Stop Trying to Fix CRMs: Here's What Should Replace Them 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The wealth management technology landscape is littered with brilliant teams applying breakthrough technology to outdated paradigms.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.

Altruist's Hazel AI represents the most ambitious current approach. At $60 monthly per seat, Hazel monitors emails, prepares daily briefings, and analyzes complex documents⁵. CEO Jason Wenk positions it as addressing "the work that weighs on advisors most"⁵. The platform's access to custodial data enables capabilities beyond conversation intelligence. Yet even this comprehensive approach operates within the traditional advisor-serves-client model.

Here's what these innovations share: they make existing workflows more efficient rather than questioning whether those workflows should exist at all. Don't get me wrong, I'm not hating on any of these...I believe many are solid solutions that will benefit advisors today, but I question if we are making the leaps that this industry is capable of.

The numbers reveal our collective failure of imagination. CRM ranks 14th out of 17 major software categories in advisor satisfaction according to the T3 Technology Tools for Today/Inside Information 2024 Survey of 2,917 advisors¹⁰. Only 44% cite CRM as improving operational efficiency¹¹. Integration quality, supposedly the holy grail of advisor satisfaction, scores just 4.86 out of 10 for the median provider¹². Overall CRM market penetration actually declined 4.29% from 2023 to 2024¹³.

We're building incrementally better solutions for a fundamentally flawed approach.

The Original Sin: Building for the Wrong Era

Traditional CRMs were architected when the primary challenge was data aggregation, collecting client information scattered across paper files and disparate systems. This made sense in 1995.

In 2025, we still operate with the same fundamental structure: tasks in one tab, meetings in another, contacts scattered across interfaces. We've digitized the filing cabinet without questioning whether filing cabinets are the right metaphor for human relationships.

The human cost of this architectural failure is staggering. Advisors spend 60-70% of their time on non-revenue-generating activities, largely due to systems requiring manual data entry across 10-15 different applications¹⁴. Michael Kitces notes the ongoing "finger-pointing" between vendors claiming advisors don't train enough and advisors saying systems are too complex¹⁵. Meanwhile, firms investing heavily in administrative technology don't consistently spend less time on administrative work or report higher wellbeing¹⁶.

Most damning: current solutions institutionalize the very fragmentation they claim to solve. They capture data from the advisor's perspective, forcing clients into separate portals with disconnected experiences.

When 90% of clients report satisfaction but only 35% make referrals¹⁷, the communication gap becomes obvious.

We're not managing relationships. We're filing contact information.

What We Should Be Building Instead: The Relationship Operating System

Stop thinking about CRMs. Start thinking about Relationship Operating Systems (ROS).

A true ROS doesn't manage data about relationships, it becomes the platform where relationships happen. The fundamental shift: instead of systems that advisors update after interactions, we need platforms where business actually occurs.

Communication as Architecture, Not Feature The most transformative aspect isn't adding better messaging to existing systems. It's making communication the foundational layer of the entire platform. Every interaction flows through it natively: video calls with automatic transcription, messaging that finally replaces email's stranglehold on the industry, document uploads with intelligent extraction, and push notifications that achieve the 60%+ open rates email never could¹⁹.

When an advisor mentions reviewing a client's estate plan during a video call, the system doesn't just transcribe the words, it extracts the commitment, creates the task, schedules the follow-up, prompts for necessary documents, and surfaces relevant opportunities across the client's entire financial picture. Meeting insights become actionable intelligence, not searchable text in a database.

Proactive Intelligence That Anticipates Needs Instead of searching through notes to remember client details, the ROS identifies patterns and opportunities across every conversation. It recognizes when a client's child approaches college age, when market conditions warrant portfolio rebalancing, or when communication patterns suggest relationship risk. The system doesn't just record interactions; it predicts and prescribes next actions based on the full context of every relationship.

Multi-Party Collaboration That Mirrors Reality The ROS enables true collaboration that reflects how affluent clients actually manage their finances. CPAs, estate attorneys, insurance specialists, and other professionals participate directly in the client's financial ecosystem. When the CPA uploads updated tax returns, the estate attorney sees relevant changes for trust planning, the advisor adjusts investment strategies, and the client receives coordinated guidance from their entire team.

