Focus: Bringing AI to thousands of advisors at a $500B financial services firm

About Focus

Focus Financial Partners (“Focus”) is a leading financial services firm comprised of integrated wealth management, family office, and business management services. With more than $500 billion in advised assets, more than 300 completed M&A transactions, and more than 6,300 team members, Focus pairs deep expertise and expansive resources with a boutique, client-first fiduciary philosophy.

Opportunity

Focus has spent several years transforming its business, investing heavily in its brand, infrastructure and operating model. The next step is deploying AI at scale as part of its growth strategy. Focus’ business model has long been built to deliver both scale and personalization. Clients increasingly want the resources and capabilities of a large institution, delivered with the responsiveness and trust of a local advisor. At Focus’ scale, the right AI platform can reduce administrative burdens and expand advisor capacity across the whole organization.

“Our partnership with Nevis is about more than adopting a new tool. It’s a fundamental step in building the technology foundation we need for the AI era, and it required a level of capability, security and strategic alignment that few providers could meet.”

— Adam Birenbaum, CEO of Focus

“At Focus, we have spent years building a national platform with the scale, talent and infrastructure needed to lead through the next era of wealth management,” said Justin Ferri, Chief Operating Officer at Focus. “This partnership allows us to build on that foundation and bring the benefits of AI to advisors and clients more quickly and more broadly than would otherwise be possible.”

Solution

Focus weighed three paths: assembling a set of point solutions, building its own platform in-house, or partnering with Nevis. They concluded that Nevis would deliver value faster and with higher quality than any other alternative. A major factor in that decision was flexibility. Nevis gives Focus the AI infrastructure to tailor the platform to the way its business already works across the enterprise, so Focus doesn’t have to adapt to a one-size-fits-all product. Nevis now serves as Focus’ enterprise AI platform. It is purpose-built for wealth management and designed for Focus to make its own.

“We looked at building this ourselves, and at nearly everything else on the market. What set Nevis apart was speed to value: the technology was built around how advisors actually work, flexible enough to support the way our advisors operate without a one-size-fits-all approach, and able to deliver real impact for our advisors and clients years faster than we could have built it alone.”

— Adam Birenbaum, CEO of Focus

Nevis is transforming the Focus technology stack. Advisors now have a single desktop and AI platform that puts their information and tools in one place. Operations teams use Nevis Workflows to automate back-office processes such as account opening from start to finish. The platform adapts to the way Focus already works, so advisors keep the approach their clients value.

As part of the rollout, Focus works directly with a dedicated Nevis Deployment team, including Deployment Strategists, Forward Deployed Engineers, and AI Engineers. The team works closely with Focus’ Chief Experience Officer, Heads of Operations, and other leaders to configure Nevis to the way Focus runs its business. The result is a platform built around Focus’ way of working, one that brings out what makes Focus special rather than replacing it with a standard process.

Impact

Meeting preparation, follow-ups, and account opening no longer consume an advisor’s week. Advisors put that time back into their clients through more conversations, better-prepared meetings, and deeper planning work. More time with clients leads to stronger relationships and a growing book of business.

“Every wealth management firm wants to get into AI right now. The question is how,” said Mark Swan, CEO and Co-Founder of Nevis. “At Nevis, we understand that no two firms look the same. Our AI infrastructure helps wealth management firms accelerate their deployments and deliver value faster, so advisors can spend their time with clients and grow their businesses. It is designed to accentuate what makes each firm special, not standardize it away.”

“Our partnership with Nevis reflects where Focus is headed as a firm. We’ve spent decades building a leading and comprehensive wealth management platform. Now we’re investing in the technologies that will help our advisors serve clients more effectively, operate more efficiently and continue growing for years to come. We believe the future belongs to firms that can combine scale, expertise and technology, and this partnership is an important step in that journey,” said Birenbaum.

If your leadership team is shaping its AI strategy, we’d welcome the conversation.