WaaS in a Nutshell
Conceptually, WaaS is a wealth industry-focused variation of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. In SaaS, digital solutions are accessible through subscription-based, cloud-powered platforms.
In general, the SaaS model is best known for bringing advanced digital capabilities to users who want to avoid the significant upfront investments and fixed overhead costs associated with owning their own technology infrastructure.
In finance, WaaS platforms have entered the spotlight for giving mass affluent or even beginning investors access to digital wealth management possibilities they would be unlikely to have otherwise. Some notable examples of WaaS offerings catering to small investors include:
- Robo-advisor platforms that use algorithms to create and manage investment portfolios with low or no minimum balance requirements. EY found that 8% of wealth management clients were using fintech solutions like robo-advisors in 2021 and predicted that 18% would be 2026.
- Micro-investing platforms that allow users to invest in fractional shares of stocks and exchange traded funds with small amounts of money. The micro-investing platform market is expected to be worth over US$ 3 billion by 2032.
How Mass Affluent WaaS Providers Compete on UX and Why You Should Pay Attention
As a UHNWI advisor, you are not directly competing with mass affluent WaaS platform providers for business. Your clients likely do not have much interest in fractional shares of public equities or other offerings designed for smaller investors.
Your clients do, however, expect you to incorporate digital solutions into your service portfolio. In 2022, PwC Switzerland identified that the Covid-19 crisis had accelerated a “hybrid revolution,” with wealth management clients increasingly desiring a blend of digital and personal service. PwC drew a parallel between the remarkable popularity of Robinhood, an American trading app with several WaaS-style features, and wealth management clients’ expectations for seamless digital interactions and self-service options mixed with high-touch personal advice.
Therefore, it is worth paying attention to how mass affluent WaaS providers compete beyond just fees and account minimums. These businesses, often with limited (or no) focus on human advisors, prioritise a cutting-edge technology user experience (UX). Their strategies for winning and retaining clients can provide valuable insights for developing your own hybrid advisory client experience (CX) strategy.
Mass affluent WaaS platform providers aim to deliver good UX primarily through:
- Understandability: These platforms democratise investing by visualising data with progress bars, tooltip explanations, built-in glossaries of financial terms, and other features making complex financial concepts more accessible. Intuitive interfaces, clear navigation, and simple workflows make it easy for users to find the information they need.
- Personalisation: The platforms typically allow users to tailor portfolio-design algorithms to individual needs and risk tolerances with customisable goal setting and tracking. Many solutions also provide automated recommendations based on users’ goals and financial data.
Translating Mass Affluent WaaS UX Lessons into Superior UHNWI CX
You should draw two conclusions from the rising popularity of mass affluent WaaS platforms and your clients’ increasing affinity for digital solutions:
01 Investors want self-service ways to easily understand their wealth.
For your clients – in comparison to lower net worth investors – understanding their wealth is less about educating themselves on basic investment options and diversification strategies. Instead, UHNWIs typically need to understand the overall picture of their already diverse portfolios. These portfolios include a wide range of both bankable holdings as well as lifestyle assets like luxury watches and exclusive real estate that are out of scope for less sophisticated investors.
02 Investors expect data-driven, personalised advice.
For many users of mass affluent WaaS platforms, purely automated recommendations based on their financial data are preferable to no recommendations at all. Algorithms, however, cannot fully account for legacy goals and other unique elements of UHNWIs’ complex, nuanced financial lives. Your clients know and can afford the value of human insights. Research has consistently shown, even as far back as 2018, that automation technology such as artificial intelligence delivers the most value when combined with human oversight. 2023 academic research found that the greatest benefit of automation is its ability to free people from mundane tasks and create time for more creative focus.
Advanced wealth reporting solutions are designed to help you act on these conclusions. They can automatically bring together data from across your clients’ wide-ranging portfolios of both bankable and non-bankable assets, analyse it, and visualise the results in clean, intuitive dashboards. Clients can easily interpret this information themselves, accessing it anytime and anywhere through the web or a mobile app. Additionally, customisable alerts for market movements, account balances, and more can be configured to prompt strategic follow-ups with you via secure, one-stop messaging via the platform.
Level Up Your Digital Client Experience with a Digital Wealth Platform
Broadly speaking, mass affluent WaaS platform users and your UHNWI clients share similar goals when it comes to using wealth technology: achieving portfolio visibility and receiving personalised advice. The key difference lies in goal complexity. UHNWIs have more diverse portfolios to manage and unique needs that algorithms alone cannot address.
Successful mass affluent WaaS platforms have developed battle-tested strategies for delivering superior technology UX that helps smaller investors meet relatively less sophisticated financial goals. Your business model is about more than just UX, but do not expect financial heavyweights to settle for UX not on par with what is available to lightweights.
Leverage the UX lessons from the world of mass affluent WaaS to guide your digital strategy for empowering:
- your clients to understand their wealth and
- yourself to tailor recommendations that foster wealth growth.
With an advanced digital wealth platform you can quickly acquire the digital capabilities necessary to thrive in the world of hybrid advisory.
