Since stepping into the role of CEO at Orion in October 2023, Natalie Wolfsen has been driving growth and innovation tailored to the dynamic needs of financial advisors and the enterprises that serve them.
A speaker at IN’s recent goRIA Virtual Summit, Wolfsen explains that her success lies in helping her team understand the unique challenges Orion’s clients face.
“I've made sure that there's opportunities for advisor input through advisory councils, community-oriented events, surveying, and one-on-one conversations with the advisors we serve both wealth and technology,” she says.
And this unified strategy focuses on five pillars: pioneering, investor-centric technology, reliable systems and support, delivering comprehensive wealth solutions, maintaining a unified yet flexible client experience, and providing value-added growth resources.
“We’re on the cutting edge of new technology trends and our ongoing technology investments benefit our clients so that they can scale their technology and have innovative systems,” adds Wolfsen. It’s this proactive approach which ensures advisors can rely on Orion as an extension of their team, helping them save time and effort.
However, such a client-centric strategy demands a reliance on something other than people power – technology. Wolfsen says she’s seeing a significant opportunity for technological integration within the financial services industry. According to Orion’s 2024 Wealthtech Survey, less than 10% of advisors say they have all the technology they need. However, 52% of advisors said they do expect to invest more in client-facing technology this year, with 64% saying they’re committed to delivering a more personalized, customized client experience.
“There’s a rich pool for Orion and other providers to integrate technology in a more seamless way,” adds Wolfsen. “Wealthtech providers need to have a flexible client experience and architecture - something that Orion is investing in right now.”
Additionally, Wolfsen notes the potential of AI, which is becoming more mainstream. At Orion, they’re already leveraging AI to provide tailored advice at scale and streamline operations, making them more efficient and effective.
“There are some key benefits that we're already seeing from AI,” adds Wolfsen. “One is facilitating personalized financial advice at scale. We implemented this through two of our tools, our Redtail Speaktool and our Orion Compare portfolio construction and comparison tool. This technology takes information we have on client portfolios or advisor’s interactions with clients and it produces an AI-driven narrative that can be personalized to align with varying investor knowledge levels and behavioral characteristics, facilitating better communication between the advisor and their client.”
For some, there’s still a lingering fear of automation being used to replace human employees. For Wolfsen, she believes that AI and upcoming technological advancements are only set to elevate the human touch, not diminish it.
“Technology tools will improve the quality of the financial plan and enhance the client-advisor relationship,” she explains. Essentially, advisors will have more time to engage in meaningful conversations with their clients, focusing on the emotional and complex aspects of wealth management that technology alone cannot address.
Coupled with technology, the arrival of Gen Z clients in the advisory landscape is something that Wolfsen finds exciting. Namely because this generation, she notes, is not only digitally empowered but also highly engaged and excited about investing.
“Even though Gen Z is experienced, excited, educated, and enthusiastic about investing, they still seek advice,” she notes. Technology tools, including AI, are expected to improve the quality of financial planning and the client-advisor relationship, making advisors more effective and efficient.
“These tools make the financial plan much better, and everyone benefits from that—the advisor, the investor, and the platforms that serve them,” Wolfsen asserts.
However, Wolfsen acknowledges that Gen Z’s digital life experience sets high expectations for personalization and customization. This demand is driving the industry towards more integrated and customized technology solutions, breaking down the traditional barriers between financial planning and investment management.
“You can now construct portfolios in a customized way, all at once in one technology system,” she adds.
And, as Gen Z becomes a more significant segment of the client base, Wolfsen sees their digital-savvy nature as both a challenge and an opportunity.
“This generation expects a degree of personalization and customization that our industry isn’t quite caught up to yet. I think that this is a mega trend - starting with fractional shares and moving to custom indexing and tax management services, all the way through to how they construct portfolios, which are really going to break down the walls between technology and wealth.”
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