November 4, 2025 · 7 min read · EbixMeridian Editorial
In brief
A typical two-advisor firm assembling CRM, planning, and investor management separately crosses $1,000 per month before implementation costs.
The larger cost is operational: the same client data entered three times, and no single view of the relationship.
Every vendor boundary is an integration to maintain and a compliance surface to monitor.
An honest stack audit prices the hours, not just the subscriptions.
Most independent firms did not design their technology stack. They accumulated it. A CRM chosen in one year, planning software in another, a portfolio or investor-management platform in a third, plus document storage, e-signature, and scheduling tools around the edges. Each decision was sensible on its own. The sum is where the trouble lives.
The visible half: subscriptions
Published starting prices for leading tools tell a consistent story. Advisor CRMs run roughly $59 to $99 per seat per month. Financial planning software runs about $150 to $255 per advisor per month. Investor-management platforms for firms working in private markets run $499 to $999 per firm per month. A typical two-advisor firm assembling these categories separately crosses $1,000 per month before anyone has paid for implementation, integrations, or training.
The invisible half: operations
Triple data entry
A new client is created in the CRM, again in planning, again in the investor platform. Every update multiplies the same way.
Reconciliation
When systems disagree about a client's holdings or status, someone spends an afternoon finding out which one is right.
Integration decay
Vendor APIs change, syncs fail quietly, and the firm discovers it weeks later. Every connection is maintenance the firm owns.
Compliance surface
Client data spread across five vendors means five security postures, five audit trails, and five places records must be retrievable from.
Onboarding friction
New staff learn four systems instead of one, and the firm's process knowledge lives in workarounds nobody wrote down.
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The subscription is the smaller half of the argument. Three systems means triple data entry and no single view of the client.
What consolidation is actually worth
When intake, planning, private-market operations, and the client portal share one data model, the savings show up in hours rather than invoices. No re-keying between systems. No reconciliation projects. One audit trail. One place a client's whole picture lives. For firms doing private-markets work the effect compounds, because subscription documents, capital calls, distributions, and tax documents all attach to the same client record that planning and CRM already use.
A practical stack audit
List every system touching client data
Include spreadsheets. Especially the spreadsheets.
Price the subscriptions honestly
Annualize every seat and platform fee, including the tools only one person uses.
Price the hours
Estimate weekly time spent re-entering, reconciling, and exporting between systems. Multiply by loaded cost.
Map the client record
Ask where a complete picture of one client actually exists. If the answer is 'in four places', that is the finding.
Compare against a consolidated platform
Evaluate the total, not the line items, and weigh the operational half fully.
The consolidated alternative
Meridian Complete brings CRM, planning, private-market operations, insurance advisory, and client portals into one platform at $699 per firm per month, with published pricing for every tier.
Private Markets and the Independent Advisor: A 2026 Field Guide
A practical guide for independent advisory firms adding private-market offerings to their practice: suitability, operations, tax administration, technology, and the client conversation, in one document.
EbixMeridian brings private-market operations, planning, and AI assistance into one platform for advisory firms. Request a demo on scenarios from your own practice.
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