Origo's Innes Miller explains the value of a 'data lake' and why more advisers are creating them

Innes Miller, our Head of Market Growth, explains why centralising client data is becoming a strategic priority, from unlocking AI insights to meeting regulatory demands and preparing for the next wave of consolidation.

Here in the world of fintech, we increasingly find ourselves talking to advisers about ‘data lakes’. To briefly explain, a data lake is a repository of a firm’s data in its raw form which is centralised in-house. And why are advisers so interested? Increasingly, financial planning firms know that data is a key driver of business value and having both control and flexibility over how it is used can help drive far deeper client insights. Add to that last year’s information request from the FCA to advice businesses, and it’s also clear that the regulator is placing increasing importance on data too.

Traditionally, an advice firm would have data located in different back-office systems, technology and other tools. Indeed many advice businesses still operate in this way. The downside to this approach is that it can be harder to keep your data up to date, maintain its quality and ensure good oversight.

Against this backdrop we’re seeing an increasing number of advice firms, especially medium and larger sized players , looking to bring data under their control by creating a data lake. And there are a number of big trends in and around financial advice which could make this an even more important consideration for advisers in 2026 and beyond.

AI tools and data

Almost half (45%) of advice firms are now using AI[1], according to research by NextWealth, but this technology is arguably only as good as the advice firm’s data that sits behind it. If an advice firm still has data scattered across different applications or back-office systems, integrations could prove challenging, in turn making it difficult to maximise the opportunity from any AI tools it has invested in. It’s for reasons like this that global business insight specialists, Gartner, recently predicted that in 2026 organisations will abandon 60% of AI projects that are unsupported by AI-ready data[2].

The management and quality of data is vital for firms that really want to embrace AI and we believe this is driving some advisers to enhance their in-house data capability in order to gain that level of control.

Where to start?

Of course, any advice firm looking to go down this route will have to gather data from various third-parties and back-office systems first. The good news is this part of the process doesn’t have to be painful. For advisers who use Origo, it’s simply a case of setting up a direct feed from our Integration Hub into their firm’s own data lake to easily access information like valuation data or transaction history. Often the data is richer than that obtained from other sources.

Client data may need to go through a cleansing process as often it can be inaccurate or incomplete. To simplify this process, we work with LexisNexis to carry out a data cleanse for advisers in this position, removing any inaccurate, out of date or irrelevant data along the way.

Consolidation in the advice market

With the average age of a financial planner in the UK now over 57[3], according to recent data from the FCA, succession planning can never be far from the minds of business owners in the sector. There are a number of routes for advisers to explore when considering the future of their business but with consolidation proving a continuing trend in the advice sector, this is clearly a popular option for many. Having your firm’s data up to scratch is absolutely crucial for any firm considering a potential sale, especially during the intensive due diligence and integration stage.

Intergenerational wealth

Better data control also creates more opportunities for advice firms to find new routes to growth by developing fresh, valuable, insights into their client base. For example, the great wealth transfer looks set to define the coming decades for financial advice, presenting both opportunities and challenges for financial planning businesses.

Being able to access detailed insight and data on the age demographics, family relationships and generations that make up your firm’s client base can be an important tool for developing a strategy around intergenerational planning and staying firmly on the right side of this trend.

Looking ahead, improving data accessibility will be about more than just supporting compliance and your current planning process – although both will remain extremely important. It’s also about drawing deeper insights (which will be increasingly AI-driven) to ensure your firm can adapt to big changes and stay one step ahead of future trends on the horizon.

[1] Source: https://nextwealth.co.uk/research/clearing-the-path-for-ai-in-advice/

[2] Source: https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-02-26-lack-of-ai-ready-data-puts-ai-projects-at-risk

[3] Source: https://www.ftadviser.com/content/cec84634-1340-48a1-9c5d-5c3e47ea442e

This article was originally published on: https://ifamagazine.com/insigh...