Most discussions about the wealth management talent shortage focus on finding enough advisors to meet growing client demand.
According to McKinsey, the industry will need to attract between 30,000 and 80,000 net new advisors over the next decade, compared with just 8,000 added over the previous ten years. Beyond a hiring challenge, this imbalance represents a growing capacity constraint for firms trying to scale client service and expand their businesses.
The same McKinsey research estimates that nearly 40% of today’s advisors are expected to retire during that period, increasing the urgency of succession planning and the risk of client attrition. Our whitepaper, The Talent Imperative | Solving Wealth Management’s Talent Retention and Succession Crisis, explores how leading firms are approaching transition planning to preserve continuity.
Yet even aggressive recruitment and succession planning won’t be enough to close the gap. McKinsey also concludes that improvements in operating models, technology, and team structures could increase advisor capacity by 10% to 20%, enabling firms to serve more clients without proportional increases in headcount.
Technology as a Workforce Strategy
Technology can help firms address the talent challenge in several ways:
- Increase workforce capacity. When advisors spend significant time on administrative tasks, manual processes, or disconnected workflows, their capacity to serve clients, mentor emerging talent, and focus on strategic work becomes limited. Streamlined technology reduces friction and improves efficiency.
- Preserve institutional knowledge. As experienced advisors retire, firms risk losing valuable client history, planning insights, and relationship context. Technology that centralizes client information, documents, workflows, and interactions helps preserve that knowledge and make it accessible to the next generation of advisors.
- Enable scalable collaboration across teams. As client needs become more complex, wealth management increasingly depends on team-based delivery models. Technology that connects advisors, planners, operations, and specialists through shared workflows, client views, and communication tools helps firms operate more effectively.
- Improve employee experience and engagement. Younger advisors have grown up in a digital-first world and expect modern tools that simplify workflows, improve usability, and provide easy access to information. Firms that lack integrated, intuitive systems may struggle to attract and retain talent.
Integrated wealth management software can help firms translate these workforce and succession strategies into day-to-day execution. Platforms such as SS&C Black Diamond® Wealth Solutions enable firms to:
- Centralize client and portfolio information: Advisors spend less time searching across systems and more time serving clients.
- Automate manual workflows, reporting processes, and AI-assisted operational tasks: Teams increase efficiency and reduce operational strain.
- Support collaboration across teams: Provide a shared view of client relationships, tasks, documents, and activities.
- Streamline onboarding and training: Giving newer employees easier access to institutional knowledge, information, and the tools they need.
- Create a more modern employee experience: Leverage intuitive digital tools and insights.
Future-ready firms recognize technology as a strategic investment in talent development, succession planning, and growth.
In an industry facing mounting workforce pressures, firms must align people, processes, and tech to expand capacity today and build leadership for the future. Those investments create a more scalable, sustainable business while improving outcomes for both employees and clients.
For a look at how leading RIAs are using technology to improve succession planning, keep next-gen talent, and ensure seamless client continuity, watch our RIABiz webinar, Passing the Torch: Technology’s Role in RIA Succession & Talent Strategy.
Then, to learn how SS&C Black Diamond Wealth Solutions is helping wealth management firms and trust companies navigate growth and complexity, request your personal demo, call 1-800-727-0605, or email info@sscblackdiamond.com today.
