The top three tech pain points for advisers

Key take outs include:

• Disconnected systems limit capacity – Productivity constraints are driven by poor connectivity across systems, limiting the industry’s ability to scale and meet demand.

• Connectivity, not more technology, is the issue – The challenge is not a lack of tools but disconnected systems that create work instead of removing it.

• Integration will unlock productivity – Real gains will come from improving how systems and data work together across the workflow, rather than adding more standalone tools.

Productivity remains one of the biggest pressure points in advice, constrained by fragmented systems, manual processes and regulatory complexity, which limit the industry’s ability to scale and meet demand.

But the challenge is not coming from a lack of technology as, many advice practices operate with a growing number of tools, platforms and point solutions. The challenge is that too often, these tools are disconnected, underutilised or creating work between systems rather than removing it.

Industry data further highlights the impact of this lack of connectivity. With approximately 15,400 advisers in Australia for 15.9 million Australian adults with unmet advice needs, efficiency is more than an operational issue, it’s an access issue for the whole profession.

According to the Productivity Commission, data and digital technology are the modern engines of productivity growth in Australia, including the role of AI, better data access and digital financial reporting.^{1, 2, 3}

However, the effectiveness of these solutions is limited when underlying processes and workflows are not well established or are poorly integrated.  

At the Ensombl ALPD Day held in Brisbane in May 2026, HUB24 participated in an interactive session with the Finura Group where advisers responded to a poll question on their top three pain paints in the advice process.⁴ 

1. SOA and ROA production is still the biggest bottleneck

If there is one area where advisers consistently feel the weight of inefficiency, it is advice document production, which was rated the top tech painpoint by advisers.

According to Finura Technology Health Check data, the average time it takes to generate a Statement of Advice (SOA) increased to 12.1 hours in 2025–26, up from 10.3 hours in 2024.⁵

This operational drag came through strongly in the panel discussion. As Finura Group Partner, Head of IFA consulting Danni LeGrande commented, “The more platforms that are being utilised, the longer your SOAs are taking, and the longer your implementations are taking as well.”

According to Finura Group’s Joint Managing Director Peter Worn, not a lot of progress has been made to make SOAs faster.

This matters because it extends beyond workflow inefficiency and directly constrains capacity, a theme highlighted at Professional Planner’s 2026 Advice Policy Summit held in Canberra earlier this year. HUB24 and fellow industry participants agreed that lifting productivity and putting capacity back into the system were now central industry priorities, with technology and automation seen as crucial to helping advisers serve more Australians.

The implication for practices is straightforward: if advice production remains slow, every other efficiency gain has a ceiling. Faster document generation, cleaner data input and fewer manual hand-offs are no longer ‘nice to haves’, they are fundamental.

2. CRM disconnection is undermining the single client view

CRM (Client Relationship Management) fragmentation was the second top-rated tech painpoint noted by advisers. For many practices, the issue is no longer simply whether they have a CRM, rather whether this solution genuinely functions as the operational centre of the practice.

Based on Finura Technology Health data, LeGrande noted that 51% of practices using risk profiling tools did not have those tools integrated with their CRM. This extended to research tools, with 59% of these solutions disconnected from the practice’s core CRM.

Further, 45% of practices analysed had no online fact-find, meaning data is often captured manually or outside the core system from the outset.⁶

Worn noted the CRM debate is evolving, moving away from software selection to more around architecture strategy. He said advisers are less focussed on which CRM they should switch to and are more focussed on whether they should stay with their current CRM and how that decision should change in an AI-driven market.

In practice, when a CRM is not integrated into fact-finding, risk profiling, research and implementation, advisers lose the single view of client data they need. The result is duplicate entry, broken workflows, inconsistent records and avoidable admin.

3. Integration remains the industry’s productivity tax

The third and perhaps most persistent pain point noted by advisers is integration itself. HUB24’s Chief Executive Officer of Class, NowInfinity and myprosperity Tim Steele said many firms were operating with “up to a dozen siloed systems that don’t talk to each other,” making it difficult to get a single view of the client and creating a “massive productivity tax” through double handling, re-keying and error risk.

We have already seen platform consolidation throughout the Australian market. Investment Trends reported advisers now use an average of 2.0 platforms, down from 2.2 in 2024, with 71% of new client inflows directed to the adviser’s primary platform. Adviser Ratings has also pointed to a similar drop in average platform use, reflecting advisers’ stronger focus on simplicity, efficiency and deep integration.^{7, 8}

However, consolidation and greater integration will not be enough to move the dial significantly on productivity. Worn said this is because too many integrations are built reluctantly and deliver the bare minimum. Instead of a series of weak connections, advisers need an ecosystem, one where applications work together more seamlessly, securely and sustainably.

HUB24 announced the development of its ecosystem last year, and Steele said it would change the way advisers deliver advice by heroing data.

He commented the focus of myhub was not to lock advisers into a particular set of integration, but to unlock productivity. “Central to that is building an open ecosystem that gives firms the flexibility to use the tools that best suit their business.”

The real opportunity: fewer junctions, better flow

Advisers are increasingly enthusiastic about AI, with Adviser Ratings finding 74% of Australian advice practices are using or planning to use AI, placing them ahead of the global average.^{9, 10}

However, this enthusiasm has yet to translate into improved and scalable advice production, as AI is often layered onto existing processes like any other tech solution.

Investment Trends found that although 61% of advisers are now using AI tools, they are mostly accessing them through third-party solutions and with limited workflow integration.¹¹

Conclusion

The issue is not whether new technology solutions exist but whether they are embedded in a way that removes friction across the full advice journey.

For advisers, the next productivity gains are unlikely to come from adding another standalone tool. They will come from creating meaningful integrations across the client journey, improving data flow, and building a connected ecosystem that helps practices produce advice faster, with fewer manual workarounds and less duplication.

¹ 15,429 financial advisers in Australia according to Padua Wealth Data (1 December 2025).
² 15.9 million Australians with unmet advice needs according to Investment Trends’ 2025 Financial Advice Report.
³ “Harnessing data and digital technology.” Interim report. Australian Government Productivity Commission. 5 August 2025.
⁴ Based on 146 adviser responses at Ensombl ALPD Day on 28 May 2026.
⁵ Finura Technology Health Check, 2022-2026.
⁶ Finura Technology Health Check, 2022-2026.
⁷ Investment Trends 2025 Adviser Technology Needs Report.
⁸ Dew, Laura. ‘Peripheral’ platforms facing exit threat as adviser needs evolve – Money Management. 27 June 2025.
⁹ Investment Trends’ 2025 Adviser Technology Needs Report.
¹⁰ Adviser Ratings. The AI Revolution in Financial Advice: Australian Practices Leading Global Adoption. 14 May 2025
¹¹ Investment Trends 2025 Adviser Technology Needs Report.