Partner Research
SME Forum 2025: What the Industry Is Really Solving for and What Comes Next
By: Jeff Mehi, Head of Wealth Partnerships for TIFIN AMP
Executive Summary
The 2025 SME Forum revealed a clear industry inflection point: asset managers are no longer debating whether to adopt AI, but how to scale it, operationalize it, and tie it directly to measurable distribution impact. At the same time, a widening gap is emerging between firms experimenting with isolated pilots and those building unified data and workflow architectures capable of driving real outcomes.
Discussions highlighted three major pressure points: the uneven maturity of sales enablement, the massive untapped whitespace in institutional distribution, and the difficulty firms still face proving ROI without a unified data foundation. Leaders emphasized that the next phase of transformation will require integrated architectures, structured data feeding AI models, and outcome-based measurement that connects intelligence to flows, advisor behavior, and engagement.
In short, the firms that act now and prioritize unified intelligence over tactical toolswill set the competitive pace for 2026 and beyond.
Jeff Mehi
Head of Wealth Partnerships, TIFIN AMP
Jeff is the Head of Wealth Partnerships for TIFIN AMP focusing on helping Wealth Managers and Platforms realize the value of their advisor data with the Asset Manager community. Before TIFIN, he was with Franklin Templeton for 3 years as Director of Distribution Intelligence overseeing a team of 18 and focusing on distribution strategy, business management, and client analytics across the US distribution team. He began his career in Asset Management with PIMCO for 14 years working in business management and strategy roles measuring and managing various coverage, compensation, segmentation, and sales channel models.
Jeff has nearly 20 years of experience in the asset management space, lives in Austin, TX with wife and family. Jeff has his undergraduate degree in Finance from the Haworth College of Business at Western Michigan University and is originally from the Metro Detroit area.