The Tech Stack Myth: Why More Software Isn’t the Answer

• Beacon Strategies, LLC
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• LinkedIn: Chip Kispert

[00:00:00] RJ Malyk: Welcome to Beacon, 1% Better every day with Chip Kipert, founder of Beacon Strategies. This podcast is all about challenging the norms of wealth management and empowering professionals to make continuous progress and always be curious. Chip knows firsthand how small consistent improvements can lead to big breakthroughs, and that’s what we’re focused on here.

Helping you get 1% better every day. We’ll dive into conversations with industry professionals, share actionable strategies, and explore the mindset needed to overcome industry challenges and create lasting change. Let’s be curious. Push beyond what’s always been done and

uncover better ways together.

All right.

It’s another Beacon, 1% better podcast where we discuss how to get 1% better every day with your host Chip Kiper. I’m RJ Mallick, producer of [00:01:00] this podcast, chip. As always, good to see you. I see you have a guest, so why don’t you introduce him and, uh, let us know what you’ll be discussing on this edition of the Beacon.

1% better podcast,

[00:01:12] Chip Kispert: rj, thanks for the, uh, intro there. Much appreciated. Today we’re gonna talk af about something that’s been bugging me for a while. The tech stack myth in wealth management. I talk to a lot of wealth and provider firm leaders every single week. And you know, here’s what I keep seeing. Firms are writing bigger and bigger checks for technology and their advisors.

Are not necessarily feeling the, that they’re getting benefit from the, from the software that they’re using. Obviously that’s not at every firm yet. What I often hear is that advisors are literally juggling a dozen logins, manually having to enter in, you know, and 10 key information into multiple systems, and that compliance workflows.

Are really kind of held, held together by duct tape and [00:02:00] good intentions. And then the data, which is sitting inside most firms and, and has flaws. Um, so most tech stacks today as we’re looking at there not necessarily assets, um, that everyone. Pretends and recruits with, and in some, some instances it can be a liability.

I’ve known today’s guest for years. He’s one of my favorite people in the industry. He also is not scared to share his thoughts. My guest is my friend Ryan, George, CMO, for Docupace, a firm that’s been powering the back office engine for broker dealers, RIAs, and hybrid firms across the country. Ryan and I have been in the trenches on consulting our beacon round tables, and every time we talk I walk away smarter, so I figured it was time to put the conversation on tape.

Ryan, welcome.

[00:02:53] Ryan George: Hi, chip. Happy to be here.

[00:02:55] Chip Kispert: Well, you know, one of the things that, uh, I get super excited when I get you on the phone [00:03:00] is, uh, or on the podcast, is really being able to talk a lot of things about a lot of different subjects and, and you’re not afraid to share your opinions. And I absolutely love that.

So, um, let’s get right to it. All right. And, you know, we’ve talked about this privately, but all right, let’s have a public go at it.

[00:03:23] Ryan George: You’re doxing my ideas. Chip, you’re

[00:03:27] Chip Kispert: you with docu pace, really sit at the intersection of, of operations, compliance and advisor experience. Add to that in investor experience every day.

What are, you know, three trends that you’re seeing now that are really forcing enterprise wealth firms, broker dealers, RIAs, bank programs, regionals to, to fundamentally rethink how they operate and, and to be honest. Which of these are most firms still ignored?

[00:03:57] Ryan George: Sure. So I’ll start with the obvious, [00:04:00] and the obvious would be AI and sort of where does AI take, take the business?

I think where I think we were in a phase, say two years ago where AI was exciting. Um, everybody was super excited. Then last year I think we had a bit of a. At the start of the year, I had sort of AI freakout, like, where do I find my value? I’m, I’m worried about these tools. I think you had a bit of a mania, sort of like the tulip crisis of the AI world.

