On the first day of the Jolt! Conference hosted by martech firm Snappy Kraken from June 9 to 11 at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel, the “AI Pre-Conference Workshop” brought both live AI tool demonstrations and a panel discussion to the attendees. On the following day, the firm announced its Smart Growth Suite providing a unified system for marketing and lead conversion.
AI Demonstrations And ‘State Of AI’
Steve Zuschin, GTM leader and wealthtech strategist, emceed the workshop, which featured a presentation, four product demonstrations and three panelists.
Patrick Hannon, VP of SaaS Commercialization at Fidelity Labs, first addressed the state of AI. Hannon’s presentation developed three main points: First, “data is the new oil,” and AI models are the cars. Extending the analogy, he spoke of refining data to yield different types of products for different uses.
Second, Hannon applied the concept of “tough love” to the AI situation for firms today. Many firms are overwhelmed with “too much tech,” but they must become AI innovators to navigate the new environment. Finally, “AI solutions are coming too fast,” but firms must step back and define what problems they’re trying to solve before incorporating AI-based technology.
Jacob Lazarus, Head of Product at Snappy Kraken, demonstrated an AI-based tool for lead segmentation, stating that 14 million lead notifications are sent to advisors every year, and 78% of prospects will hire the first advisor who reaches out. Lazarus added that the average delay between receiving a lead and outreach to that lead is over 47 hours. He demonstrated his firm’s AI-based tool, designed to reduce the time to outreach through grouping leads with filters and assigning them to campaigns.
Parker Ence, CEO and Cofounder of Jump, demonstrated his firm’s meeting assistant, aimed at the “meeting cycle,” from preparation to notes, then to follow-up. His demonstration showed how those steps can be enhanced and time saved through AI. He also noted that there must be a “human in the loop” to review the information. In addition, he demonstrated an AI tool that can produce thought leadership content for social media.
Kanishk Parashar, CEO and Co-Founder of Powder, followed Ence onstage, demonstrating his firm’s AI tools for “automating menial and important tasks,” of reading documents for purposes of proposal generation, reconciliation and advice on held-away assets. Parashar said his system works well with unstructured data, improving on prior technology that was “brittle,” meaning it was less able to work with variations in structure.
Ben Olsen, Founder and CEO of Beemo Automation, presented after Parashar, noting that his firm specializes in AI strategy and bespoke solutions, primarily for data warehousing, AI agents and custom automation.
AI Panel Discussion
Following the product demonstrations, Liz Fritz, Co-Founder at F2 Strategy, led a panel discussion with Abby Salameh, Chief Growth Officer at RFG Advisory, and Jamie Kaestner, Financial Advisor at Ironhorse Investments & Estate Planning.
Fritz, whose firm recently published the results of a survey on AI adoption, said that the market is “currently going for the low-hanging fruit in AI,” including time saving and note taking. She said that data privacy, compliance concerns, internal roadblocks and lack of funding and support are the primary reasons people are not adopting AI.
Responding to the question about what advice she would give to a beginner in AI, Kaestner said the beginner should first ask where they need more help, and consider AI as an extension of themselves. She suggested starting with simple tasks such as client profiles. She cautioned that as an advisor becomes familiar with AI, “don’t forget the human component. The reason they’re working with you is because they don’t want a robo advisor.”
Salameh said that her firm created chatbots for advisors developed with their personas to help them create content and engage in digital marketing. She also pointed to creative activities, such as video, that can benefit from many AI tools. She predicted that the industry will be at “warp speed with AI” five years from now. She forsees a hybridization for a time, moving towards humans in supervisory roles and giving signoffs for AI activities.
Salameh said, “The time is now to protect yourself against irrelevance.”
Fritz introduced the concept of AEO, or “answer engine optimization,” a new parallel to the more traditional SEO, or “search engine optimization” currently utilized across the internet.
Snappy Kraken Announces Smart Growth Suite
Ormond Beach, Florida-based Snappy Kraken also announced the launch of a unified system for automated, targeted marketing and lead conversion for firms and advisors – Smart Growth Suite. The system includes Dynamic Groups, a tool to help advisors automate segmentation and conduct personalized outreach. Dynamic Groups segments contacts according to gender, investable assets, age and other parameters.
“Individual advisors are constantly challenged to compete with larger firms that have more resources to invest in marketing technology,” said Robert Sofia, Snappy Kraken Founder and CEO. “Our Smart Growth Suite levels the playing field—equipping firms and advisors with intelligent automation, always-on segmentation and powerful analytics—all without the heavy lift. Dynamic Groups also puts real-time intelligence behind every campaign, eliminating static lists and busywork in prospecting. It’s segmentation that adapts as fast as advisors’ clients do.”
Smart Growth Suite unifies tools typically found in CRMs, marketing automation platforms, AI tools and content hubs. According to data gathered by Snappy Kraken, firms see a 20% to 340% increase in lead conversions when using the system.
Features include automation of lead routing, capture, enrichment and assignment to campaigns; multi-channel communications; insights into campaign effectiveness; and integrations to enrich data.
Julius Buchanan, Editor in Chief at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at julius.buchanan@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
