Johnathan Rickman | Blue Vault
At Alts Summit 2025, renowned financial planner and educator Michael Kitces gave an eye-opening keynote speech that explored the intersection of technology and financial services and how each has evolved around the other. There were many takeaways from his talk, but two particularly stood out:
• Technology, while causing cyclical industry shakeups, has never fully replaced the need for financial services industry professionals.
• Industry has steadfastly maintained its core human element by adapting to changes in technology and differentiating products and services around those innovations.
Alternative investments — investment options that differ from traditional asset classes such as stocks, bonds, and cash — have their own evolutionary story to tell. Contemporary alts products such as real estate investment trusts (REITs) and business development companies (BDCs) were initially available only to moneyed endowments and institutions.
But a convergence of changing investor appetites, loosened regulations governing accredited investors, and innovations in product structures has dramatically increased access to alts in short order. The phenomenon comes amid the advancement of cloud computing, software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology, and AI, as well as a growing remote workforce — all of which reinforce digital-first expectations among advisors and investors.
A dizzying array of service providers that offer technological solutions for advisors has sprung up in response, making everything from client engagement to compliance easier.
Marketplaces and Platforms
Accessing alts was initially a pen-and-paper process, similar to closing on a mortgage. And advisors often had to know the right people to find the right strategy. Word of mouth was often how people first heard of alternative investments.
But a cadre of innovators have stepped in to digitize subscription and information-gathering processes over secure, online platforms, replete with automation and a range of value-added services.
Some of the largest online platforms for alternative investments, such as those of CAIS and iCapital, are distribution marketplaces that offer turnkey solutions for advisors that are okay with others curating their alts offering options for them. Other platforms, like those of SEI Access and AIX, allow advisors to choose which funds they wish to engage with.
A similar platform, Venture.co, even allows users to launch and deliver their own offerings.
These platforms connect advisors with asset managers, custodians, clients, and other partners and provide educational and analytical tools — one-stop alts shops, if you will.
Customer Service Software
Whether steeped in alts or not, advisors also have a wealth of generalized tech tools to choose from. Customer relationship management, or CRM, tools help advisors streamline the everyday tasks of client prospecting and onboarding, billing, and reporting and can also act as a secure portal for interacting with contacts. Some newer forms of financial planning software may also provide advisors with a portal for interacting with clients and prospects.
Blue Vault’s professional service partners like Computershare, Phoenix American, SS&C, Centersky and others offer tailored tech solutions for alts advisors and their partners.
Digital Data for Due Diligence
Acknowledging increased demand for alts education and performance data, many emerging wealthtech solutions provide one or the other, or both, as a value-added perk. This information is often managed by AI tools that walk users through a series of questions.
Helix, a digital too that advisors use to navigate private market investments, uses AI to help users learn about market offerings and gain access to Blue Vault performance data. The Helix/Blue Vault partnership, announced earlier this year, further propels Blue Vault into the world of digital B2B streaming.
Wealthtech will only continue to grow in innovation. Indeed, the alts industry’s continued move away from paper-based processes makes it necessary. The challenge for advisors is determining which solutions they need to best enhance their practice and whether the choices they make can be integrated into the existing systems they use.
Researching service providers and their innovative digital offerings is another form of due diligence but, as with all due diligence, a crucial first step to take before making any system enhancements.
