ai-enablement, Trends & Insights
The hidden productivity crisis advisors can’t fix alone
By John Rivers — On 31 March 2026
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ai-enablement, Trends & Insights
By John Rivers — On 31 March 2026
Productivity isn't about advisors working harder. It's about enabling them to handle more complexity, more clients, and higher expectations without compromising quality.
While demand for advice is rising — McKinsey estimates the number of advised relationships could grow by as much as 34% by 2034 — the advisor workforce is actually shrinking. At the same time, client expectations continue evolving as the younger generation expects proactive outreach, personalised insights, and seamless digital experiences every time they engage.
These productivity gaps quickly turn into growth constraints:
The firms pulling ahead aren't asking advisors to do more; they're rethinking how the work gets done.
Most firms haven't ignored the problem. They've just tried to fix it in ways that don't scale. They've added new tools, expanded their support teams, and rolled out more training. But instead of simplifying the advisor experience, they're adding more complexity.
Advisors need clear, consistent experiences to maximise their interactions with clients, yet:
As a result, advisors waste hours searching, assembling, and documenting, rather than building relationships with clients.
Agentic AI-powered revenue enablement changes how work gets done — embedding data, guidance, and automation directly into the advisor's workflow.
Instead of spending hours preparing, documenting, and following up, advisors with AI are supported at every step:
What once took hours now takes minutes.
The impact is immediate and measurable. Ameriprise Financial advisors using Seismic reduced meeting prep time by 70%, freeing up more time for client conversations and growth. Seismic research shows teams using modern enablement tools save an average of 13 hours per week, with 83% of that time redirected toward revenue-generating activities.
This is how advisors get time back to focus on what matters most: clients and growth.
There's understandable hesitation around AI in wealth management. Trust, judgement, and empathy are at the core of what advisors do, and those can't be automated.
That's not the role AI plays. Agents remove the friction from work that doesn't require human judgement, like:
At the same time, it reinforces what top performers already do well — using data to surface patterns, guide coaching, and improve consistency across teams.
The result is a better experience across the board — advisors show up more prepared, conversations feel more relevant, follow-ups happen faster, and clients notice.
Advisor productivity isn't something individuals can fix on their own. It requires a new approach that brings together technology, workflows, and enablement into a system designed for how advisors actually work.
Firms that act now won't just save time, they'll create more capacity to build relationships, deliver value, and drive growth.
To explore the full research, data, and roadmap for turning advisor productivity into a growth engine, download the guide:
