Posted here on LinkedIn by @James Cantwell The wealth management industry is having the wrong conversation. While we celebrate AI notetakers and debate which CRM integrates best, we're missing the fundamental question: Why are we still building CRMs at all? Every hour spent making CRMs marginally better is an hour not spent reimagining what client relationships could become. Every integration that makes legacy systems slightly more tolerable extends their lifespan past their expiration date. We're not just missing opportunities, we're actively choosing mediocrity. The AI notetaker gold rush reveals something uncomfortable: we're so desperate to fix our broken workflows that we'll celebrate any improvement, even ones that perpetuate the fundamental problem. Jump - Advisor AI raises $24.6 million for sophisticated meeting transcription¹. Wealthbox adds AI features to their existing CRM infrastructure³. Altruist launches Hazel AI to help advisors manage their overwhelming workload⁵. These are impressive solutions. They're also solving the wrong problem. We're getting faster at doing the wrong things. The Industry's Incremental Thinking Problem The wealth management technology landscape is littered with brilliant teams applying breakthrough technology to outdated paradigms. Consider the current AI integration wave: Jump's remarkable success, 35% monthly growth, enterprise clients including LPL Financial and Cetera Financial Group, proves that AI-powered workflow automation resonates with advisors¹. Saving "at least one hour per workday" through automated meeting preparation demonstrates clear value. But Jump is essentially building a sophisticated transcription service for a broken communication model. Wealthbox's native AI integration shows incumbents can innovate meaningfully. Their AI notetaker generates discussion highlights and context-aware task suggestions directly within existing CRM workflows³. Eric J. Negron, CEPA® 📌 of Forefront celebrates that advisors can "save countless hours and deliver a client experience that drives real growth"⁴. And he's correct it is a time saver, but this optimizes a workflow within a system designed for the wrong era.