An RIA technology stack is the set of software platforms a registered investment advisory firm uses to operate — from CRM and portfolio management to financial planning, compliance, and client reporting. The best tech stacks are not the ones with the most tools — they are the ones where every tool's data connects into a unified view of the business.
The Seven Layers of an RIA Tech Stack
Every modern RIA operates across seven distinct technology categories. Most firms use between five and fifteen platforms spanning these categories. The challenge is not choosing the right tools in each category — it is making sure those tools share data with each other. Below is a systematic walkthrough of each layer, the leading vendors, what to evaluate, and the data question that reveals whether you have a real integration or just a vendor list.
CRM — Client Relationship Management
Your CRM is the system of record for every client relationship. It holds contact data, household structure, relationship history, meeting notes, task queues, pipeline data, and the workflows that drive advisor activity. Getting the CRM right is foundational — everything downstream depends on clean, complete client data.
Top options:
- Salesforce Financial Services Cloud. The most powerful and extensible CRM in financial services. FSC adds wealth-specific data models — household relationships, financial accounts, referral tracking — on top of Salesforce's mature workflow engine and AppExchange ecosystem. Best for larger firms that need customization depth and can invest in implementation.
- Redtail (Orion). The most widely used CRM in the independent RIA space. Redtail is purpose-built for advisors, deeply integrated with Orion's portfolio management platform, and offers a simpler user experience than Salesforce at lower cost. Best for Orion-centric stacks where the integration depth justifies the ecosystem lock-in.
- Wealthbox. A modern, intuitive CRM designed specifically for financial advisors. Wealthbox has invested in user experience and mobile in ways that legacy CRMs have not. Strong API ecosystem and growing integration list. Best for smaller and mid-sized RIAs that want something advisor-native without Salesforce's complexity.
- Microsoft Dynamics 365. Enterprise-grade CRM with deep Microsoft 365 integration. Best for larger firms with existing Microsoft infrastructure, though it requires significant customization to work well in an advisory context.
What to evaluate: Workflow automation depth, integration breadth (particularly with your portfolio management system and custodians), mobile experience for advisors in the field, and reporting capabilities for tracking pipeline, activity, and AUM per relationship.
Key data question: Does your CRM data connect to your portfolio and planning data? Can you see a client's AUM, plan status, and relationship history in a single view?
Portfolio Management & Reporting
Your portfolio management system handles the investment side of the business — account reconciliation, performance reporting, billing, and the data pipeline from custodians into advisor-facing views. This is typically the highest-cost platform in the stack and the one with the most operational dependencies.
Top options:
- Orion. One of the most widely deployed portfolio management platforms in the independent RIA space. Strong custodian connectivity, deep billing capabilities, and a growing suite of adjacent products (CRM via Redtail, trading via Eclipse, planning, compliance). Best for firms that want an integrated Orion ecosystem or are already Orion-native.
- Envestnet Tamarac. Sophisticated rebalancing engine with strong performance reporting and Envestnet data network access. Particularly strong for firms managing complex household rebalancing and for those within the Envestnet ecosystem. The trading workflow is consistently cited as one of the most capable in the market.
- Black Diamond (SS&C). Known for its polished client portal and experience, flexible billing engine, and performance reporting accuracy. Black Diamond is often chosen as much for what clients see as for what advisors see. SS&C ownership adds depth in institutional-grade data services.
- Addepar. Purpose-built for complex, high-net-worth portfolios with significant alternative asset allocations. Addepar's data model treats private equity, hedge funds, real estate, and other illiquid assets as first-class objects — not workarounds. Best for firms managing $10M+ average client relationships with meaningful alternatives exposure.
What to evaluate: Custodian connectivity and reconciliation automation, billing flexibility (multi-tier fees, household billing, alternative structures), performance reporting accuracy, rebalancing capabilities, and the quality of the data export — because your data will eventually need to connect to other systems.
Key data question: Can you join portfolio data with CRM and planning data in one query? Or does each system report in isolation?
Financial Planning
Financial planning software enables advisors to build comprehensive plans for clients — modeling retirement scenarios, cash flow projections, tax implications, insurance needs, and estate considerations. This is increasingly central to the value proposition of advisory relationships, and the quality of planning data is underutilized in most firms' analytics.
Top options:
- MoneyGuidePro (Envestnet). The most widely used financial planning software in the independent RIA space. Goal-based planning model, strong scenario analysis, and deep integration with the Envestnet ecosystem. The client portal experience has improved significantly in recent years.
- eMoney Advisor (Fidelity). Known for its cash flow-based planning model, deep tax and estate planning capabilities, and one of the best client-facing portals in the market. eMoney's data aggregation — which lets clients connect outside accounts — gives advisors a more complete household picture. Best for firms that want planning software to double as a client engagement platform.
- RightCapital. A modern, fast-growing planning platform with strong advisor UX, comprehensive tax planning, and Medicare/Social Security optimization tools. RightCapital has invested heavily in the advisor experience and is gaining share among independent RIAs moving away from older platforms.
