Advice evolved: Tackling the real productivity problem in financial advice

At intelliflo, we work with thousands of advice businesses around the world, and the message is consistent across markets – the advice profession is grappling with increasing complexity, rising costs and greater client expectations. However, unlike other sectors that have used technology to reduce friction and unlock growth, financial advice remains heavily manual, often fragmented and increasingly difficult to scale.

This is not just an operational inconvenience. It’s a strategic threat to the sustainability of advice as a profession – particularly here in Australia, where adviser numbers have declined while compliance demands and consumer needs have surged.

Innovation needs to be driven by listening to advisers on the ground. It’s about solving the real, day-to-day challenges advisers face – the ones that quietly erode productivity, drain time and undermine profitability.

The cost of complexity

The financial advice process is inherently complex, and that complexity is often compounded by the way many advice firms are forced to work – jumping between disconnected systems, relying on spreadsheets to track client progress and performing the same tasks again and again, manually.

One of the most consistent frustrations we hear from advisers we’re onboarding is how difficult it is to get a clear view of where things stand. Whether it’s understanding what tasks are overdue, tracking where a client is in their journey, or knowing which team member is responsible for what, the administrative burden is real – and growing.

That burden comes with a cost. It means less time spent in front of clients. It means greater room for human error. And it means talented people in your business are spending too much time chasing updates or duplicating work.

The illusion of scale

Many firms assume that if they want to scale their advice business, they need to hire more people. This isn’t always the case. The real opportunity lies in improving how work flows through the business – and removing the invisible friction that slows everything down.

According to our eAdviser Index, firms that embraced automation and workflow tools weren’t just more efficient – they were more confident in the consistency and compliance of their processes. They were also better able to serve more clients with the same headcount and reported lower stress across their teams.

Removing the “scale blockers” that get in the way of growth needs to be a priority – whether that’s eliminating duplicative processes, removing the need to manually restart workflows when something changes, or making it easier to track what’s happened across a client’s history without re-entering the same data every time.

Precision and visibility over process

Advice is a deeply human business, but delivering it well requires precision. Clients expect timely, proactive communication. Regulators expect documentation, control and transparency. And advisers need to trust that the right task is in the right hands at the right time.

The challenge is that traditional systems weren’t built with that level of real-time visibility in mind. They were often designed to record what happened after the fact – not to actively help advisers manage what needs to happen next.

Shifting that dynamic through features like tailored task views, dynamic checklists, and real-time notifications are all about helping advisers and their teams stay on top of what matters most. Clients.

It’s a mindset shift – from reactive to proactive, from oversight to insight.

Change is constant – your systems should keep up…

There’s another pain point that doesn’t get enough attention: the cost of change itself. Advice firms don’t stand still – they improve processes, respond to new regulation, adjust service models. But many systems make that change unnecessarily hard. A small tweak to your workflows might mean rebuilding entire templates, retraining staff or running the risk of inconsistent execution.

This creates a real barrier to innovation within firms. When the tools you use every day are rigid or slow to adapt, it becomes easier to live with inefficiency than to fix it.

Making it easier to evolve processes over time without breaking what already works can change this. That means being able to adjust workflows without cloning them. It means version control that maintains governance but doesn’t slow you down. And it means recognising that flexibility isn’t a nice-to-have – it’s essential for long-term resilience.

Technology isn’t the strategy – but it should enable it

It’s worth stating clearly: technology doesn’t solve every problem in financial advice. It won’t build your relationships. What it should do is free up your time, reduce your risks and help you deliver a better experience for every client, every time.

That’s the promise of digital transformation in advice – not shiny dashboards, but real business outcomes. The firms that are embracing this mindset are already seeing the benefits. They’re moving faster, spending more time with clients, and attracting the next generation of advisers who want to work in businesses that feel modern, not manual.

Evolved advice needs evolved systems

The future of financial advice in Australia will be shaped by those who can scale care, not just compliance. That means embracing systems that support better outcomes – not just for clients, but for the people delivering the advice.

There’s no shortage of demand for advice. The challenge is building firms that can meet that demand sustainably. It starts with rethinking how we work – and choosing tools that make evolution not only possible, but effortless.

Nick Eatock is CEO of intelliflo.