From Hours to Minutes: How MKC Wealth Cut Report Time by 80% with Three Tech Principles

Lesson 1  Define the Choke-Point First

"Don't just bring in a shiny bit of kit because it looks good," Kunwar warns. MKC's approach begins with a fundamental question: what specific bottleneck are we trying to eliminate?

For MKC, the clear choke-point was suitability report creation:

• Standard reports took 1.5-2 hours; complex cases up to 5 hours
• Reports were overly complex and difficult for clients to understand
• The process created a regulatory compliance burden

"If the tech doesn't unblock your specific choke-point, walk away," Kunwar advises. By focusing exclusively on this bottleneck, MKC could evaluate solutions against a clear objective: did it significantly reduce report creation time while improving quality? He evaluated a number of tech solutions and found that AI Assistant Emma from AdvisoryAI, addressed their specific pain point by:

• Processing multiple document types simultaneously
• Automatically extracting key information across sources
• Personalising reports by identifying and expanding on client "soft facts"

The result wasn't just faster reports but better ones. "The system generates reports in 5 minutes, with 5-10 minutes for review—reducing total time by over 80% while improving quality," Kunwar explains.

Lesson 2  Stress-Test on Edge-Cases

MKC's evaluation process rejects the standard vendor demo approach where everything works perfectly on pristine sample data. Instead, they deliberately challenge potential solutions with their most complex scenarios:

• Multiple product switches
• Cases with withdrawals
• Complex fee structures
• Unusual client circumstances

"When you throw things at AI, don't just throw rosy solutions," Kunwar advises. "Give it your toughest cases."

"A demo on a clean file proves nothing," he suggests. "We needed to see how Emma handled our most challenging reports." This approach revealed significant differences between vendors that just would not have been apparent with standard test cases.

The stress-testing continues after implementation. "The AI is honing itself through challenging cases," Kunwar notes. "Each case requires less manual intervention as Emma learns from our corrections."

Lesson 3  Prioritise Integration

Perhaps the most counterintuitive aspect of MKC's approach is their emphasis on integration over features.

"It is all well and good having a hundred different systems with amazing features," Kunwar observes. "But if you've got a swivel chair approach—pivoting from one tech stack to another—you're losing time. You're losing efficiency. You're not able to scale."

The hidden cost of poor integration is staggering:

• Advisers manually transferring information between systems
• Increased error rates from repeated data entry
• User frustration leading to technology abandonment
• Inability to scale processes effectively

"A single swivel-chair costs more than a fancy feature," Kunwar emphasizes. This principle drove MKC to select solutions based primarily on how well they connected with existing systems, not just their standalone capabilities.

The payoff comes in eliminating the "swivel chair" approach. When AdvisoryAI proved its ability to seamlessly work with MKC's document management system, CRM, and compliance tools, they knew they'd found their solution.

The Dual Impact: Client and Adviser Benefits

MKC's tech principles have yielded benefits beyond efficiency. "The reports are well structured and easy to read," Kunwar explains. "Emma delivers a less wordy, easier to understand solution, directly supporting Consumer Duty compliance."

Equally important is the adviser experience. Increasing capacity and reducing risk creates more time for advice. It also helps firms attract new talent; Advisers looking for a great digital work experience and of course, work/life balance. "In financial services, we always focus on the client experience and rightly so. But we sometimes forget the user experience, as both are dependent upon each other."

This balanced perspective recognises that sometimes, client-facing improvements might create hidden burdens for advisers. MKC's solution is to map both client and user journeys, ensuring technology enhances both experiences.

Technology That Amplifies Human Expertise

For wealth management leaders navigating technology decisions, MKC's three principles offer valuable guidance:

• Define the choke-point first
• Stress-test on edge-cases
• Prioritise integration

We leave the last words to Kumwar: “When technology serves these principles, it becomes not just an operational tool but a relationship enhancer—amplifying rather than replacing the human expertise at the heart of wealth management.”