Advisers can leverage automation right here, right now

Ahead of the Adviser Innovation Summit 2024, Elixir Consulting founder Sue Viskovic said the term ‘artificial intelligence’ is bandied around loosely, which could overwhelm advisers.

“I think people are getting caught up feeling like they need to use AI as the only way to become efficient. The fear around what AI can and can’t do yet is holding people back,” Viskovic told ifa.

“The reality is advisers can make immediate improvements now to optimise processes and automate tasks within their practice rather than waiting for AI tools to become perfect.”

However, Viskovic warned that to leverage automation and AI in meaningful ways, advisers must treat it like a change management project, and as such, identify areas where employees might require training to adapt to the changes.

“Advisers need employee buy-in when asking them to do things differently,” she said.

“The best approach is to get your team involved in figuring out what this ‘different’ looks like and designing the new processes.”

Advisers often delay automating processes or using AI tools because they fear that it will disrupt their business operations.

To combat this, Viskovic suggested focusing on one or two processes at a time and training their team on how to improve them.

“Focus on how the team is currently doing things, identify where there are double ups or bottlenecks, and how your peers are doing things differently. Then, make a conscious decision to integrate the new process across the practice so everyone agrees to follow it,” she said.

“That’s one process you’ve fixed. After some time, do a debrief and check that everything is working the way you expected it to work. Then, move on to the next process or task.”

Viskovic’s comments preceded her session at the Adviser Innovation Summit on the progress of process automation and the use of AI in advice practices. She will also share practical examples of how advisers could use automation to streamline processes and achieve immediate efficiency gains.

For example, she said, advisers could use the Microsoft Copilot companion tool to streamline their email communications and create marketing content to save time and enhance client satisfaction.

Before activating Copilot, however, advisers must undertake due diligence to understand the existing M365 tenancy settings and security levels, and develop a roadmap to prepare for Copilot.

They must address privacy concerns by mitigating the risk of oversharing personal data. Establishing guidelines on data privacy and implementing security controls would help advisers protect and manage data across their suites.

“Data security has to be paramount,” Viskovic said.

“Before they turn on Copilot, they need to make sure they've got it configured properly so that if there's any separation of access to data within their Microsoft tenancy, that is not overridden by Copilot.”

To hear more from Sue Viskovic about how advice firms could leverage process automation and AI, come along to the Adviser Innovation Summit 2024.

It will be held on Tuesday, 4 June at Telstra Customer Insights Centre Sydney, and Thursday, 6 June at Zinc at Fed Square, Melbourne.

Click here to buy tickets and don’t miss out!

For more information, including agenda and speakers, click here.