Wealthtech provider Orion is unveiling artificial intelligence assistants within its platforms this week, part of what top executives say will be a long-term push to integrate AI into its systems.
Orion is showcasing the AI-driven features at the Future Proof conference in Huntington Beach, Calif., this week. The first wave of developments will give advisors AI-driven data queries with natural language, a reporting assistant for clients, a digital platform for use with wealthy clients, and an insights dashboard for C-suite executives at large RIAs or financial firms.
The new features are still in development. Beta testing with advisors is planned for the fourth quarter, and a broader rollout is slated for 2026.
In an interview before the launch, Orion CEO Natalie Wolfsen said AI is “probably the biggest investment going at Orion right now” as it is being integrated by the product team for clients and internally across the Omaha, Neb.-based firm.
“We want to make sure that our clients are empowered with AI,” Wolfsen said. “We have specific investments in different initiatives … and then [the product] team is looking at how they build code, how they do QA, and it’s the most profound investment in that organization if you aggregate all the people, all the training, all the resources.”
At Future Proof, Orion is highlighting the near-term rollouts, including a reporting assistant to help advisors create client reports more quickly and efficiently. In addition, it is demoing a query studio that can bring up data sets or create reports through natural language, as opposed to requesting work-ups from expert teams.
In addition, the firm will launch Orion Strategic Insights, an AI-driven dashboard for C-suite executives in the advisor space. The dashboard will provide real-time views of revenue, assets under management, advisor performance and client behavior to help them run their businesses and track the results of growth strategies.
Finally, the firm will roll out a new digital platform developed after the January 2025 acquisition of Summit Wealth Systems, a firm created by Black Diamond founder Reed Colley, who is now president of Orion Advisor Technology.
The platform targets advisors who work with ultra-high-net-worth clients. It is branded to the firm and offers support for complex investing, financial planning and reporting. Orion is offering this AI-driven service as an add-on to its Orion Stack and as a feature in its Orion Family Office Stack.
In an interview before Future Proof, Colley said the firm has been developing some technologies for over a year, even as it continues to consider and build new AI-driven products.
“Everything that we’re doing from a technology perspective and bringing solutions out to our advisors, we’re asking, ‘How does AI start to transform this?’” Colley said. “It’s not a magic wand—it’s a platform change.”
He also compared the change to when he led Black Diamond, where the firm moved from software on machines to a web-based platform.
“I haven’t seen a platform sea change like this since that time, and AI is that,” he said. “I talk about it as a platform for everything we do in terms of the tools everybody uses, in terms of meeting notes, whether it’s ChatGPT, to AI agents that we are putting all across our operational stack.”
Orion will open an innovation lab in San Francisco later this year to help fuel the progress.
When considering Orion’s advantage against competitors in implementing AI, Wolfsen pointed to the firm’s ongoing use of advisor communities, including financial advisors, COOs, CTOs, portfolio managers and others, for feedback and testing. She also pointed to Orion’s scale of client usage, which includes 7.5 million accounts and 25,000 advisor firm clients, and is used by many of the country’s mega-RIAs.
“It means that we have these rich pools of information, some Orion, some not Orion … all of that can be used to power these great experiences, whether it’s the unified client experience or really robust reporting insights or great workflows through the CRM,” she said. “All the integrations that we have that drive advisor efficiency are really what’s going to advantage Orion.”
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