Um, so I think what we have right now is sort of things are leveling out where AI is becoming, um, much more prevalent in existing tools versus standalone tools. And so I think we’re taking that next phase of adoption. And what you’re still ready to see is sort of how do existing. Companies like Docu Pace, who we have 400,000 users, all these like hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and thousands of workflows.

How could we put AI into those in order to make it successful? So I think you’ll see both things. One, I think you’ll continue to see what I would say like point solution adoption on ai that’s that’s there that. Two, I think you’re gonna see incumbent. So what, what, what they would like to label us as legacy tech and not a nice way [00:05:00] that’s, that’s not a nice thing to say.

Um, what they’ll try to label us is that I think we’re, we will be catching up in terms of having that capability. The last part, I think where they’re dragging their heels for this particular topic is. I think firms are still slow to adopt. I think they’re afraid of what happens with their client data. I think they’re afraid of breaches.

I think they’re afraid of having people learn on their, on their client data. And so I think we still have a ways to go in sort of getting people comfortable there. Um, if you have a, if you, I could code number two, but I’ll let you, I’ll let you reflect to my first one.

[00:05:30] Chip Kispert: Yeah. You know, it’s interesting because I, look, I hear a lot about tech debt right now, and we see a lot of movement on different technologies.

Um, and, and ultimately we’re, we’re hearing from advisors that, that they’re a little overwhelmed by all the tech they have to manage and put together. So, you know, when we look at it, it’s, it’s how do you make that more simple and streamlined so the advisors can get back to their businesses?

[00:05:59] Ryan George: I think [00:06:00] we’re a washing tech.

I think we’re a washing things that do one thing for us. I even as a marketer, I looked at my team when I was doing budgets. I said, do we really need 20 tools that we’re paying $19 a month for? Probably not. Um, and so I think you’re, you’re definitely seeing that. I don’t know when it levels out. I wish I could tell the advisor community is gonna get better.

Yeah, it’ll get better. I just don’t know when. Um, but I do think there’s, from a tech debt standpoint, they’re buying technology on a credit card. What is that bill gonna come to? And I think that, that, that’s, that will is, is important. Um, I mean I think another piece that’s really important of it is I think it’s never been more incumbent of how an advisor spends their time.

Um, and this is gonna be a huge challenge, I think for firms. Not because they can use tech, they can use technology to free up their time. What do they do with that time? Um, is really gonna be, I think, separates the growth leaders from the people who are just kind of staying in the lifestyle stage.

[00:06:52] Chip Kispert: Interesting. Interesting. All right. I’m anxious for number two.

[00:06:56] Ryan George: Alright, so number two I would say is gonna be what do we do in the [00:07:00] world of compliance? So I think compliance is one of those things where it’s all of your risk, um, relies within your compliance processes and all these tools are gathering all sorts of information.

It’s gonna be archived and stored. What’s gonna, what’s in that? Right? I think we’ve learned from, I won’t name names, but I think we’ve learned from some things in the public, the public media right now, that the storage of files over decades, um, can lead to all sorts of things being exposed. And I think that that’s really interesting to see how not only do does the providers do it.

What sort of cottage industry pops up that says, Hey, we can clean your, um, your data from, scrub your things from thing. Like we can redact pieces from your storage so you can reduce your risk. I think that’s, that’s something that we haven’t seen a lot yet, but it’s, it’s gonna be, um, you know, it used to be like storage capacity was huge.

Now it’s gonna be the storage of what and what’s in there is gonna be huge.

[00:07:46] Chip Kispert: Well, and I think we have a question a little bit down the road where, uh, we’re gonna dive in that a little bit deeper. Um, all right. And you’re, and number three.

[00:07:55] Ryan George: The third one I think is a bit of a stretch in terms of seeing my view of it is [00:08:00] sort of where does, when does the actual transfer of wealth, where does the actual shift in dynamics of the industry actually happen?

Um, we, I’m. 43. I will say my age of 43. Since I’ve been in the industry, we’ve talked about advisors aging, we’ve talked about clients aging, we’ve talked about this quote unquote great, great wealth transfer that never, never really materialized in the, in the great way. And I think to my, to my honest opinions, it’s already half over.

