Brian Jones, executive vice president, Envision Financial Systems
Hands down, blockchain technology will revolutionize financial services in many impactful ways. Imagine our industry absent the many costly intermediaries charging fees while increasing the time it takes to transact. An immutable global ledger will change everything. Forget a goal of T+1, how about immediate settlement? Peer-to-peer transactions with smart contracts and stablecoins will reduce counterparty risk, improve trade execution and open new distribution channels, especially with institutional and illiquid products. This is just the beginning … we can’t even fathom all the ways this technology will transform
our industry and the world.
Ashby Monk, executive director, Stanford Research Initiative on Long Term Investing
Location-based technology is the foundation of a more sustainable and resilient world. A GPS doesn’t just signal location, it unlocks industrial disruption and restructuring on a remarkable scale. It underpins autonomous driving, ridesharing, energy efficiency, construction methods, climate-risk insurance and much more. The hardware (sensors) and software (models) focused on location-based applications will improve everything. Seriously, location tech drives self-knowledge (current position), clarifies goals (future destination), and creates more intelligent roadmaps between the two (routing). It is transforming the way we construct, move through, and inhabit our world. But this isn’t just about maps, it’s about navigating to a better future.
David Jensen, vice president, Juniper Square Private Capital Advisory
Sustainability remains the biggest opportunity for innovation as we work toward a brighter future for ourselves and our planet. Within our industry in particular, we’re excited to see the growing harmonization of financial and non-financial ESG information, enabling investors to allocate capital to high-performing impact investments at scale.
Keith Black, managing director education, RIA Channel
Over the next 10 years, blockchain technology has the potential to be highly disruptive. Blockchains can be used to speed transactions, disintermediate high-cost intermediaries, and bring unparalleled transparency to global records. The largest impacts may be in supply chain management, cross-border payments, health and education records, ticketing, earning yield on stablecoins, and even real estate titles and transactions. The key to mass adoption is to make the technology easily usable by consumers. When buying tickets or selling a house is as easy and secure as using a mobile phone application, consumers will quickly adopt this revolutionary technology in pursuit of speed and cost savings.
Andrea Lennon, head of fund services, Ireland, Crestbridge
Ones to watch will be those who are able to provide investors, owners and occupiers with data to support intelligent decision making — whether that’s by providing advanced analytic software; capturing, storing and serving internally generated data; or providing new data. Big data analytics can especially become a significant valuation disruptor, leading to more automation in valuation processes. Finally, integrating sustainability into investment strategies will lead to developers and landlords needing to think about technology used to develop sustainable buildings, for example using it to track energy efficiency. There’s a data-driven contest under way, but the victors have yet to emerge.
William McCance, president, TAG Advisory Services
There is serious potential in robotic process automation (RPA), the process of using software-driven robotics in manufacturing. RPA will allow us to bring manufacturing back to our shores with a level of cost-effectiveness not seen in 75 years. It will eliminate low-skill tedious jobs while creating high-skill software and technical jobs that pay more and take less of a toll on the body, meaning it could well be the most disruptive technology during the next 10 years. But we must ensure that we have the educational programs to train people for these new roles without overpricing the cost of educating them. Already, 48 of Apple’s 180 suppliers have created RPA manufacturing plants in the United States, a trend that is only beginning.