Business Intelligence That Drives Systematic Growth The ROS transforms referrals from hope to system. After positive interactions, it automatically requests feedback. When scores are high, it seamlessly transitions to asking whether others in their circle could benefit from a relationship with the advisor. This captures momentum when client appreciation peaks, handling the "ask" that advisors often avoid.

Proof Points: Companies That Give Us Hope

While most of the industry optimizes existing approaches, a few companies demonstrate what happens when you think architecturally rather than incrementally.

Altruist: Integration as Disruption Altruist's growth from 2.85% to 6.25% market share in one year, a 119% increase, proves that comprehensive platforms can rapidly capture market share²⁵. Their platform achieves 91% reduction in client onboarding time while combining custody, portfolio management, and now AI capabilities²⁶. With $152 million Series F funding at a $1.9 billion valuation, Altruist has resources to execute ambitious visions²⁷.

CEO Jason Wenk's insight "We always intended to build a vertically integrated platform" represents architectural thinking²⁸. Hazel AI's access to custodial data enables capabilities no standalone solution can match. This isn't incremental improvement; it's platform reimagination.

Advyzon: Sustained Excellence Through Comprehensive Thinking While others chase headlines, Advyzon consistently delivers comprehensive solutions. Achieving #1 rankings across five categories in the 2025 Kitces report, CRM, portfolio management, performance reporting, client portals, and file sharing for eight consecutive years proves that integrated approaches work²⁹. Their 9.96% market share leadership in integrated platforms demonstrates market demand for comprehensive solutions³⁰.

"Advyzon was a cornerstone to our business and one of the main reasons we were able to scale," reports one client³¹. Unlike legacy solutions requiring complex integrations, Advyzon provides unified functionality in a single platform.

Most importantly, Advyzon users actually utilize the full feature set, unlike competitors where adoption remains fragmented.

Fynancial: Communication-First Architecture Fynancial attacks the industry's fundamental communication problem directly. Their "Social Financial Platform" won "Best in Show" at Wealth Management EDGE 2025²¹. Starting at $18,000 annually per firm, Fynancial creates white-labeled mobile apps that achieve 60%+ open rates on push notifications¹⁹, proving that reimagining client communication generates measurable results.

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CEO Tom Fields, CFP® insights that email holds the industry back (one I could not agree with more strongly) drives their mobile-first strategy. Their June 2025 launch of "Fyn," the first agentic AI exclusively for financial advisors, doesn't add features to existing workflows, it reimagines client interaction entirely²².

Current Client and Strategic Partnerships: The Integration Imperative Companies like CurrentClient, led by Dustin Belliston, tackle the chaos of managing interactions across email, texting, voice, and other channels. Their success proves that unified communication isn't theoretical, it's achievable today. Similarly, partnerships like Bento Engine and Zeplyn | Agentic AI for Wealth Managers focus on agentic AI that moves beyond reactive data management toward proactive relationship orchestration. Knapsack is another platform with a unique take on solving the communication and data silo problem by putting AI on top of all your tools and utilizing APIs and MCPs to enable the advisor to have one place to live for managing much of the client relationship, pairing that with "Knaps" to build out workflows that flow across these same applications with agentic AI.

These companies share crucial DNA: they question fundamental assumptions rather than optimizing existing approaches.

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The Technology Infrastructure Finally Supports Our Ambitions

The convergent forces that make ROS architecture feasible represent a perfect storm of technological maturity:

Local AI Processing: On-device machine learning can now perform natural language processing, sentiment analysis, and predictive insights without cloud dependency. This enables real-time intelligence while addressing privacy concerns that have historically limited AI adoption in wealth management.

Model Context Protocol (MCP) Standards: Standardized protocols for AI systems to interact with various data sources create unprecedented integration possibilities. MCPs enable AI assistants to seamlessly access CRM data, portfolio information, market feeds, and communication histories while maintaining security boundaries.

Edge Computing Power: Desktop and mobile devices now run sophisticated AI models locally, reducing cloud dependency while enabling instant analysis of conversations, documents, and market conditions. This distributed processing supports the real-time, contextual intelligence that makes proactive relationship management possible.

Cloud Infrastructure: Modern APIs, real-time synchronization, and global connectivity enable seamless integration across platforms and devices.

Integration Standards: API-first design, microservices, and middleware solutions make connecting disparate systems manageable rather than nightmarish.