Those assets are already going to the flow into the next thing. Even people that are in the, uh, who’s remaining of the greatest gin or in the baby boomers, they’re being proactive before they pass away to put those assets to play, either with family members or charities or legacy planning, what have you.

And I think we gotta, as the industry, we have to stop talking about the big wave it start looking for those opportunities to treat it almost like on a case by case basis.

[00:08:47] Chip Kispert: That’s fascinating. You know, it’s interesting how you kinda laid that out. What I’m looking at is thinking about how the advisor worlds changes in [00:09:00] the next three to five years, right?

So I love to play this game. Fast forward to 2029, 2031. An advisor opens their laptop probably from their kitchen table or coffee shop, because let’s be real, that’s where the work happens Now, um, how does their technology experience. Look different from today?

[00:09:23] Ryan George: Well, I think the real, they may not be opening the laptop.

I think where an advisor adds value and an advisor I think should own the space is in the conversation we’re having today, yes, we are doing it virtually. So I, I’m somewhat, not by my own rule, but I do think that getting in face in front of, and talking and actually experiencing clients will be. Much more critical.

’cause a lot of the stuff that they’re doing today, you know, the admin work, that’s what the 60% of work they do, that’s admin work. A lot of it will be done overnight in the background, done by agents, done by automation, done by things that they don’t need to do. And so again, they’re gonna have to retrain themselves where they spend their time and where they spend their [00:10:00] focus.

I think the, the human value of the advisor is infinite, um, but they have to find ways to insert that into the process as much as possible.

[00:10:08] Chip Kispert: I would suggest that process is gonna change, which you alluded to earlier. Um, you know, and here’s a question. ’cause you see so many different firms out there, Ryan, um, as we’re moving towards that right?

And, and the planning’s going on, where do you see firms falling short in that kind of progression?

[00:10:34] Ryan George: Yeah, I mean, I think. Like esoteric or external services. So think, think of it this way, right now we’re in this great democratization of the family office, right? Used to just have hundreds of millions of assets in order to get this white glove service and have this team of people who handle everything for you.

Now I think that’s actually going down market and you gotta have $10 million and have some level of white glove service. And I think that that the ones who are really leading the space are [00:11:00] thinking outside of just the delivery of planning and delivery of. Advice and they’re thinking about how can I, how can I stick my fingers into their entire life and really become what we call that trusted advisor that we’ve always, you always hear people talk about it.

A trusted advisor has to talk about career advice and you know, marriage counseling or, or your marriage advice, or even parental. There’s all these things that people need trusted advisor for, and you stay just in the money side. I think you probably aren’t adding as much value as you can.

[00:11:27] Chip Kispert: Right. So you alluded to this a little bit before, but um, and this actually comes from a question.

We have an upcoming compliance round table and it comes from a community question that we just got in today.

[00:11:41] Ryan George: Hot off the press.

[00:11:43] Chip Kispert: How do you see AI really augmenting, not replacing the operations and compliance layer and. You know, what do, what do you see firms expecting out of ai? Are they expecting, [00:12:00] you know, resource control?

Are they expect, what are they, what do you think they’re expecting?

[00:12:08] Ryan George: I think it’s really, there’s a wide spectrum about what people are expecting. I think the people who, I mean, some of this stuff is stuff we’ve seen before. The, the people who are really into technology and really early adopters of technology are gonna find ways to make it.

Do all sorts of things. Like I heard somebody say, well, I taught Chad how to order a pizza. I said, why would you do that? Why would you spend the time? Uh, that’s a pretty simple task. So I think it’s not all just about look at all the stuff, cool stuff I could do. I think the next phase is, look, the value it’s adding to me.

