New research from intelliflo shows AI use among advice firms has risen sharply over the past year, but many say inefficient processes continue to hamper productivity and client outcomes.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming part of the financial advice toolkit, with adoption among UK advice firms rising from 43% to 74% in the past year, according to intelliflo’s 2026 UK Advice Efficiency Survey.
The survey of 209 advice professionals found advisers are primarily using AI to tackle administrative tasks rather than support the advice process itself.
Note-taking and transcription are the most common applications, used by 87% of AI adopters, while 44% use the technology to assist with report writing.
The findings suggest advisers are targeting some of the profession’s biggest time drains. Nearly a third (30%) spend three or more hours producing a report, while one in 10 spend more than five hours.
Despite growing adoption of AI, operational inefficiencies remain widespread. More than three-fifths (60.7%) of firms use five or more core systems, while 68% cite manual data entry as a significant challenge. Nearly two-fifths (38%) reported data errors in more than 11% of client cases.
As a result, advisers rated the efficiency of their current workflows at an average of just 6.23 out of 10. Only a quarter (25%) described their processes as highly efficient, while 75% said existing workflows limit their ability to deliver good client outcomes to some degree.
The survey also highlighted a gap between firms’ ambitions and reality. While 62% of advisers want near-complete digital workflows, fewer than half (48%) reported minimal paper use within their businesses.
The research findings highlight the ongoing challenge of reducing administrative workloads without compromising service standards.
While AI appears to be helping in areas such as report production and meeting notes, the research suggests many firms are yet to realise its full potential.
The study found advisers would largely use any efficiency gains to grow their businesses. Two-thirds (66%) said they would serve more clients if processes became more streamlined, while 47% would focus on business development. Only 17% said they would use the extra time to move to a four-day working week.
Nick Eatock, CEO of intelliflo, said: “Our 2026 Advice Efficiency Survey shows the advice profession has made up its mind on AI, with adoption jumping from 43% to 74% in a year.”
However, he added that “three-quarters of advice professionals say their processes limit the client outcomes they can deliver.”
“There’s a clear business case for modern, integrated solutions, like wealthlink and intelliflo IQ, which put an end to rekeying the same client data again and again. Advisers told us they want to grow their client base and build their business. Done well, technology lets them do both.”
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