- Holistiplan (tax planning). Not a full planning platform, but the category leader in tax return analysis for advisors. Holistiplan parses client tax returns and surfaces tax planning opportunities — an additive tool for firms that want to deepen tax planning capabilities alongside their primary planning software.
What to evaluate: Plan modeling depth and accuracy, client portal quality, tax planning capabilities, Social Security and Medicare optimization, integration with your portfolio management and CRM systems, and — critically — whether you can extract plan data for firm-wide analytics.
Key data question: Does your planning data inform your portfolio decisions and client segmentation? Can you identify which clients have plans significantly misaligned with their current portfolio?
Trading & Rebalancing
Trading and rebalancing platforms manage the investment execution workflow — from model construction through order generation, tax-loss harvesting, compliance pre-check, and multi-custodian order routing. For firms managing significant AUM across many accounts, the efficiency of this layer directly affects operational capacity.
Top options:
- Orion Eclipse. Orion's trading platform, deeply integrated with Orion's portfolio management system. Strong multi-custodian support, tax-loss harvesting, and model drift management. Best for Orion-native firms where the native integration eliminates reconciliation overhead.
- Tamarac Trading (Envestnet). Widely considered one of the most sophisticated rebalancing engines on the market. Tax-loss harvesting at the household level, granular drift tolerance controls, and deep Envestnet integration. Best for firms that prioritize rebalancing sophistication and are in the Envestnet ecosystem.
- iRebal (TD Ameritrade / Schwab). Now part of the Schwab ecosystem post-acquisition, iRebal remains a capable rebalancing tool for firms custodying primarily at Schwab. Integration depth with Schwab's infrastructure is a key advantage.
- Blaze Portfolio. An independent rebalancing platform with multi-custodian support and flexible model management. Useful for firms that want a standalone rebalancing tool outside of any portfolio management ecosystem.
What to evaluate: Tax-loss harvesting sophistication, model management and drift controls, multi-custodian order routing, speed and capacity at scale, and integration with your compliance and performance reporting systems.
Key data question: Is your trading data connected to your compliance and reporting systems? Can you track trade outcomes back to model decisions and compliance reviews in a single audit trail?
Compliance & Risk
Compliance technology helps RIAs maintain SEC and state regulatory readiness — covering personal trading monitoring, marketing review, code of ethics enforcement, electronic communications archiving, and annual review documentation. As regulatory scrutiny of RIAs increases, the sophistication of this layer matters more than it used to.
Top options:
- Orion Compliance. Compliance tools natively integrated within the Orion ecosystem. For Orion-native firms, the integration with portfolio data and trading simplifies compliance workflows around personal trading and surveillance. Best suited for firms already running Orion's full stack.
- ComplySci. A specialized compliance platform with strong personal trading monitoring, regulatory change management, and reporting capabilities. ComplySci is particularly well-regarded in multi-entity and broker-dealer adjacent environments.
- RIA in a Box (COMPLY). A widely used compliance management platform for independent RIAs, offering annual review support, marketing review, personal trading, and Form ADV management in an advisor-focused package. Strong for smaller and mid-sized RIAs that need comprehensive compliance without enterprise pricing.
- NRS (National Regulatory Services). Compliance consulting and software combined, well-suited for firms that want a managed compliance program alongside technology support. NRS has served the independent advisory space for decades.
What to evaluate: SEC exam readiness and documentation, marketing review workflow (particularly for digital and social content), personal trading monitoring depth, electronic communications archiving, and integration with your portfolio and trading systems for surveillance.
Key data question: Does your compliance system see data from all other systems? Or does it only monitor what it can directly access?
Client Portal & Reporting
The client portal is what clients actually see — performance reporting, document delivery, financial plan access, and increasingly, the channel through which advisors communicate and engage with clients between meetings. The quality of this layer affects client retention and the perceived value of the advisory relationship.
Top options:
- Orion Client Portal. Orion's native client experience, integrated with their portfolio management and performance reporting infrastructure. Clean, functional, and works natively within the Orion ecosystem. The Orion Summit Experience adds additional analytics and visualization for clients.
- Black Diamond Portal (SS&C). Consistently cited as one of the best client-facing experiences in the industry. Intuitive design, mobile-native, and strong document delivery. A key differentiator for Black Diamond — many firms choose the platform partly because of how clients experience it.
- Addepar. For high-net-worth clients with complex holdings, Addepar's reporting is often unmatched — particularly for multi-custodian, multi-asset views that include alternative investments. The client experience is sophisticated and configurable.
- eMoney Client Portal. eMoney's portal doubles as a financial planning engagement platform. Clients can connect external accounts, view their plan, and track progress — making it as much a planning tool as a reporting interface. Strong for firms where plan engagement is a key client touchpoint.
What to evaluate: Client experience quality and mobile usability, white-labeling and branding flexibility, document delivery and e-signature integration, performance report customization, and how well the portal integrates with your planning tools for a holistic client view.