For instance, like if I was to walk into, if I’m an advisor, I was to, you know. On the work today, I get a readout of the things I need to do today. Um, and it’s automatic on my phone or I can read through it on my Bluetooth. Um, or, you know, other things that like you can be listened to a podcast and pause and say, Hey, that’s a good point.

You should write that. I’m gonna put that in your notes that you can think about that to your next. ’cause I know a lot of podcasts listing is like business development, you know, other [00:13:00] things like personal development. And so I think there’s just all sorts of things that come with data, um, that could be really useful.

We’ve got archives, we all have archives of our behaviors. And so the think about working with a chat bot or having an agent, um, sort of help you as you’re like, not only your your assistant, but as your guiding coach. Like, Hey Chip, you really missed an opportunity to talk about legacy planning with that, that client that you just spoke with.

Here’s how we can recognize that next time. Like that sort of thing I think is happening and we’ll ha will be a huge part of what we do have moving forward.

[00:13:34] Chip Kispert: So, Ryan, it’s fascinating because I think I’ve had this conversation about the coaching aspect of AI probably half a dozen times in the last two weeks, and different firms really saying, Hey, can we do that?

Can we, can we plug that in to help make advisors better or optimize, you know, their, their time and, and resources?

[00:13:59] Ryan George: It’s very easy. I mean, [00:14:00] think about, I guarantee you there’s a junior partner. Or want to be junior partner in an advisory firm as we speak, who’s writing to some bot about how do I become an equity partner?

What do, what, how, what, what do I need to do in order to deserve it? And it’s happening. So I think, I think this is something that’s just gonna happen in much more larger scale.

[00:14:18] Chip Kispert: Great point. Great point. You talked, you know, so when I look at data at Docu pace, I look as a, as a data company, you guys are managing data, right?

Um. You talked earlier about those old files, those old archive, you know, PDFs, emails, scan documents, handwritten notes that, that go back 10, 15 years, 20 years. But nevermind today’s note takers, which are creating incredible about, incredible amount of unstructured data. Um, how do we get our arms around this?

Because it’s interesting, [00:15:00] those firms that, that. Do data better, right? Are more valuable. And we’ve seen where m and a deals have gotten torpedoed by that exact issue, but what is data health actually look like in practice And you know, why is this ticking time bomb that seemingly nobody’s really diffusing?

[00:15:20] Ryan George: Yeah. So it’s interesting. We have developed a proof of concept that’s not live. It’s not in product. I don’t even know exactly what the next phase is for, but we were curious of that same thing. So we developed an overlay into our storage, our storage component to see how, what, what it could return in terms of searching for specific things.

And it was actually really, um, really impressive of what it could return. So I think as a, I mean, think of what these generative AI could do. Takes a large amount of unstructured data and be able to make sense of it and pull out key pieces of information. I think there’s a, that’s a tremendously valuable thing, but then what do you do with it?

I think what do you do with, it would be trying to find the not next best action, [00:16:00] but like taking all the history. Just what would you do if you had a bunch of stock data, right? Do aggression testing, you think this happened and say, okay. Now recognize when this is happening again. Think about a client leaving or an advisor leaving, or what are those behaviors?

What are the, the act activities and actions that happen in order that preceded the event so it becomes predictive? I think that that’s probably close to the holy grail in terms of where you can, AI can really be exec is where does, what does the predictive look like? I know there’s the whole predictive markets thing that is happening in sports gambling and all that.

Like that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about how can. As 80 leader of a business wants to better know what’s around the corner, I think AI would be able to take some of that historical data and use it to sort of help you understand what’s around the corner.

[00:16:43] Chip Kispert: It’s interesting ’cause I saw a recent factoid, right?

80%, um, IBM did some research and they estimate that 80% of data in financial service firms is unstructured.

[00:16:57] Ryan George: Yeah. I would say quite a few. Quite a few financial services firms [00:17:00] don’t even know what they have. I mean, I’m. Again, I’m somewhat old in this business, but I remember being a rep and going to three different systems in order to get just a, like an exchange account, transaction exchange.

