The survey, started in 2007 and conducted annually, involved nearly 3,200 advisors and was conducted from late September to early November 32% of the respondents said they used Redtail as compared to 23% for Microsoft Office.

Apart from that cost factor there are other reasons for Redtail edging over Microsoft.

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The attractive price of Redtail, US$65 per month for up to 15 users, has made it a leader among small and midsize firms. Among firms with less than US$500,000 in annual revenue, Redtail’s share is about 37%. At firms in the US$500,000 to US$1 million range, the share is 34%.

Larger firms are less enthusiastic and Redtail’s share among firms with more than $3 million in revenue is not more than 9%.

The other factor that helped Redtail take over MS Outlook is that many advisors now know that it is not CRM software.

"Unfortunately, many survey respondents have yet to catch on, so MS Outlook came in second at 23%, unchanged from 2010," said Joel Bruckenstein, author of the forthcoming Tech Tools column for Financial Planning and president of Global Financial Advisors in Miramar, US.

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"People were perhaps not understanding the difference between what Outlook can do and a true CRM … so they were content with Outlook," he added.

The usage of iPad and iPhone has also altered the outlook of the advisors in the technology usage in the financial sector.

Along with iPhone, Android has also edged over BlackBerry, with almost 49% respondents use an iPhone, followed by Android phones at 31%. BlackBerry users made up just 25% of respondents.

This shift has also affected the decision of changing their operating systems to be more compliant with their phones. As iPads and iPhones are catching up with the advisors more than 11% of respondents have at least one computer/laptop that runs on the Apple operating system.

Another significant development in the operating system usage was seen in the shift from Windows XP to Windows 7 by financial planners. Almost 58% of respondents indicated Windows 7 usage.