Technology can make a family office run more smoothly — or it can be a source of frustration. We asked family members to tell us about a technology challenge their family office has faced:
Technology is changing so quickly, and changing from one software program to another, and re-entering all your data is a nightmare. So, for most people, once they’re in, whether they like it or not, they stay in.
I hired independent third parties to help assess what our technology needs are today, what we’ll grow into tomorrow and what is available for a reasonable cost. We went through a whole RFP and selected one software package. Then it was a six-month process to get it implemented.
The demo I saw was amazing – it did exactly what I wanted and had charts and a dashboard for presenting information to the family. I was sold on that. But when you’re looking at a demo, you don’t know if the information is accurate. They won’t allow you to test it with your own data unless you sign up.
You know how they say, ”Garbage in, garbage out”? As we implemented this, it seemed that the team they had entering the data didn’t quite understand the statements. Credit balances got turned into debits, and debit balances into credits. We couldn’t rely on any of the information, and it was a nightmare to get fixed. They wouldn’t allow us to change the data, and they wanted to charge more money to fix it because they said it was out of scope.
A year into the project, after spending a lot of money, we canned it. I knew that I would have always questioned whether the data was correct, and you can’t make decisions on data that you’re not sure of.
Since then, we haven’t had time to find a new system. We went back to our old way: aggregating the data on Excel spreadsheets. It’s taking more time, but at least you know that the data is correct.
— Patricia Saputo, CEO of her family’s office and co-founder of the advisory firm, Crysalia
I spent 45 years in a single lane, running Pepin Distributing. After the sale, stepping into the world of investing and family office management was like entering a whole new business — I had to relearn everything. It wasn’t just about getting familiar with financial platforms or investment tools; it was understanding how to use technology strategically to support both wealth management and philanthropy. We’re still navigating the learning curve in some areas, especially around data integration and evaluation tools that help us measure community impact more precisely. Looking ahead, we’re committed to building a tech-forward, values-driven family office that doesn’t just manage capital but multiplies impact.
— Tom Pepin, founder, Pepin Family Office
Technology is a challenge for us because we are so heavily concentrated. We have started the process of researching technology, but it just didn’t make sense at the time. With that being said, we all know in the future, due to diversification and other generations being served, we will need to come into the 21st century. Timing is everything, though, and I have learned over time (and due diligence) we don’t need all the shiny and new offerings just to consider ourselves a single family office. All single family offices look and operate differently, and this is what works for us presently.
— Celine Fitzgerald, G3 Member, Webb & O’Neill Capital; president of Fitzgerald Family Foundation
We also asked family office consultants about the challenges they see family offices facing today:
While debates like best-of-breed versus all-in-one are still very much alive, a seismic shift is underway. AI is fundamentally redefining how family offices think about their tech stack, data and day-to-day operations. It’s no longer just about parsing documents; AI is now orchestrating entire workflows, supporting decisions and reshaping internal processes.
Family offices are grappling with how to integrate this next wave — whether by leveraging powerful mainstream tools, like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, or adopting platforms purpose-built for their unique needs. But with opportunity comes real concern. Security and privacy have moved even higher on the agenda. Nines’ recent launch of an on-premise version of its platform is a clear signal: Clients want tighter control over their data.
According to a recent FOTechHub survey of 80 family offices (55 SFOs, 25 MFOs), 35% are already actively using AI tools — while 65% are still in the planning or exploration phase. This split speaks volumes: We’re in the early innings of transformation, and the clock is ticking. Family offices need to act decisively, choose partners wisely, and build for change — or risk falling behind.
Meanwhile, vendors are in a high-stakes race, with AI models evolving at breakneck speed. Some are building natively, others are buying their way in — like Addepar’s recent acquisition of Arcus. The landscape is shifting fast, and we’re likely to see a major reshuffle of leaders and laggards in the years ahead.
— Adriana Zalucka, founder of FOTechHub
The pace at which technology is changing globally tends to outpace that of financial services technology, at least historically. There are moats in the form of regulations that prohibit certain technologies, particularly newer technologies, from gaining direct access to financial information, resulting in time lags and incomplete information. The greatest challenge we see continues to be one where there are two sources of truth at the family office — the accounting software and the investment software. In general, at least historically, these two systems did not speak the same language, let alone communicate with one another, leaving family members and staff to question which output they should use. As the technology evolves, both from an accounting and investment perspective, the ability to access, manipulate and present data should become easier than it is today.
— Janet Arzt, founder, Parere Advisory