The point there, tying into behavioral finance, is that people assessing their own profile would be too fearful while the market was low and too greedy when the market was high.
The robo-advisor do provide some support to their clients in terms of things like blog posts but people that seek out one of these firms feel they need some help because it would be pretty easy to find plenty of content on how to construct a low cost portfolio that covers a lot of bases with five or six funds.
It is a good bet that robo-advisories will evolve into something slightly different but a huge part of what an advisor does is helping clients avoid or reduce behavioral mistakes that are so detrimental to long term success.
Clearly not everyone needs an advisor who will answer the phone or reply to an email at all hours but plenty of people do. Advisors need to understand how the industry is evolving in order to remain relevant and individuals need to consider how they might react under adverse market circumstances and take action before adversity arrives (by hiring an advisor or somehow taking action to avoid being in a position where panic might ensue).
This article was written by Roger Nusbaum, AdvisorShares ETF Strategist.