The technical barriers that once made comprehensive relationship platforms impossible have disappeared. Local AI processing addresses privacy concerns while enabling real-time intelligence. MCPs provide the standardized integration layer that allows AI systems to work seamlessly across specialized tools. Mobile computing power supports sophisticated applications that function as true relationship orchestration platforms.

What remains is the courage to build something transformative.

The Economic Case for Revolutionary Thinking

The financial argument for ROS architecture is overwhelming. Heavy technology users achieve 30% classification as higher-growth practices versus 9% for light users. Platforms like Morgan Stanley's AI "Debrief" save 30 minutes per meeting across one million annual client calls.

Client acquisition economics fundamentally support ambitious technology investment. Acquiring a $1 million relationship unlocks $50,000-$70,000 in advisory fees over a decade. Digital experience directly impacts asset flows, clients engaging through mobile experiences prove 3.5 times more likely to move assets.

The referral opportunity remains largely untapped. While 67% of new clients come from referrals, 90% of clients report satisfaction but only 35% actually refer¹⁷.

The gap between satisfaction and advocacy reveals the communication failure at the heart of current approaches.

The global CRM market will reach $30.2 billion by 2033³⁸. With only 5% of U.S. financial firms currently utilizing AI, expected to double by end-2025, early movers possess significant advantages³⁹. But this opportunity belongs to platforms that transcend CRM thinking, not optimize it.

The Generational Imperative We're Ignoring

Demographic shifts create existential urgency. Millennials' earnings will rise from $18.4 trillion to $32 trillion by 2030, with Gen Z adding another $30 trillion⁴⁰. These demographics demand digital-first experiences, 53% of Gen Z and 51% of millennials identify digital banking as a top need⁴¹.

This isn't about meeting current client expectations. It's about positioning for the largest wealth transfer in human history. The advisors and platforms that create relationship management systems worthy of this opportunity will capture disproportionate market share.

We're building for yesterday's clients while tomorrow's clients expect experiences we're not even imagining.

The Challenge: Stop Optimizing, Start Reimagining

We have innovative companies proving that bold thinking works. We have technology infrastructure that can support our biggest visions. We have client demands that align with comprehensive relationship platforms.

What we lack is the courage to abandon incremental thinking.

Every integration that makes legacy CRMs slightly more tolerable extends their lifespan past their usefulness.

Every AI feature that optimizes existing workflows perpetuates fundamentally flawed approaches. Every hour spent making contact management marginally better is an hour not spent reimagining what relationship orchestration could become.

The companies that succeed will understand that the opportunity isn't improving CRMs, it's making them obsolete. They'll recognize that in wealth management, technology should amplify human relationships, not digitize administrative tasks. They'll build platforms that serve advisors, clients, and businesses simultaneously through unified, intelligent experiences.

Jump - Advisor AI, Wealthbox, and Altruist are showing us what's possible when we think beyond incremental improvement. Fynancial, Advyzon, and partnerships like Bento Engine & Zeplyn | Agentic AI for Wealth Managers prove that comprehensive approaches generate exceptional results. The foundation exists for something transformative.

The question isn't whether Relationship Operating Systems will emerge, it's whether we'll have the vision to build them before our competitors do. The future belongs to teams bold enough to ask not "How do we make CRMs better?" but "What would we create if we designed relationship management from scratch today?"

The technology is ready. The market is ready.

The question is:

Are we ready to stop fixing the wrong problems and start building the right solutions?

Sources and Citations:

[1] Jump funding and growth metrics from "The Evolution of Wealth Management CRM" research document, citing company announcements and industry reports 2024-2025

[3] Wealthbox AI Notetaker announcement, August 2025, from company press release

[4] Eric Negron quote from Wealthbox press materials, August 2025

[5] Altruist Hazel AI launch details from company announcement, September 2025 at Future Proof conference

[10] T3/Inside Information 2024 Survey of 2,917 advisors, category rankings

[11] CRM efficiency statistics from T3 survey data

[12] Integration quality scores from Kitces AdvisorTech Research 2025

[13] CRM market penetration decline from year-over-year T3 survey analysis

[14] Advisor time allocation research from industry studies compiled in source materials

[15] Michael Kitces commentary from various Kitces Report publications 2024-2025

[16] Advisor wellbeing and technology investment correlation from Kitces research

[17] Referral generation statistics from industry research compiled in source documents

[19] Mobile app engagement rates from Fynancial case studies and industry benchmarks