The retirement-plan record-keeping industry is undergoing a fundamental shift in how advisors evaluate and select platform partners, according to new research from NMG Consulting. While pricing has historically been the primary differentiator among record keepers, technology capabilities, integration features and operational ease are now playing a growing role in advisor evaluations of these firms, the Defined Contribution Advisor Insights study suggests.

Advisors increasingly view technology, integration and ease of doing business as central to both their satisfaction with record keepers and their willingness to recommend them to clients, the study found. Pricing remains foundational, but in many ways the race to the bottom has simply made it table stakes. Increasingly, technology and ease of doing business are where record keepers win or lose advisor advocacy.

While fees remain among the most frequently cited selection criteria, derived analysis suggests they are not the primary drivers of recommendation behaviour. Instead, advisors are most influenced by capabilities that improve efficiency, integration and engagement, highlighting a shift from price-based competition toward technology-enabled differentiation. This disconnect between stated priorities and actual behaviour reveals what NMG describes as a silent differentiator operating beneath conventional selection criteria.

The shift reflects diverse needs across the advisor landscape. Defined contribution advisors' needs are not monolithic, the study notes. While wealth advisors often prioritise operational efficiency and streamlined rollover processes, DC specialists increasingly look to technology-enabled capabilities, including integrated platforms, fiduciary analytics and participant engagement tools, as key sources of value.

The evolution in advisor perceptions also reflects broader changes in the economics of advisory practices. Advisors are now facing many of the same pressures that have reshaped the record-keeping industry, including fee compression, rising service expectations, and the need to do more with fewer resources. As margins tighten, technology is becoming less of a discretionary investment and more of a strategic necessity.

The hardest discipline in platform selection is saying no to a legacy relationship you already half-believe still serves you, family office advisor Jaf Glazer has maintained.

Nearly half of advisors report investing in technology to improve efficiency and differentiate their practices, underscoring a growing focus on scalability, workflow optimisation and operational effectiveness. In many ways, advisors now find themselves confronting the same challenge they have long posed to record keepers: how to modernise service delivery while maintaining profitability and enhancing the client experience.

This shared reality is reshaping advisor expectations of record keepers. Rather than viewing technology solely as a feature set, advisors increasingly see it as a means to create connected workflows, reduce administrative complexity and enable more consistent client outcomes. As a result, differentiation is becoming less about individual capabilities and more about how effectively advisors and record keepers can partner through integrated technology, streamlined processes and shared digital experiences to better serve plan sponsors and participants.

Advisor commentary throughout NMG's research reinforces the operational burden of fragmented systems. One hybrid advisor, defined as someone who has embraced retirement and wealth convergence, described the challenge directly: "It is too cumbersome for me to organize and manage numerous recordkeeper forms, websites, etc." Wealth advisors emphasised the need for "seamless integration with the tools and software commonly used by sophisticated advisory practices," while DC specialists highlighted the importance of modernising "old school platforms."

These operational preferences are increasingly influencing advisor record keeper relationship decisions. Advisors are consolidating relationships around "fewer partners with consistent service, integrated technology, and transparent pricing." In practice, advisors appear less interested in managing multiple disconnected ecosystems and more interested in platforms that reduce friction across plan administration, onboarding, participant engagement and reporting.

Advisor satisfaction with record keepers further reflects these perceptions. Firms such as Fidelity, American Funds and Vanguard rank high among advisors on digital experience, ease of doing business and overall scores within NMG Consulting's proprietary Business Capability Index. Not surprisingly, those firms also lead many advisor satisfaction measures. A deeper analysis comparing what advisors say is important with what most strongly correlates with satisfaction suggests that technology may now serve as a silent differentiator. Advisors may still describe fees and service as primary decision drivers, but their advocacy and satisfaction increasingly correlate with digital experience, advisor websites, participant websites, mobile functionality, enrollment capabilities and fiduciary analytics.