Data Layer & Analytics
This is the layer that most advisory firms are missing — and the one that makes every other layer more valuable. The data layer sits above your operational systems and connects their data into a unified warehouse, enabling cross-system analytics, AI, and firm intelligence that no single platform can provide on its own.
Without a data layer, each category operates in its own silo. Your CRM knows about relationships. Your portfolio system knows about accounts. Your planning software knows about goals. But none of them know what the others know. With a data layer, you can ask questions that span every system — in one place, in one query.
What a data layer enables:
- Cross-system analytics. Which clients have plans that are significantly underfunded relative to their current portfolio? Which households added assets at the custodian in the last 60 days but haven't updated their plan? Which advisors have the highest revenue-per-relationship? None of these questions can be answered by a single platform.
- AI across everything. AI models are only as good as the data they can access. A data layer gives AI models access to every system in your stack — not just the one the AI vendor happens to integrate with.
- Snowflake-native data ownership. Your data, in your warehouse, queryable by your team. No vendor dependency on when and how you can access your own data.
- One source of truth. Instead of reconciling five different reporting tools, your firm has one normalized data model that every team, every dashboard, and every AI tool reads from.
Where Milemarker fits: Milemarker is the data layer built specifically for wealth management firms. With 130+ pre-built integrations covering every category in this guide — CRMs, portfolio management systems, custodians, planning tools, compliance platforms, and more — Milemarker loads all of your data into a Snowflake warehouse your firm owns, normalized against a wealth management-specific data model. Orion keeps running your portfolio management. Salesforce keeps running your CRM. Milemarker connects everything above them.
Stack Architectures Compared
Not all technology stacks are built equal — and the architecture matters as much as the individual tools. The table below shows how four common RIA stack approaches compare on integration depth, analytics capability, AI readiness, and data ownership.
| Approach | Systems Connected | Analytics | AI Readiness | Data Ownership |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single Vendor (all-Orion) | Tightly connected within Orion ecosystem | Strong within Orion; limited cross-system | Orion-native AI features; bounded by ecosystem data | Within Orion infrastructure |
| Single Vendor (all-Envestnet) | Tightly connected within Envestnet/Tamarac ecosystem | Strong within Envestnet; limited cross-system | Envestnet-native AI features; bounded by ecosystem | Within Envestnet infrastructure |
| Best-of-Breed (no data layer) | Best tools in each category; each operates in its own silo | Each system reports independently — no cross-system view | Low — AI bounded by whichever system it lives in | Fragmented across vendor infrastructures |
| Best-of-Breed + Milemarker | 130+ integrations — all systems connected in one Snowflake warehouse | Full cross-system analytics: CRM + portfolio + planning + custodian | High — AI operates across all connected systems | Your own Snowflake warehouse — firm-owned, portable |
The best-of-breed approach without a data layer is the most common trap in advisory technology. Firms spend significant budget selecting the best tool in each category, then discover they cannot answer questions that require data from more than one system. Adding Milemarker as the data layer transforms a collection of point solutions into a connected intelligence platform.
What Changes When You Add a Data Layer
The platforms do not change. Your advisors keep using the same CRM, the same portfolio system, the same planning tools. What changes is what you can do with the data those platforms generate.
Common Stack Configurations
Most advisory firms run variations of four common technology architectures. Each has strengths, each has data gaps, and each reaches a point where a data layer becomes the highest-leverage investment.
The All-Orion Firm
Orion portfolio management + Redtail CRM + Eclipse trading + Orion Planning. Tight native integration across the stack. Data gaps emerge when the firm adds non-Orion tools — a second custodian, an external planning platform, or Salesforce CRM. At that point, Orion's ecosystem analytics cannot provide a complete picture, and a data layer becomes necessary.
The All-Envestnet Firm
Tamarac portfolio management + MoneyGuide planning + Envestnet trading + Envestnet data network. Sophisticated rebalancing and strong planning data within the Envestnet ecosystem. Data gaps mirror the Orion pattern: non-Envestnet CRMs, custodians outside the Envestnet normalized feed, or compliance platforms create silos that require a data layer to bridge.
The Best-of-Breed Firm
Salesforce Financial Services Cloud + Orion portfolio management + eMoney planning + Schwab and Fidelity custodians. Each tool is best-in-class for its function. Data gap: each system is a silo. Answering "which clients have underfunded plans relative to their portfolio?" requires joining Orion data, eMoney data, and Salesforce data in a single query — impossible without a data layer.
The Enterprise RIA
Salesforce Financial Services Cloud + Addepar + multiple custodians (Schwab, Fidelity, Pershing, interactive brokers) + custom performance reporting. Maximum complexity and maximum data fragmentation. Enterprise RIAs almost always reach for a data layer earlier than smaller firms — the volume of data and the number of reporting stakeholders make unified analytics a strategic necessity, not a nice-to-have.
The pattern across all four configurations is consistent: the data gaps emerge at the boundaries between systems. The more sophisticated the firm's technology choices, the more acutely it feels the absence of a data layer. Milemarker is built to bridge those gaps — connecting every configuration into a unified Snowflake warehouse without requiring any firm to change the operational platforms it depends on.