Financial advisers in the UK lack faith in their system outputs, with just 7% saying they are very confident that their systems produce consistent outputs, research from Defaqto has revealed.

Defaqto said the findings, based on a survey of 120 advisers, highlighted a significant confidence gap in adviser technology.

It pointed to a widening disconnect between investment in technology and the day-to-day reality of how advice is provided, with many firms continuing to operate across fragmented systems that require manual intervention, duplication, and reconciliation.

While digital tools were being widely adopted, the research found persistent structural challenges.

Almost nine in 10 (89%)advisers used three or more systems within their advice process, while the same proportion believed disconnected systems created hidden costs across efficiency, time, and risk.

Furthermore, more than two thirds (67%) of advisers frequently re-entered the same data across multiple platforms.

Defaqto said manual data entry remained a "critical pressure point" with industry benchmarks suggesting a 1% to 4% error rate every time data is rekeyed.

"In practice, advisers are spending more time bridging the gaps between tools than the tools save them," commented Defaqto product director, Daniel Boneham.

"The research shows that the gaps between systems - not the systems themselves - are now a major source of hidden effort, particularly where data doesn’t align and outputs need to be reconciled."

Defaqto said its findings suggested the industry was entering a new phase in its technology evolution, with the challenges increasingly centred around how integrated tools connect at a data level and whether outputs are consistent, explainable, and reliable.

"The real shift is away from tool accumulation and towards data alignment," Boneham added.

"Advisers need a consistent, shared data foundation that supports the entire advice process. Without that, firms are left reconciling differences rather than relying on their technology with confidence."

As firms move beyond simply adding tools to ensuring that data underpinning advice is consistent and connected, technology providers were found to be increasingly focused on how data, insight, and workflow can be aligned across the advice process.

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