The wealth management industry has a reputation for being a slow adopter of technology. One sign of that is that few advisors in a WealthManagement.com survey reported a high level of satisfaction with their firms’ current use of technology.
In all, only one in four respondents (27%) said they are very or completely satisfied with their firms’ overall use of technology. An additional 60% are somewhat satisfied.
Relatedly, three in four respondents (74%) report their firms will place an “important” or “high” priority on making investments in tech operations, including tech-focused human capital, compared to investments in other areas of the business in 2026. In addition, 67% of respondents said they expect an increase in their firms’ operational budget for technology in 2026. The typical respondent expects a 3.3% increase.
Top priorities for that investment will come in customer relationship management (34%), financial planning (32%) and portfolio management and reporting (29%).
When it comes to artificial intelligence, the average respondent expects an estimated mean of 5.2% of their firms’ operational technology budget to be dedicated to AI-enabled initiatives and tools. Half of respondents (50%) expect AI to streamline administration functions and workflows. In addition, 42% said it will help summarize research materials and other reports, and similar percentages said it would analyze CRM and client data (39%) and automate client and prospecting communications (38%).
Regarding who makes the calls on tech decisions, about one-third (38%) of respondents stated that firm principals make tech decisions, with dedicated non-C-suite employees overseeing implementation and support. Meanwhile, one in four (24%) rely primarily on outside vendors/consultants for tech implementation.
Click through the following slideshow to dig deeper in the survey findings.
Methodology: Beginning on Nov. 21, 2025, WealthManagement.com emailed invitations to participate in an online survey to active users. By Dec. 12, 2025, WealthManagement.com received 241 responses.
