Continuing a stubbornly negative trend that arose in previous years' Report Card series, financial advisors surveyed for this year's Report Cards remain deeply dissatisfied with the technology tools and related support they receive from their firms.

Much like in previous years, advisors say they often struggle with out-of-date hardware, software that is not user-friendly, systems that aren't well integrated or inadequate tech support and training. In fact, technology woes leave advisors feeling hamstrung and hindered in how efficiently they can do their jobs.

"Technology is so important," says an advisor in Ontario with London, Ont.-based Freedom 55 Financial, "because the faster you can do your work, the better it is for everyone."

The survey numbers from this year's Report Cards don't paint a pretty picture. That's because the 1.3-point difference between the average performance rating overall (7.5) and the average importance rating overall (8.8) across all industry channels in the "technology tools and advisor desktop" category represents the largest such gap in this year's Report Card series. This gap also reveals increasing dissatisfaction, having widened from the 1.2-point gap seen in last year's overall averages and the 1.0-point gap seen in the 2009 Report Cards.

Chart: Tech support

Although there isn't one clear reason that explains the inability of many firms to meet their advi-sors' expectations in terms of tech tools, some advisors suggested their firms allow their systems to become outdated or antiquated, then find it difficult to catch up afterward. Says an advisor in Atlantic Canada with Toronto-based ScotiaMcLeod Inc. : "Even one year behind is a lifetime."

In response, advisors sometimes prefer to pursue their own technology or software options rather than adopt what their firm offers; however, not all advisors have that option. In fact, other advisors admitted they had changed firms primarily because they had run out of patience with their previous firm's poor technology setup.

It's no surprise, then, that ad-vi-sors praised firms that have made having up-to-date technology a key focus and put resources into support and training.

Says an advisor in British Columbia with Toronto-based Richardson GMP Ltd. : "They continue to give us improvements within a reasonable timeline."

And although there is no denying the importance advisors place on having solid, functional and updated tech tools, advisors are slowly starting to turn their attention toward new forms of technology that could improve their productivity. In this year's surveys, advi-sors gave lower importance ratings — relative to the tech tools category — in the newer areas of "support for mobile technology and the mobile advisor" and "firm's focus on social media." However, there are indications that mobile devices and having access to social media are becoming increasingly important to advisors.