I was, it was even going back to micro, right? So, so that’s, that data’s still there and still in that format, and I think it hasn’t been fully digitized. And that’s a, I mean, I think that’s a big thing. I know I read it. You do Once that at me, I’ll, I’ll come back at you with another one. Um, is, you know, the idea that.

What you do with your data and how your tech stack is set up. So I’ve been doing some research. We’re gonna publish a paper here in the next month or so about the multiple that a firm is worth if they have their data and the technology in a, in a good position. And it’s about two and a half times more on, from a valuation perspective, from an acquirer if they have their house in order.

And I think that, that, that to me is, is just enough proof right in your face that you should be doing this and should be doing it now.

[00:17:52] Chip Kispert: I mean, that’s huge. Nevermind the fact that the SEC and finra, their record, record keeping enforcements [00:18:00] have surged over the last few years and. You know, how, what, how are you seeing kind of, you know, the firms that do have their data in order versus the firms that don’t have their data in order and, and regulatory oversight?

[00:18:15] Ryan George: Yeah, I think regulatory oversight that part is, is important because you being able to sort of track your audit based from an audit and audit log capability. I think the ones that have it in order it, the real truth is they’ll be able to be, have a first move of advantage of, as technology comes about.

So they’ll be able to plug that. Into the, you know, plugging whatever system into their data lake or whatever, wherever they’re storing their data, and be able to get way out in front of, I mean, a lot of people are buying tools up here that are Ferraris, but they’re putting, like, you know, they’re putting like ice tea in the gas tank in terms of what, what, so they’re sort about putting the car before the horse.

[00:18:48] Chip Kispert: I personally can give you examples of that.

[00:18:51] Ryan George: Well, what happened is two years will go by, they’ll look at the budget, the balance sheet, say we spent all this money and what did we get from it? So then it becomes like. That’s where you [00:19:00] get that negativity from tech.

[00:19:02] Chip Kispert: Right. Yeah, absolutely. We touched briefly on the m and a angle and, and this is one that you talked about how firms, I think it was two and a half times valuation for those that have their data in order.

Um, and it’s interesting ’cause there’s some research that I recently read about when a Ferb gets acquired, data migration is routinely the number one reason integrations blow past timelines and budget. That’s impactful.

[00:19:28] Ryan George: I think it’s, honestly, I think it sits in the too hard bucket. Everybody knows, especially firms have been around a while and they think we could do all these other things, but that’s in the too hard bucket.

We’ll get to that later and then they never get to it. Um, and that’s, you know, even what I would coach is say you can start, it may not be finished. It might like 80% is better than. 0%, 60% is better than 0%. So starting with the most current or the most portable, or the most, you know, manageable, configurable piece and go from there.

[00:19:59] Chip Kispert: Got it. [00:20:00] And, you know, if, if I wrap up kind of this question set and, and listen to what you and I have gone back for, I really see, you know, bad data. Health isn’t just the ops problem anymore, right? It’s an enterprise valuation problem.

[00:20:15] Ryan George: It’s an enterprise valuation problem. It’s a practice management problem.

It’s a compliance problem. It’s, it’s all of the above.

[00:20:21] Chip Kispert: All right, so I’m gonna move to the next question. Um, this one, I may be pressing your buttons a little bit because you and I have talked about it.

[00:20:29] Ryan George: Okay. I’m ready for it.

[00:20:31] Chip Kispert: We all know you’re A CMO. Let’s, let’s talk your world. Right? Um, you know, I think if we look out there, most advisors and in general, most companies I know think.

Marketing means a quarterly newsletter. It means, um, you know, email campaigns, um, a LinkedIn post that takes a long time to get approved by compliance, all of this leads to [00:21:00] more email than we can digest, right? To me, it’s overwhelming the amount of email I get. How does marketing actually become simpler and more effective?

