Outside of new categories being defined and certain battle lines being re-drawn not much has changed with the Kitces Map. There have always been friends, enemies (competitors), and “frienemies” (partners that compete in certain areas).
AI solutions will become commoditized in the near future (2-3yrs) because advisors will simply expect them to exist as a standard feature. That should drive the price down overtime and force the standalone AI solutions to re-invent themselves as something more.
In the end however the “all-in-one” strategy won’t overtake the “best-in-breed” approach is my personal opinion. Advisors have historically chosen choice over a single vertically integrated tech stack. That’s not to say an “all-in-one” can’t coexist, it’s just won’t be the dominant model now or in the future.
That’s fair, the specialization that seemed to take hold over the last 10yrs or so isn’t sustainable in its current form.
Salesforce got a few things right, their AppExchange for example. How customers can easily plug-in 3rd party solutions without a requirement to adopt yet another dashboard or interface makes a lot of sense.
The concept of embedded finance isn’t new but the vendors that plan for it and make certain components (microapps) available to work inside other applications will have an advantage. It’s one of the things the standalone AI tools are currently better positioned to support.
Really sharp framing on how commoditization shifts value from information to relaionship. The "zero basis points" concept captures something important about AI disruption that applies way beyond fintech too. When knowledge becomes frictionless, trust and accountability become the actual product. Have noticed a similar pattern in consulting where junior analyst work got automated first, but client relationships actualy got more valuable as a result.
Great post, Joe.
And I always appreciate some Tolkien mixed in with Fintech 😉
Thanks Russ!!
Outside of new categories being defined and certain battle lines being re-drawn not much has changed with the Kitces Map. There have always been friends, enemies (competitors), and “frienemies” (partners that compete in certain areas).
AI solutions will become commoditized in the near future (2-3yrs) because advisors will simply expect them to exist as a standard feature. That should drive the price down overtime and force the standalone AI solutions to re-invent themselves as something more.
In the end however the “all-in-one” strategy won’t overtake the “best-in-breed” approach is my personal opinion. Advisors have historically chosen choice over a single vertically integrated tech stack. That’s not to say an “all-in-one” can’t coexist, it’s just won’t be the dominant model now or in the future.
Hmmm... well, I think advisors will have several tools, but not 12-15 like they do now.
That’s fair, the specialization that seemed to take hold over the last 10yrs or so isn’t sustainable in its current form.
Salesforce got a few things right, their AppExchange for example. How customers can easily plug-in 3rd party solutions without a requirement to adopt yet another dashboard or interface makes a lot of sense.
The concept of embedded finance isn’t new but the vendors that plan for it and make certain components (microapps) available to work inside other applications will have an advantage. It’s one of the things the standalone AI tools are currently better positioned to support.
Really sharp framing on how commoditization shifts value from information to relaionship. The "zero basis points" concept captures something important about AI disruption that applies way beyond fintech too. When knowledge becomes frictionless, trust and accountability become the actual product. Have noticed a similar pattern in consulting where junior analyst work got automated first, but client relationships actualy got more valuable as a result.