Writing the story of the advice practice of tomorrow

At the recent Glacier IdeasLab 2025 gathering, leading voices shared how intermediaries can build the practice of tomorrow. Each speaker brought a different lens, but the golden thread was clear: technology may reshape the tools, but human connection and storytelling remain at the centre. The future is built on emotional connection.

Chapter One: Understand the world of the future: Khanyi Nzukuma, Chief Executive of Glacier by Sanlam, and Johann de Wet, COO of Glacier

The financial services industry is being reshaped by multiple forces.

Current drivers include rapid tech innovation, tighter regulatory compliance, low and volatile interest rates, the Reserve Bank’s inflationary target, the globalisation of investments, and social and behavioural shifts like sustainability and ESG. Overlaying all of this is the great intergenerational wealth transfer. Financial intermediaries must prepare for an ageing population, while finding ways to engage millennials and Gen Z.

Glacier is already planning for this future. With more than R670 billion in assets under administration[1], the business is building the scale and architecture intermediaries will need in the years ahead – from consolidated platforms and practice support to compliance frameworks and offshore access. The focus is on enabling intermediaries to adapt with confidence, so they can meet evolving client needs and help shape the intergenerational legacies now being written.

The takeaway: The future requires adaptability, courage, partnerships, efficiency, scalability and skills.

Chapter Two: Augment through digital transformation and AI: Gudani Mukatuni, CIO of Glacier

We are at the precipice of a new age. We have been here before, when we moved from the ICE age (internal combustible engine) to the possibility of electric vehicles. At first, it feels like a radical shift, but both still serve the same purpose: mobility. The same is true for advice. Platforms evolve, but the essence remains – helping clients move forward with confidence.

For Glacier, in addition to world-class solutions and service, the platform of the future cannot be successful without responsive architecture in a single ecosystem: a single, integrated investment administration platform hosting local and offshore funds, and that consolidates data and reduces friction. AI plays the role of augmentation, not automation, handling the routine so intermediaries can focus on intention, legacy and being co-authors of intergenerational stories.

The takeaway: See digital transformation and AI as a way to expand intermediaries’ practice, to enable client relationship management for now and tomorrow.

Chapter Three: Bridging generations: Rudolph Geldenhuys, CFP®: Director & Financial Planner at Firecrest Group, and 2024/2025 South African Financial Planner of the Year

We are confronted with the opportunity of a lifetime. We have more senior intermediaries who value structure, discipline and professionalism, and younger planners who bring flexibility, energy and digital fluency. Now is the time for mentorship, partnership and possibility.

The challenge now is to merge the art and the science. The art is empathy, presence and the wisdom to steady clients in moments of fear. The science is clarity, structure, and repeatable systems that protect clients and enable scale. The bridge needs both; retirement, for example, is not just a mathematics problem; it’s a purpose problem. We need both generations working together to serve not just individuals, but whole families, across generations.

The takeaway: Multi-generations bring multiple skills to an advice practice.

Chapter Four: Find the magic dust: Musa Kalenga: author, entrepreneur, marketing strategist and one of Mail & Guardian’s Top 200 Young South Africans

Humans make around 35 000 decisions a day, and cognitive load is real. Intermediaries add value by reducing that load. The gift that technology gives us is time. But what matters is how we use that time – to deepen human connection, to coach behaviour, and to co-author stories that last. AI is not a threat to creativity. MIT research shows it lifts the floor for everyone, giving practices more capacity to focus on what only humans can do – the magic dust.

Intermediaries could consider starting their AI journey with a High Irritation Task (HIT) List by identifying the repetitive admin that drains energy and using AI and automation to strip those tasks away.

The takeaway: Hit the HIT list and free time for the magic of connection.

Chapter Five: Tell your clients a compelling story about their lives: Amr Singh, internationally awarded film director

At the heart of advice is always a story. Trust does not begin with numbers, but with narrative. Stories release oxytocin; they make us care before they make us act.

In every story, Act 1 lays the foundation: the world of the client, their values, their constraints, their goals. Act 2 is where comfort is disrupted – markets stumble, families change, choices grow heavy – and this is where intermediaries earn their place, providing belief when doubt takes hold. Act 3 is the resolution: ushering clients to the rewards they’ve worked for.

Technology does not alter this structure; it amplifies it. Digital tools allow us to take one person’s story and scale it, reaching more clients, more families, more lives.

The takeaway: The future is emotional connection. Trust starts with a story.

Glacier IdeasLab 2025 closed on a simple truth: the practice of the future is not about choosing between art and science, or technology and humanity. It is about weaving them together, so intermediaries can build practices that endure, and clients can build confidence that lasts across generations.

Glacier Financial Solutions (Pty) Ltd is a licensed financial services provider.
Sanlam Life Insurance Ltd is a licensed life insurer, financial services and registered credit provider (NCRCP43).