The notetakers are turning into "agentic operating systems," becoming the client relationship management of a business. What sort of firms are driving this change forward and what are the opportunities and downsides? Our US correspondent takes a look.

AI software companies are forging a new category that combines notetaking and CRM capabilities into what they hope will be the long sought-after Holy Grail for RIAs – data integration in an all-in-one inclusive operating system. 

“Notetakers are becoming agentic operating systems that want to run everything in your business,” Craig Iskowitz, CEO of the fintech consulting firm Ezra Group, explained to readers in his latest newsletter. “They’re expanding into proposal generation, compliance, financial planning and workflows. They’re becoming CRM.”

The standalone AI notetaker category, which exploded in popularity less than two years ago and is the most widely used AI app, “will not exist in its current form by 2028,” Ezra Group’s 2026 Strategic Buyers Guide concluded.                              

A new comprehensive operating model change may be emerging, and while RIAs are clearly interested in an all-in-one solution, they have heard those promises before.

Modera Wealth Management CEO Tom Orecchio recalled a proposed “Silver Bullet” solution to data integration over a decade ago that never fulfilled its promise. “The ability to create a central data base is what everyone wants,” Orecchio said.

Leslie Norman, chief technology officer for Dynasty Financial Partners agreed, adding, “The big question for these new AI capabilities is ‘How does this integrate into an RIA’s broader tech stack?’”

“Notetaking completely commoditized”
Vendors may or may not be able to yet provide an answer, but they are clearly moving beyond apps that transcribe and summarize meetings with suggested follow-up actions. 

“Notetaking has become completely commoditized,” said Shakeel Lala, the CEO of Marloo, a new agentic entry into the AI market for RIAs. “The market is beginning to realize that transcription alone is not a durable competitive advantage,” added Ian Karnell, CEO of AI software company VastAdvisor.

Leading notetaking firms like Jump, Zocks, Cognicor and Zeplyn are all jumping on the agentic OS bandwagon, according to Iskowitz. Practifi, Slant and Wealthbox have emerged as CRM-native AI notetakers, a new category that Iskowitz said “structurally threatens the standalone model.” CRMs and other legacy apps “are building notetakers because they don’t want to be disintermediated,” he added.

“Agentic OS belongs in the system of record”
Agentic operating systems are beginning to offer financial advisors workflow execution, bidirectional CRM synchronization, document ingestion, MCP server integration and compliance review, according to the Ezra Group’s Buyer’s Guide.

RIAs like Modera want “one data lake” where they can onboard new clients, populate forms, receive client information and performance reporting and rebalance portfolios, said Orrechio.

Slant replaces an advisor’s existing CRM and integrates with communication tools, file storage systems and custodian, according to Slant co-founder Thomas Clawson. “We believe agentic OS belongs in the system of record, not as an add-on tool,” Clawson said.

Marloo can generate reports, prep client meetings, monitor compliance and coordinate dozens of other activities for advisors from a central database, according to Lala. “We’re trying to reinvent the way advisors work, not just build tech for advisors,” he said.

What advisors want
Nonetheless, advisors want to see how the new agentic AI tech from vendors like Marloo, Slant and VastAdvisor works.

Orecchio wants to see demos of the tech in action, but “not just from the tech guy. There should also be somebody from our world who speaks the language of advisors. This kind of technology isn’t just going to be run by operations but is going to be used by advisors.”

Data comes from more sources than notetaking and CRM, Dynasty’s Norman noted. “What sources of information are populating their database? How far back in time does the data go? Is there preprocessing? Will there be integration? What are the security protocols?”

“Rough and tumble market”
Breaking into an extremely competitive fintech market for RIAs and asking them to switch systems won’t be easy. 

“It’s a rough and tumble market,” said veteran fintech consultant John O’Connell, CEO of the Oasis Group. “Vendors will have to hit on every cylinder. They have to get demos booked, have enough salespeople to get in front of real buyers, build brand awareness and show up on AI searches.”

VastAdvisor is focusing its marketing efforts on industry conferences and showcase events, demos, workshops, media and podcast appearances and advisor case studies and pilot programs.

Marloo, a two-year-old startup based in London, has raised $12.7 million in venture capital funding and plans to launch the latest iteration of its AI agentic software for advisors in the US next month at the Wealth Management EDGE conference. The company, which has wealth management, insurance and mortgage customers in the UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, claims that revenue is growing more than 40 per cent  month over  month.

Demos and salespeople needed
The AI company is spending millions on marketing, targeting US RIAs serving the mass affluent market, ideally firms with between five and 10 advisors who are “caught in the middle” between a lack of scale and a need to innovate, Lala said. He is setting up an office in New York and plans to hire 10 salespeople by year end, bringing the company’s total to 12.

In addition to its RIA partnership program, Lala plans to showcase Marloo’s software at conferences, promote it on digital channels and count on angel investors to use contacts to set up meetings with RIAs. “My goal is to convince advisors that it’s worth the cost to switch,” he said. “They will have trial tools and can compare Marloo to what they have.”

O’Connor thinks Marloo is a “strong entry into the [fintech] space” but will have to quickly build out demos and hire salespeople. Iskowitz is more pessimistic, pointing out that existing vendors have already penetrated 80 per cent or more of the market and that a new entrant “has to displace an existing vendor that has a 12-to-24-month head start on features and marketing.”

Legacy versus clean slate
But not being a legacy brand can be an advantage, Orecchio noted. “The legacy systems may have an AI overlay, but a new company is not constricted and that can really help them. They can build what RIAs want from the ground up.”

Of course there are also concerns. Orecchio asks startups about bankruptcy risk and how they are funded. “We need to know if they will be around in five years.”

RIAs also need to be wary of AI errors in agentic operating systems, workflow control and vendor control of data, according to Ezra Group’s Buyer’s Guide.

AI startups like Marloo are well positioned to accept the challenge, Lala said. “Automating work that already exists is table stakes,” he said. “We want to give customers new models of operating that weren’t possible before AI.”