As we sprint through the final months of 2025, the industry will shift its focus to Schwab IMPACT, the longest-running conference among independent RIAs. This event brings together thousands of RIAs and wealth management professionals, including those developing technology that serves the industry across the front, middle and back offices.
Louis Retief, Co-Founder and Product Owner at Hubly, now part of Docupace,
will be in attendance. Based in Vancouver, Hubly was acquired in March. In his first interview with WSR, Retief says the acquisition was a matter of strategic alignment, rather than consolidation, that reduces operational friction for wealth management’s back-office professionals.
In one analysis, Docupace said firms using Hubly have outperformed non-users in terms of asset growth. Among firms with two to five employees, Hubly users posted an average five-year asset growth rate of 33.79%, compared to 14.26% for their RIA peers. Larger firms using Hubly also showed stronger results.
Hubly’s goal, Retief says, is to help firms focus more on client service by streamlining backend operations — and enhance advisor workflows with empathy and clarity.
WSR: Schwab IMPACT 2025 is this week. What are you hoping to achieve at the largest conference for independent RIAs in the United States?
Retief: For me, Schwab IMPACT is about listening — really understanding what’s changing inside firms and where friction still slows down advisors and their teams. Most innovation in our space has traditionally centered on the front office, but the back office is where the real work happens. That’s where operational excellence either thrives or breaks down.
At Docupace and Hubly, we build technology that empowers back-office professionals — not replaces them. Our focus this year is on engaging in deeper conversations about sustainable AI adoption and what it means to build systems that actually work for the professionals in the back office, using them every day.
Our focus this year is on engaging in deeper conversations about sustainable AI adoption.
WSR: Docupace acquired Hubly in March. Has this new partnership enhanced or changed your mission in any way?
Retief: What’s special about the Docupace-Hubly partnership is that we share the same DNA — people first, then process, then technology. At Hubly, our mission has always been to bring empathy and clarity to advisor workflows. Joining forces with Docupace wasn’t about consolidation; it was about amplification.
Together, we’re creating an ecosystem that removes operational drag so wealth management firms can focus more energy on their clients and less on the chaos behind the scenes.
WSR: You’ve said we’re in the middle of a “stack reckoning,” and that tech adoption has plateaued. What does that mean for a firm that is selling technology solutions?
Retief: It means the easy growth phase of “more tech is always better” is over. Firms are asking harder questions — about cost, complexity and whether all these tools actually make their people’s lives better. They’re consolidating, simplifying and expecting more from their technology vendors.
And that’s a good thing. Complexity is exhausting for non-technical professionals, and they deserve tools that feel intuitive. Docupace and Hubly have earned their place in firms because our technology makes sense. We build to remove friction, not add it. At this stage, success isn’t about selling software — it’s about building trust and creating a better work environment for the back-office professionals who keep these firms running.
WSR: How does building sustainable systems apply to human-centered technology in the age of AI?
Retief: Sustainability in technology starts with empathy. AI can be transformative, but only if it amplifies human work instead of trying to replace it. In wealth management, every firm has its own culture, clients and compliance realities — so “one-size-fits-all” AI doesn’t work.
AI can be transformative, but only if it amplifies human work instead of trying to replace it.
Human-centered AI means co-creating with users — through advisory councils, feedback loops and real-world testing — to build systems that evolve alongside their needs. It’s about building technology that serves people serving people. Ten years ago, robo-advisors were going to replace the humans providing financial advice; now it’s AI. This is a story as old as time — AI is going to superpower advisors and their teams to serve more people and ultimately increase access to these very human-centered services focused deeply on families achieving the freedom they so deeply desire.
James Miller, Contributing Editor and Research Analyst at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at ContributingEd@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
