With artificial intelligence quickly transforming the ways in which financial advisors and wealth management firms do business, Financial Planning is recognizing outstanding work in the field.
Our inaugural Innovation Awards honor tech firms that are developing cutting-edge technology for use in marketing, client onboarding, investment strategy, lead generation and specialized planning. Wealth management firms are recognized for their efforts in automation, marketing, client engagement and professional development.
Special Innovator of the Year awards will be bestowed on two of these firms at
View a list of all 2024 Innovation Award winners here.
Call it the cure for the common seminar. Nationwide's Financial Marketing Integration and Enterprise Innovation and Digital units worked with Morgan Stanley Wealth Management to create tax-efficient retirement income planning training in the metaverse. Morgan Stanley's financial professionals logged in through the web or with goggles to sit in a virtual room as avatar characters. Rather than forcing everyone into increasingly stale video meetings or trying to get busy financial advisors together in one physical location, Nationwide used feedback from 20 pilot participants to develop an interactive educational experience. The resulting virtual seminar led to a combination of self-guided, expert-led and peer-learning opportunities.
The company's primary goal was "to reinvent the way seminars are experienced by creating an immersive world accessible by financial professionals," Nationwide wrote in the firm's nomination submission. "We collaborated with Morgan Stanley to help identify specific measurements including the user experience, engagement in the space and learning from financial professionals on what provides value."
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Those efforts paid off. At least 53% told the firm they liked the metaverse seminar more than webinars or in-person sessions. The same percentage reported that they would recommend it to others, and 61% said they are interested in returning to the metaverse for another training.
"Our goal was to elevate virtual learning," Nationwide said. "This immersive method outperformed conventional platforms like Zoom, engaging users more effectively. These insights will guide Nationwide and [Morgan Stanley] in future applications, enhancements and how to leverage use of this technology for the future."