[00:21:11] Ryan George: We are the noisemakers. We have come for your inbox. Um, yeah, I mean that, that is really true. Like the, I think we’ve taken automation and tools and been and really used them in a negative way. Meaning just because I can send something to somebody doesn’t mean I should just, ’cause I can’t post something doesn’t mean I shouldn’t.

And so I think stepping back a little bit, I think understanding how difficult marketing is, I think. There’s, there’s a misnomer or maybe a misclassification, or maybe I’m just being protective of my, my tribe, but I do think actually connecting with the human on an emotional level is way diff more difficult than people give credit for.

If you even take a look at like the Super Bowl ads that ran past your Super Bowl, they were not. A lot of them weren’t funny. A lot of them weren’t big action. They were tied to emotions, right? There was the Redfin house about [00:22:00] the girl having to move ’cause her family was splitting up. Like those, that’s the type of stuff that actually gets to people’s hearts and I think the way to their wallet is through their heart.

And so that’s where I would get people to be. Not be stodgy newsletter, you know, ironed it, stuck, you know, iron shirt. Um, be much more of yourself and be human and try to connect with the people, like look and talk about the things that they matter to them. That’s, I think, the first. The first most important rule of marketing there you go, write this down, is to talk to the audience member that matters in the what about something that matters to them, not something that matters to you.

[00:22:33] Chip Kispert: Absolutely, completely agree with that. So, um, I’m gonna change gears here a little bit, um, as we’re, we’re, uh, working towards the end of our, uh, discussion here today. Um. And I, I really enjoy asking this question. Um, and in my mind, success leaves clues, but most people are looking at the wrong scoreboard sometimes.

[00:23:00] Um, so let me ask you this, who are two or three people or firms knows gonna be wealth firms, tech providers, doesn’t matter, um, that you think are really winning the game that matters right now?

[00:23:13] Ryan George: Yeah, it’s a difficult question to answer ’cause there are so many that are doing it so well. Um. I think the ones that are doing well, like I can name firms that we work with, like SEI is one, um, es i is another one.

Trust me, I’ve got more than just acronyms of letters. Um, es I just made a great new hire with my friend Alex David, so I have to give him a plug. Um, but I think those people that, like danBolton@wealth.com, um, Ashley Ddig, who’s a good friend of mine, like even Shannon Rossick, who I works for Informa and does a lot of videos and things like that, that, you know, I mean, I think those people who are, you know, put the phone down.

Connect with the human, um, or use the phone to connect, right? So like you see Samantha Russell talks about it like, you should spend 80% of your time online, like liking and sharing and, and interacting with other people’s stuff. Be way [00:24:00] more than you actually producing your own stuff, right? Like, and the algorithms benefit you that.

So I think that’s real. I think there’s some business models like Integrated Partners has a really good interest, um, business model in terms of working with CBA firms. Um, I think. Newed has a different sort of choose your own adventure type model, which I think is really in interesting. You see broker dealer like Satera trying to match that in terms of like diversity of channel.

And I think you’re, you’re gonna start continuing to see that as assets become more mobile. Um, I think you’re the really the, there’s recruiting dollars, but also there’s the, uh, diversity of channels that you can work with if you work with us. Right. And I think that, that, those are the ones that, um, I think will really do well

[00:24:39] Chip Kispert: to me, it’s fascinating.

I lo, you know, I sit in, in a unique position because I get to see a lot of these different firms, both wealth and providers and you know, I’m amazed at the ones that really are doing innovative things to, to stand out to prospects, customers, and [00:25:00] really they are working to build that relationship that you talked, that human aspect.

[00:25:05] Ryan George: I’ll say one thing in defense of the technology providers, often the people who sit on the other side of the table. Kind of look at things through the lens of what you’re not doing for me or what I haven’t gotten yet, or what you promise. And I think would encourage them to think about, look, think about, and discover and ask about what are all the things you are doing for me?

