An advisor preparing for a client meeting should be thinking about the person across the table, not searching for a routine answer or chasing down paperwork. In wealth management, those small points of friction add up. I believe AI’s greatest promise is to give people more room to do the work that requires their judgment, attention and care.
That starts with the experience we want to create. A client should be able to open an account without unnecessary steps and get straightforward information when they need it. An advisor should be able to find a policy or complete a process without losing time that could be spent with a family. A service associate should have the information to solve a problem instead of sending someone through another handoff. These are practical improvements, but together they can change how people experience a firm.
AI can help remove that friction by surfacing information, guiding routine requests and simplifying repetitive work. The value is not the number of tasks a tool performs. It is what becomes possible for the people who use it and the people they serve.
That distinction matters in a business built on relationships. Financial decisions often come with questions a search box cannot fully answer: Can I afford to help my parents? What happens if I retire earlier than planned? How do I talk with my family about an inheritance? An advisor brings context, perspective and the ability to listen. Technology can help prepare for those conversations and make follow‑through easier. It cannot understand what a particular decision means to someone in quite the same way a person can.
The same is true for service teams. A quick answer is useful when the question is simple. When someone is facing an unusual situation or is unsure what to do next, they need a person who can understand the circumstances and take ownership of the response. Good technology should make both paths easier to reach.
At Cambridge, our assistant Indy has answered over 100,000 questions from associates and advisors since its launch. That figure shows there is demand for a convenient way to find information. The more meaningful test is whether it helps people get reliable answers and gives our teams more capacity for complex conversations and support needs. A question answered by Indy is not necessarily a call avoided. It may be time returned to an associate or advisor and an opportunity for a service team to focus where its expertise matters most.
This also asks firms to be thoughtful about where and how they use AI. A faster answer does little good if it is wrong, confusing or leaves a person at a dead end. We need to evaluate the quality of the experience, protect sensitive information and make it clear when a person should step in. The measure of progress should include whether people feel better supported, not just whether a process takes fewer minutes.
The measure of progress should include whether people feel better supported, not just whether a process takes fewer minutes.
I often think about this as the gift of time. For clients, it can mean less effort getting the help they need. For advisors and service teams, it can mean more time to listen, solve harder problems and build trust. That is a more ambitious goal than efficiency alone and a more useful way to decide which tools are worth adopting.
AI will change how work gets done. We have a choice in what we do with the capacity it creates. If we use it to make everyday interactions simpler and meaningful conversations more possible, technology and human connection can strengthen each other. People will remain at the heart of wealth management and we can give them more of our time.
Valarie (Val) Vest is Executive Vice President and Chief Experience Officer at Cambridge Investment Research.
