For this piece, we spoke to Alois Pirker, Founder of Pirker Partners. He says that the advisory community needs actionable insight and advice to navigate an industry that is increasingly reliant on technological enablement. His partnership with TWM underscores his aim of bringing together vendors and advisers for mutual understanding and benefit.

Please introduce yourself.
I have been in the research domain for over 20 years and have been living in Boston for some of those. I was a research fellow at Celent and then was with the Aite-Novarica Group for 16 years. Pirker Partners is my new venture, aimed at giving advice to empower change and adaptation within the wealth management industry, globally. In the recent past, there has been a lot of change. The pandemic, notably, forced digitisation and hyped demand from clients. It also made technological change and enablement culturally normal and desirable. In addition, there is a shortage of advisers, so firms that want to succeed need to have the right technology in place to attract clients and advisers alike. It is not enough for research just to point this out; it also needs to act as a guide, serving up strategic advice delivered in a retainer model for wealth management firms, financial technology firms, start-ups, and private equity and venture capital shops.

How have you seen the role of technology within the industry evolve?
The industry has evolved in terms of the demand from clients for a better service proposition, and with digitisation, technology has become a massive enabler of delivering on that.

Client behaviour in the way they interact with advisers has changed too. They now want a personalised service that is delivered in the most convenient way to them, occasionally, this could be in person, but increasingly this is through digital channels.

For wealth managers, the challenge is to be able to deliver on client demand and harness digital technologies as well as Artificial Intelligence (AI) for personalisation capabilities.

Advisers have to learn how to listen and react to signals that might originate from their clients or from their supporting technology platforms and deliver advice and interpretation on the back of it. The value lies in adding thought leadership and direction to support their clients’ missions.

What is the technology ask?
The vision is that there is a massive change in the way the industry is made up. Typically, advisers use point solutions to plug a functionality gap or solve a current pressure point. But the actual need is for technology to underpin the entire advisory process and enable a differentiated service model – however, that looks.

Wealth managers all have unique client bases. Their needs, data sets, and engagement models all differ. Still, the ability to access granular levels of detail to be able to fully hone the service proposition and have a 360 view of the client applies to all. Applying analytics to data to enable a tailored and personalised service is also a common theme.

How does your firm turn research into advice for both sides of the market?
When you think about research, it is all about interpreting what is going on in the market. The plan is to work closely with wealth management firms and their executives on understanding the industry’s direction. The advice will also be very relevant for WealthTech vendors too; they will be able to get a better handle on the broader market and how to position their offering to have maximum appeal for their clients.

Our intention is to provide bespoke, tailored advice that looks at segmentation, partnerships, and prospecting, and allows for an evolutionary relationship based on intelligence and a common understanding of what is contextual and relevant. It is all about managing change, what it might mean and how best to navigate it. 

How does TWM fit in?
The collaboration with TWM is that some of the firms we work with want to be able to hook into the TWM platform and, from that, up their visibility levels within the broader wealth management community. The marketing extension that TWM can provide forms an integral part of our strategy.

On the wealth management side, TWM helps wealth managers to see what is out there, vendor-wise, and how the various pieces of the puzzle fit together. The market is very active, with a great many start-ups, as well as mergers and acquisitions, being an almost daily occurrence. Wealth managers need to know they are making informed decisions. From the vendor side, the interaction with wealth managers needs to be there so they know what is needed and can provide that – as well as gain visibility.

There is a huge potential for joint projects in the future because all participants in the wealth management community are now largely eschewing the closed-book approach. Instead, they are looking to form ecosystems and collaborations in order to extend the remit and the reach of their service.

What about the community aspect?
The community aspect of what we are doing lies in the fact we want to not only provide advice and direction but also act as a connector between different parts of the wealth management community. The value of meeting and networking to share ideas and opinions is well understood. The same concept can also be applied to our collaboration with TWM. The key is being able to bring people together in a constructive spirit.

If you would like to take part in our ‘TWM talks to…’ series, please get in touch with us at office@thewealthmosaic.com