’cause like it’s probably a lot more than you know. And I think that there’s just frustration with tech and it just comes, it comes with the game. And I totally understand that. But I do think trying to, is this partner really trying to be a partner to me? Is this partner really trying to understand my business?

Is this partner over promising things that they can’t deliver. You know, that’s a red flag. So I think those, those types of things is trying to connect at a human level to who you’re working with is really important. I mean, it’s occupies, I make no mistake. I understand the importance of when somebody makes the decisions who like, say, go with docu pace.

They’re making a career decision. Like we need to be [00:26:00] stewards of that because they’re kind of vetting that their job will work out if we work out.

[00:26:05] Chip Kispert: That’s a great point. All we’re wrapping up here and it’s time for the 1% better everyday flash. Ryan, it’s time. You got 60 seconds. No scripts, no safety net.

Give our audience the one truth about the future of the industry that no one else is willing or two skittish to talk about.

[00:26:27] Ryan George: Yeah, I think the one truth about it is there, there’s gonna be less of a need for advisors in number, meaning one advisor can serve more people. So you see these big, you know, big trending research studies about how where the advisors are gonna fall off a cliff.

A the older gentlemen and women aren’t gonna retire. They’re gonna work until they can no longer work anymore. Two, I think one advisor and one assistant or support team will be unlocked to be able to serve more clients. And also I think what’s most important and what has me most excited is. They’ll be able to serve [00:27:00] lower asset level clients in a way.

So sort of catch them while they’re young or catch them while they’re up and coming. Um, and then the last piece, I’m just throwing a lots out there, you said six six. From that, what I think this business is gonna split into two, and when I say with that, there’s gonna be people who focus on the accumulation phase of wealth.

Like, how am I growing my assets? How am I get maximizing my, my returns? To the decumulation of wealth, where as people start living longer, get extended, that’s gonna be a whole, it’s gonna be a whole industry in itself of how do you effectively spend down your money as cost of living goes up, cost of insurance goes up, all those things.

But I’m living longer and it’s costing more. I think that’s a different, those are two different skill sets.

[00:27:37] Chip Kispert: It’s fascinating to me because we’ve had this question during our round tables case studies, um, and I think the industry has done a terrific job of gathering assets. Now it has to learn how to, to, to take those assets and do the things that people need.

[00:27:52] Ryan George: When I got married, I thought I’d spent all, I got married 30. I’d spent my entire life trying to find a wife. I had no thought given to how to [00:28:00] be a husband. Um Right. And so that’s something that I think the industry’s gonna have to face.

[00:28:05] Chip Kispert: Now, Ryan, we’ve enjoyed having you on the show, but before we go, um, I believe that you all have a little news that you have announced recently you wanna share?

[00:28:18] Ryan George: Yes, sir. So we recently announced. That Docu Pace has acquired Invest Edge in its compliance Edge software. Um, we’re moving further into the surveillance trade surveillance and compliance space we had previously offered, um, that through our, the Giacomo acquisition of 2021. And I couldn’t tell you how excited I am about this one.

We have a already sort of a really well baked plan in terms of bringing the best of what we do and the best of what Compliance Edge does together, um, the people on the Compliance Edge side, you know, I’m a people person. Um, they are incredible. They’re already adding value, uh, left and right in the meetings with the technology team, and I think that what we are trying to do as a business in docu base is.

Not do just operations, it also include compliance. Try to try to bring them [00:29:00] together, um, as much as possible. So don’t think of necessarily one platform or you know, a compliance ops, but I think we see compliance as a value add. We see can be a value add. We see operations as can be a value add and we were shifting from the sort of nice to have or must have technology to must do technology, meaning you must do this in order to stay compliant.

Stay business. So we’re, we’re excited. We’re as so as, you know, working on m and a, I’ve, I’ve known about this for a really long time, so now to be absolutely be able to share it with the world is something I’m super excited about.

[00:29:30] Chip Kispert: Well, um, we’re super excited for you. Thanks for sharing that.

[00:29:35] Ryan George: Yep.

