I’m delighted to be introducing The Wealth Mosaic’s (TWM) and Global PartnershipFamily Offices’ (GPFO) first Global Family Office WealthTech Landscape Report. This joint report aims to deliver a comprehensive overview of the wealth technology(WealthTech) solution providers available to the business needs of family offices. This is a landscape that continues to rapidly evolve and become more crucial in the day-to-day operations of many family offices the world over.

Historically, WealthTech adoption has been low amongst family offices. Both technology solution providers and potential customers felt family offices were too complicated to adopt mass-market products, but too small to justify bespoke solutions. This is no longer true, and the technology solution provider market has made good progress, particularly with multi-family offices (MFOs). They have more in common, so it is easier for providers to serve them, and technology adoption leads to a materially better experience for the client of the MFO.

Single-family offices (SFOs) are different, with many still relying on homemade solutions and not knowing where to start in understanding the myriad of options now available. This report will help family offices – big, small, new, and old – providing the broadest view of the technology solution provider landscape and supporting insights.

This is important because private wealth has grown significantly over the past decade, with the number of individuals and families that fall into the High-Net-worth (HNW) and ultra-High-Net-worth(UHNW) categories ballooning.

But family offices have always been heterogeneous in scale, scope, and operation, with the Covid-19pandemic prompting a more significant divergence. And during this time, health and longevity have been viscerally front of mind. Governance and administration structures have been tested; many have failed. From an asset allocation perspective, families and family offices with a high concentration of exposure have been boom or bust. Some safe harbors have been exposed as not safe after all!

Fortunately, technology can help monitor and manage this change. We all love technology when it works and makes our lives easier. It has become mission-critical for those who have already adopted new platforms, improving efficiency and control. It has also reduced reliance on some service providers, notably banking partners, which can also be an economic benefit. However, getting to this point is a significant challenge, often due to the complexities of onboarding and integration processes.

This report, and the supporting knowledge resources that TWM and GPFO will be developing as we go, aims to empower the family office sector as a whole by highlighting and showcasing what is out there and supporting any family offices journey towards making informed decisions on which vendors are likely to provide them with the support they require.

The primary technology needs of family offices can be broken down as follows:

• Aggregation and reporting
• Investment execution
• Market intelligence/investment ideas
• Administration
• Governance
• Information security/cybersecurity

However, there is a great deal of overlap between functions, and the test is to get an orchestra that leverages all its component parts to create the very best harmony possible.

This is not without challenges.

One of the most significant issues around changing things is information security. Most of the functions that technology offers in the family office touch on some of the most sensitive information the family office has. For family offices with no/a low profile, plugging this information into any technology system is a big step.

Secondly, the heterogeneous nature of family offices means one system will not be suitable for all family offices. Indeed, the requirements of a family office with considerable exposure to tangible assets and alternatives will have very different needs to a family office mainly exposed to public market equities.

Not only this, but the differences also transcend the whole organization, from how decisions are made to who is reported to. These nuances mean any WealthTech solution to the family office sector needs flexibility and a high level of customer service, which providers have not always offered.

Technological change also comes against increasing overall family office operating costs (UBS GFO Report 2022). Staffing costs have risen considerably and expected declines in actual returns on wealth both have an impact. There will be pressure points that fracture the viability of operating SFOs and MFOs.

Adoption is still surprisingly low on many fronts!

But the importance is also in knowing that the technology is out there to use. It is available, and family offices don't have to go it alone; providers are willing to work in partnership and collaboratively to deliver something that truly meets their needs and molds around the family office.

I hope this report, explicitly focused on the family office WealthTech landscape, offers insight on these issues and can act as a one-stop resource to support and enhance understanding of what is available and for whom it might be suitable.

This article is from The Wealth Mosaic’s GFO WealthTech Landscape Report 2022. Access the full report here.