The Hidden Cost Of Advisor Tech Sprawl

“Too much of anything is the beginning of a mess.” – Dorothy Draper.

The financial market is flooded with modern tech platforms and tools; choice fatigue is real and is becoming a genuine concern for many advisors. As per a report by Cerulli Associates¹, 71% of financial advisors were frustrated by a lack of integration between tools and applications, pointing to a long-running problem of fragmentation in wealth technology.  

While modern tools and technology can streamline operations, they can also complicate the landscape. Thus comes the phenomenon of "tech sprawl.”  

Tech sprawl refers to the uncontrolled expansion and adoption of multiple technologies within an organization. With so many tools and platforms available, choice fatigue is getting real for advisors. This can lead to a lack of coordination, duplications, inefficiencies, and disconnected systems.  

When advisors find themselves overwhelmed with too much tech, it leads to: 

• Wasted time on manual tasks
  When systems don’t connect, advisors are forced to bridge the gaps themselves—rekeying data, reconciling numbers, and double-checking reports instead of focusing on clients.

• Advisor burnout and team frustration
  Juggling multiple logins, learning redundant tools, and constantly troubleshooting integrations drains both time and energy. It’s no wonder nearly a third of advisors cite managing technology as a top challenge.¹

• Inconsistent client experience
  When data lives in silos, clients feel it. Advisors can’t deliver the seamless experience investors expect, and clients are left navigating disjointed portals or missing critical insights on things like taxes, estates, or insurance.

• Compliance risks
  Disconnected platforms make it harder to maintain oversight. Without a single source of truth, compliance gaps creep in—creating risk where advisors can least afford it.

What are high-performing firms doing differently?

The biggest difference isn’t how many tools they have—it’s how well those tools work together. Leading firms are:

• Prioritizing the integration of their core tech stack with existing systems to reduce data silos. By ensuring that your CRM, portfolio management tools, trading platforms, and reporting systems all connect, firms create a single flow of information across the business. This not only reduces data silos, but also cuts down on rekeying, and ensures advisors always have the most accurate, up-to-date view of client information.
• Consolidating overlapping tools. High-performing firms are streamlining their stacks by replacing redundant point solutions with platforms that offer multiple capabilities in one. This reduces complexity, lowers costs, and makes it easier for teams to learn and adopt the technology.
• Regularly auditing existing technology infrastructure to get rid of redundant systems. The best firms don’t let tool sprawl creep in unnoticed. They assess their tech stack on an ongoing basis, identifying redundancies, cutting unused tools, and ensuring every platform earns its place by adding measurable value to the advisor and client experience.

At Orion, we recognize that technology sprawl is an inevitable challenge as firms evolve—but it doesn’t have to hold you back. Our unified approach is designed to minimize risk, align your firm’s goals more closely with your clients, and bring your tools together into one connected platform. By automating critical processes and helping you focus on technology that fuels growth rather than frustration, we make it easier for advisors to spend less time wrestling with systems and more time serving clients.