Simple report finds family offices lagging on AI adoption

Simple’s 2026 Family Office Software & Technology Report says vendors are moving faster on autonomous AI than family offices can adopt it, with manual workflows, poor data quality and limited internal capacity slowing progress. The report also shows privacy concerns, peer referrals and internal buildouts shaping how offices buy and use software.

Why it matters: - Family offices are still spending time on manual work even after buying software, which limits the efficiency gains AI is supposed to deliver. - The adoption gap matters because vendors are racing toward more autonomous tools while many offices are still using AI only for basic assistance. - Data quality, privacy and limited internal capacity are now among the main barriers to broader AI use in the sector.

What happened: - Simple published its seventh annual Family Office Software & Technology Report for 2026 on Monday in Copenhagen. - The report finds that vendors are developing increasingly autonomous AI tools faster than family offices are using them. - Family offices in Simple’s research mostly use AI as an assistant for email, documents and research, with a person prompting each step. - Vendors describe more advanced automation and autonomous agents, but much of that work remains early-stage or in pilot.

The details: - Offices and vendors both report problems getting clean data into systems and moving it between systems. - Some family offices still prepare reports by hand even when they have portfolio management systems. - Family offices continue to lean on peer references and established relationships when choosing software. - Referrals remain an important channel for software providers trying to win new clients. - Security remains a major buying factor for family offices and a key criterion for evaluating software. - Implementation is often slowed by limited internal capacity and skills. - Vendors usually quote implementation timelines of two to four months. - Projects take longer when they involve extensive historical data or many banks. - Some offices rely on one or two experienced users to keep systems running, which creates risk if those people are unavailable or leave. - Ongoing operations vary by office. - Some family offices outsource IT to external providers, while reporting often stays in-house. - Several offices are also building their own tools, often for the first time. - The report draws on Simple’s work with the family office sector over the past year, including workshops attended by around 300 people. - The research includes qualitative input from 57 family offices and insights from 44 software vendors, gathered through interviews, workshops and surveys from September 2025 to October 2026. - Simple’s platform has more than 12,000 users.

Between the lines: - Francois Botha, founder and CEO of Simple, said a lot of family office work is still manual, with copying, disconnected systems and gaps in knowledge, capacity, technology and process. - Botha said AI could help fill those gaps, which makes the current moment important for family offices. - Privacy is the leading AI concern in the research. - Offices want to know where family data goes and who can see it. - Vendors are responding with tools that keep AI inside their own platforms or the client’s environment, or that exclude sensitive work. - The report suggests many AI chatbots are not gaining traction because family offices do not see enough efficiency improvement from them.

What’s next: - Simple has launched a free Family Office AI Advisor for principals, C-level leaders and family office teams in single and multi-family offices. - The tool takes about ten minutes and helps an office decide where to start with AI. - The advisor then suggests actions based on the office’s needs. - The full Family Office Software & Technology Report 2026 is available for free here.

The bottom line: - Vendors may be moving toward autonomous AI, but family offices are still constrained by manual processes, weak data foundations and limited internal bandwidth.