John O'Connell was recently featured in Advisorpedia arguing that firms misdiagnose the advisor shortage. 37% of advisors are planning to retire within a decade and demand is outpacing the talent pipeline, yet most firms treat it as an HR problem when it's an operational design problem. John's prescription is to stop competing for experienced...
John O'Connell was recently quoted in Wealth Solutions Report on why integrating advisory tech stacks hasn't solved firms' data problems. He said connecting systems isn't the same as making them work together. As John put it, integration moves data between systems but doesn't create intelligence across them. CRMs and email platforms were never designed...
John O'Connell recently wrote in WealthManagement.com about why firms keep making expensive wealth tech mistakes: every AI tool looks impressive in a controlled demo where the data is clean, the workflow is choreographed, and the edge cases your firm would actually hit never surface, so the real trap is letting the vendor set the...
John O'Connell was recently featured in Kiplinger writing about how businesses and advisory firms should budget for AI. The problem isn't whether to spend, that decision is made, it's that firms treat AI like standard software when it's actually a variable cost that tracks consumption rather than headcount, so two advisers on the same...
You signed a contract for an AI tool. The bill arrives measured in something called tokens, or credits, or messages. Last month it cost one number. This month it costs twice that. Nobody on your leadership team can tell you why. You do not need to understand the engineering to fix this. You need to understand...
John O'Connell was recently interviewed by Wealth Management about Cybersecurity adoption among RIAs. Adoption has remained low, and the reason isn't awareness, most firms have outsourced IT and assumed that covers cybersecurity, when in reality it's a distinct, multi-part discipline spanning employee training, endpoint security, email security, cloud security, and field hygiene for traveling...
John O'Connell wrote this piece for Wealth Solutions Report on why RIAs facing Schwab's new $5 block trade fee should look at trading discipline before touching their pricing. Most firms can reduce their fee exposure through trading discipline alone, before any conversation about pricing strategy becomes necessary, he argues. Re-balancing frequency, drift bands, and...
John O'Connell wrote this piece for Rethinking65 on why advisors expanding their AI use should start in the back office, not with clients. According to J.D. Power's 2025 U.S. Financial Advisor Satisfaction Study, 35% of advisors identified AI as the top technology their firms should invest in, and satisfaction scores were measurably higher among...
John O'Connell, CEO of The Oasis Group, wrote this piece for Advisor Perspectives on why AI washing is now more than a marketing nuisance. It's become a real threat to the industry's ability to weather the coming advisor shortage. McKinsey's January 2026 analysis projected that nearly 40% of current financial advisors will retire within...
In this article, John explores the different ways that Anthropic has changed Claude to specifically integrate the product into the financial services space, mainly through the introduction of a financial services tier and a host of plugins. He also examines what companies anthropic seems to be seeking to replace. Read the Full Article Here
