Over the past year, I've run a series of AI think-tank sessions with Verve clients - a space for firm owners, advisers, paraplanners and compliance managers to get together and talk honestly about AI in the industry. Together we talk about what's working, what's not, and where we all think this is heading?
Some themes come up time and again – and on reflection, they’ve led us to some key learnings that I’d like to dig into:
Let’s get into it.
This one's worth repeating: there's no magic fix.
It's so easy to get swept up in the promise of AI solving all your problems overnight. But the firms getting genuine value from it aren't expecting miracles - they're putting in the work to embed it properly.
That means taking the time to build its knowledge of your business, your templates, your language, your way of doing things.
Take a look at my last blog on AI adoption if this is something you're struggling with.
Key learning: AI can absolutely help, but it helps because of the groundwork you put in. Treat it as a tool that gets better with investment, not a switch you flick on.
Here's where it gets interesting. In our recent sessions, agentic AI has come up a lot. AI that doesn't just support a task but actually carries it out, making decisions and taking action with minimal human input.
The reception so far has been really positive. There's a genuine belief that this is the next big leap, not just saving time on the doing, but saving time on the thinking too. Handing over some of that cognitive load feels like the real prize.
But here's what I think is actually going on beneath that enthusiasm: the trust perhaps isn't really in the AI itself. It's in the provider behind it.
When someone says they're comfortable letting agentic AI make decisions on their behalf, what they usually mean is they trust the company that built it. Its reputation, its track record, its compliance credentials, the relationship they've built with that provider over time.
It's less "I trust this algorithm to think for me" and more "I trust this company to have built something that thinks responsibly on our behalf."
That's an important distinction, because it changes where your due diligence should sit. Rather than asking "how good is this AI tool?", the better question is "how much do we trust the organisation that built and maintains it?"
Do they have a track record in financial services? Are they transparent about how the AI reaches its decisions? What happens when it gets something wrong?
Key learning: When it comes to using AI the potential time savings are real, and it's clearly the direction the industry is heading. But it's worth being clear-eyed about where you're actually placing your trust. It's not blind faith in the technology. It's confidence in the people and processes standing behind it.
Pulling these two points together: AI works best when you're not expecting it to solve everything overnight - and when you're trusting it, you're really trusting the provider behind it just as much as the technology itself.
As agentic AI becomes more embedded in financial services, that second point is only going to matter more. The firms that get this right will be the ones asking sharp questions about their providers - not just about what the AI can do, but about the judgement, accountability and track record sitting behind it.
Key learning: There’s no such thing as too much research, prep or due diligence – and those are things you should keep doing.
This conversation moves forward all the time. For advice firm leaders, being part of it is an easy and efficient way to stay in touch with what’s working and what’s not; and to share learning with professional peers.
We'll continue unpacking these conversations in future think-tank sessions. If you're a Verve client and haven't joined one yet, we have another session scheduled for 15th September @ 14:00pm.
We’ve got our finger on the pulse of AI for advisers, paraplanners, compliance teams and advice firms – check out our hot topic section with loads of AI resources, and if you have any questions, get in touch with our expert team today. We love to chat!
Chez is digital lead at Verve, using her broad expertise in all things operational, processes and financial services itself to scope and manage our technology.
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