If on the one hand information and web technologies are creating new professions, on the other they endanger old and consolidated professions which, if they do not change, risk seeing their activities significantly reduced. For labor consultants, accountants, lawyers, and also for engineers, experts, journalists, etc., things have been changing for some time, both in the way you work and get informed, but it did not seem possible that the relationship with the customer could also change . Instead, there are already robots who give advice in various fields, until recently the prerogative of professionals only.
Among the rapidly changing professions there is also that of the financial advisor. In the United States, the use of robo-advisors for financial consultancy is growing at great speed, the share of investment made with robot consultancy is still low but the number of investors is already very respectable. A sign that many people want to try the new robotic method of financial consulting but before giving complete trust to these tools, the saver wants to test the effectiveness and reliability.
But what are the advantages and problems of this new consulting and service methodology? At present, before making an investment, it is normal for people who do not have a specific background in financial matters to rely on “consultants” of banks, post offices, financial advisors. However, these are often not real consultants but sellers of banking and financial institutions and rarely guarantee a broad and constantly updated investment spectrum. On the other hand, the relationship that is established with people in flesh and blood, directly or through institutions, initially seem to give greater guarantees and trust, but this trust is not always honored, just seeing the financial scandals that have been taking place for a long time.
The robot consultant, on the other hand, has several characteristics, which at least at first glance may seem more practical and advantageous: the virtual consultant can be consulted at any time; it costs much less; is or should be continuously updated; proposes, according to pre-set algorithms, the best on the market in relation to the profile of the investor and the specific quality requests of the placement; set up your investment directly online. Furthermore, the IT consultancy system is not subject in the proposal phase to: human errors; special interests; emotional choices always possible for individuals. However, this impartiality occurs only when the system is consulted, not in its implementation. In fact, at the time of insertion or information search, its processing through algorithms, per se are not a guarantee of impartiality. So even in the case of robo-advisor, the basis of the relationship lies the trust towards the management company that develops the software and the mathematical formulas that regulate the robot.
The systems of techno finance and robo-advisors are now available all over the world and also several Italian companies have been experimenting in this sector for some time. So also in the field of financial consultancy, we are moving towards a period where information machines will give us the necessary elements to make choices, replacing or at least supporting the professional activity of many people.