[00:29:36] Chip Kispert: Ryan, for people who wanna connect with you, where do they find you?

[00:29:40] Ryan George: Easy. Email me, ryanGeorge@docupace.com or on LinkedIn, RA George. Ryan. George. You’ll see my smiling face. I’m always have it up on my screen somewhere. Um, and feel free to reach out.

[00:29:51] Chip Kispert: Ryan, it’s so great to have you on the show. Thank you very much.

[00:29:55] Ryan George: Thank you friend.

[00:29:56] Chip Kispert: Rj. I love having Ryan on the show. I, I, I, [00:30:00] I love his comments.

I love his thinking. Uh, every time we get together, as, as I said earlier, I come away smarter.

[00:30:07] RJ Malyk: Yeah, you, you have to listen to him for two reasons. One, as you pointed out, uh, he’s a very sharp guy. Two, personally, I like his dry sense of humor. His delivery is always the same. And if you’re not paying attention, you’ll mi you’ll miss his sarcastic or wise ass comment.

It’s, it’s, it’s always there. So I, I truly enjoy, uh, listening to him for those two reasons.

[00:30:33] Chip Kispert: Three real takeaways that I took from our conversation as, as I reflected your tech stack, is a strategy. Buying more software. Doesn’t necessar necessarily fix the problems? The firms pulling ahead are the ones ruthlessly simplifying, strategically, choosing the their processes, technology partners, and maintaining better data as well.

And all of [00:31:00] this ultimately transfers to less friction for the advisor. Steve Jobs often commented simple as hard, and it is number two, unstructured data. Is one of the biggest hidden liabilities. If you can’t find it, classify it, or produce it on demand. It’s not necessarily an asset. It’s a mess layer in regulatory and operational demands, and this becomes really a ticking time bomb and it can potentially blow up or even dramatically slow.

MA integrations from occurring. And then finally, and I always love to, to push Ryan’s buttons on this, marketing is a growth le lever, not necessarily a compliance problem. The firms that figure out how to arm people with simple, effective and compliant marketing tools will recruit better, retain better, and grow faster.

Additionally, and I love this point that he made, it’s gotta come from the heart. So [00:32:00] everybody, everyone else is just publishing newsletters and emails. Uh, unfortunately that few people read Come from the heart and, uh, bring it. So in closing, I’ve known Ryan for years and what I really appreciate about him is he doesn’t sugarcoat it.

The message today was clear, the firms that win the next decade won’t be ones with the most technology. They’ll be the ones with the cleanest data. The simplest workflows and the guts to stop doing things the way they’ve always been done. That takes leadership, not just a budget. So that’s our thoughts for today.

And before I leave, to quote Ted Lasso, be curious, not judgmental. This is Chip Kiper. Wishing you well until our next episode of the 1% Better Podcast every day.

[00:32:48] RJ Malyk: Alright, chip, and we need to add in a shout out as this podcast is brought to you by Beacon Strategies LLC, the go-to resource for Round Tables Consulting and services that support wealth [00:33:00] management firms and their providers.

If you need some industry perspective or help, please visit beacon strategies l c.com. Thank you for listening to the Beacon 1% Better podcast. We ask you to share this podcast, rate it, and leave a review. Because this actually helps others find the show. Again, thank you for listening and for Chip and everyone at Beacon Strategies, I’m Archie Mallick and we look forward to you joining us for our next podcast.

[00:33:26] Ryan George: Thanks for joining us on Beacon’s 1% Better Everyday podcast. Be sure to

[00:33:31] RJ Malyk: hit that follow button so you never miss an episode and stay up to date with Chip and his friend’s. Latest insights and strategies. If you want to learn more about Beacon Strategies or get in touch, visit us@beaconstrategiesllc.com.

Remember, progress starts with just 1% every day. Let’s keep challenging ourselves to be curious and grow. The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and [00:34:00] does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Beacon strategies. The content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only.