otherwise unengaged managers claim credit for saving the company cash , only

Schwab ’ s Tom Bradley said he sees better technology adoption rates at smaller firms than most big firms . to learn over time they have actually increased costs , including those for human time . Any company selling solutions must be smart about the “ full ” cost of their capability . Most are not , and they end up with unhappy customers .

Of course , there is another trend that is also a significant cause of adopter ’ s palsy . The average age of financial advisors has been rising fast , alongside that of the clients , and many advisors are racing their clients to the retirement goal line . And why not ? Aging advisors may be slowing down by farming out smaller clients or taking on junior partners . Not too many have the energy to take on a tech tool learning curve .

Every business has a critical need to integrate new digital tools . Besides hiring and retaining top people , I can ’ t think of anything more important and impactful for a firm today than software integration . Tech frees people to do things only people can do . It ’ s the biggest blind spot of management in this era that they often fail to understand that value relationship .

In May , Tom Bradley , the managing director of Schwab Advisor Services , spoke at the Next Chapter Rockin ’ Retirement conference ( sponsored by Financial Advisor magazine , the Execution Project and the Money Management Institute ). Bradley said he sees better technology adoption rates at smaller firms than most big firms . That

JULY / AUGUST 2022 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | 27