What SideDrawer learned from 12 months of real client conversations
Over the past year, we’ve learned that in enterprise wealth, AI is adopted because teams need confidence in high-stakes workflows. When we introduced AI into the support experience, we expected efficiency gains, but what we found was more meaningful: AI isn’t replacing support. It’s replacing uncertainty.
There’s no shortage of AI commentary today. Most of it focuses on automation, efficiency, or replacing human workflows.
But our clients aren’t using AI because it’s exciting.
They’re using it because they’re trying to answer questions like:
Did the invitation actually go to the right person?
What permissions should this collaborator have?
Can I safely remove this record without breaking the structure?
How should we configure this SideDrawer for a new client segment?
These aren’t theoretical questions. They’re operational questions, asked in real time, by teams who need to act correctly the first time.
In wealth management, uncertainty has a cost:
delays in onboarding
governance risk
client trust erosion
internal operational drag
AI becomes valuable when it helps teams move forward with confidence.
One important nuance often missing from broader AI discussions is eligibility.
At SideDrawer today, our AI support agent is available specifically to console users (what we call the operational teams managing client workflows inside the platform). That population represents roughly one-third of current support demand, while the rest comes from users outside the AI-eligible surface area, often driven by login, access, and onboarding issues.
So we asked ourselves, within the workflows where AI is available, does it reduce friction and human dependency?
Looking across a year of console user support conversations, one pattern was clear. Clients use AI most when they are inside the product trying to complete a workflow. AI is being treated less like a chatbot and more like an embedded operational assistant.
The most common themes include:
Setup and configuration guidance
Collaborator access and permissions
Structuring records, tiles, and vaults
Lifecycle workflows like offboarding or archiving
Document handling and client delivery questions
In other words, AI is already functioning as part of the SideDrawer console experience and not as a separate support tool.
For wealth operations teams, this is exactly where AI should live. Close to the work, close to the decision point, and grounded in governance.
At the same time, our human support channel tells a complementary story.
Many of the highest-volume support interactions still occur in moments like:
Login and access issues
Registration and onboarding friction
Password resets and MFA
Moments where something feels broken or unclear
This is not surprising. When access is blocked or trust is on the line, people want reassurance, not just information.
This highlights an important truth for enterprise platforms: AI is powerful, but escalation isn’t failure. Escalation is part of trust.
Within the console-eligible population, we measured a simple but meaningful proxy. After an AI conversation, does the user still need to contact a human shortly afterward?
What we found:
Nearly half of AI-supported inquiries (~46%) did not result in human follow-up within the next week
The remaining ~54% escalated, typically in workflows where reassurance and auditability matter most
This isn’t a perfect measure of resolution, but it’s an early directional indicator. We view this as an early but real operational enablement signal. AI is already absorbing meaningful support load where it is deployed. This reinforces the broader point that AI isn’t replacing humans everywhere. It’s reducing dependency where operational confidence can be delivered instantly.
The fact that some workflows still escalate tells us something valuable.
AI is being used in the highest-stakes operational moments:
permissions
collaborator governance
invites and info requests
client delivery confidence
structural actions like deletion or offboarding
These are exactly the moments where wealth teams need more than an answer — they need assurance.
That’s not a chatbot problem. That’s a product opportunity.
The future of AI in enterprise wealth platforms won’t be measured by how many tickets it deflects. It will be measured by how much operational friction it removes.
Based on what we’ve learned, the highest-impact priorities are:
Invites, info requests, and client delivery workflows must provide:
clear recipient identity
deeper delivery status visibility
easier auditability and more reassurance
fewer “did this get there?” escalation moments
Teams shouldn’t have to guess governance. We’re focused on role-based templates and guided access models so operational safety is built in.
Even among console users, the next major deflection unlock sits in:
access friction
onboarding edge cases
workflow interruptions
Enterprise AI must be measurable, not magical.
We’re investing in instrumentation that tracks:
resolution confidence
escalation pathways
repeat friction patterns
In wealth management, client experience is operational. The platforms that win won’t be the ones that “add AI.”
They’ll be the ones that use AI to deliver:
clarity
governance
confidence
trust
scalable service quality
AI isn’t replacing support. It’s replacing the moments where teams hesitate because they’re unsure. And in a relationship-driven industry, removing uncertainty is one of the highest forms of value.
At SideDrawer, we see AI as part of a broader evolution from flexible systems to guided enterprise infrastructure.
Our goal is simple:
Help wealth teams deliver exceptional client experiences with less friction, more confidence, and operational excellence built in.
We’re excited about what we’ve learned so far, and even more excited about what comes next.
Because the future isn’t AI-first. It’s client-trust-first.