Family Office Software & Technology Report 2024

Positivity seems to be winning the day over lingering concerns about geopolitical and supply chain volatility or emerging regulations at the national and supranational levels. Most technology executives surveyed by Deloitte were “optimistic” for the immediate future of their sector, focusing on efficiency and innovation in their firms. Their optimism seems well-placed as 2023-2024 have been watershed years for generative artificial intelligence or gen AI. New applications brought to service decades of artificial intelligence and machine learning research. The opening of ChatGPT captured public interest and helped lead to significant investments in the sector. 65% of the respondents to a McKinsey survey reported that their organisation currently used gen AI. That said, a recent estimate put AI revenue at 3 billion USD from investments totalling 50 billion USD. What is clear at our present moment is that we are at the front end of the broad impact of AI. Use cases and business models are rapidly evolving.

The family office software and technology sector tracks a similar trajectory. 89% of family offices surveyed by Simple feel “less-than-adequately” invested in their tech stack requiring guidance. Encouragingly, 49% of family office respondents indicated that they are developing or launching a new digitisation strategy this year. Only 26% of family office respondents to a Campden survey have adopted advanced portfolio management tools. Combined these findings reveal significant room for family office professionalisation and sector growth 

Nearly all of the family office technology industry respondents to our survey see a growing market for their products and services. They also indicate that their firms are incorporating AI. At the same time, most family offices are hardly digitised beyond Excel, Word, and Email. For those with technology in place, there seems to be a sense of tools working in isolation as the top technology demand of Simple platform users is better integration between products. New market entrants and established firms continue to build out their capabilities, most notably by expanding AI-powered document processing and other automations, in addition to building tools to track alternative assets more efficiently. 

Similar to all companies, family offices are evaluating AI to understand risks and opportunities it can bring to their operations. The tradition of privacy in the family office sector, especially now related to data security, brings nuance to the sector in determining which AI technologies to adopt immediately and which require further development. Software and technologies focused on family offices need to keep pace with families adapting to macroeconomic shifts and through changes to their structure and governance. A properly curated technology stack facilitates operational excellence.