Financial advice is undergoing its biggest transformation in decades. AI, better-quality data and rising client expectations are reshaping how firms operate and how clients expect to be served. While technology once felt like an add-on to the main advice journey, it’s now become the backbone of how leading firms run their businesses.
Our 2025 eAdviser Index underlines this change. It found that our Explorer cohort, who only make use of the basic functionality within intelliflo office, is now too small to provide a meaningful comparison. At the other end of the scale, the number of Champions, our most tech-savvy firms, grew by 34% year-on-year.
This increased use of technology has helped drive operational efficiency and improve client experiences and outcomes. Per adviser, Champions generate 105% more revenue, achieve 119% more ongoing revenue, and manage 86% more assets under advice (AUA) than Adopters, who make strong use of the core technology but are not currently leveraging all available functionality.
With data quality improving, AI rapidly evolving, and consumer expectations rising, the advice landscape is transforming at a pace we haven’t seen before. As we begin 2026, how can firms harness these advances to deliver better outcomes, operate more efficiently and widen access to advice?
The AI opportunity
Just a couple of years ago, when advisers discussed AI, it felt speculative – something to play with, but not an essential tool. Now, many firms are no longer experimenting; they are deliberately investing in AI.
We’re seeing meeting transcription, note-taking, and evidence-capture as the most common entry points, with many advisers now recording client meetings and letting AI transcribe and summarise. The speed of change makes it hard to predict where we’ll be even a year from now, but the direction of travel is clear. Usage will continue to accelerate, with advisers leaning on reliable, compliant AI tools embedded deeper into advice processes.
Handing over some of the admin burden to technology means advisers can spend more time with existing clients. Some firms are already reporting tangible benefits with advisers saying that using meeting-recording apps allows them to concentrate on building rapport, listening and engaging with clients rather than scribbling notes.
It allows firms to take on more clients and grow without increasing headcount. It offers advisers a chance to change their work-life balance, relieved of some of the pressure of regulatory demands, without compromising on quality, suitability and client outcomes.
Currently, though, adoption isn’t universal. While AI usage is certainly growing, it largely remains focused on back-office tasks and some advisers view it as a threat as much as an opportunity. However, I’m in no doubt that we’ll see use become more widespread and move into other areas of the advice journey as use cases are proven. As with any emerging technology, there will always be early adopters, cautious followers and those who come on board only once the tools are evidenced and embedded across the profession. That curve is starting to take shape now, and as vendors mature and tools become more integrated, firms will become more confident to follow the paths established by early adopters.
Data as the foundation
Of course, AI is nothing without data. The real power of today's tools lies in what firms can do with good, clean, comprehensive data.
Data is the foundation on which scalable, personalised advice must be built.
Technology can support and scale advice, but it cannot replace the human judgement, trust and empathy at the heart of financial planning. Instead, it elevates the human aspect. By reducing admin, automating mundane or repetitive tasks, advisers and paraplanners can spend more time building relationships and understanding clients’ goals, dreams and fears. Rather than reduce the quality of advice, it can improve it.
The risks
Of course, this transformation is not without risk. The same technologies that enable scalability also introduce new vulnerabilities. Businesses in all sectors are becoming more concerned about data governance, supplier stability and cybersecurity.
Looking ahead
It won’t happen overnight, but over the next year and beyond, as AI matures, data infrastructure improves and the regulatory and consumer savings environment evolves, high-quality advice delivered by human advisers supported by technology will become a reality for many more people in the UK.
