Moving the banking industry toward digital transformation is not a new endeavor; yet, post-2020, the focus has changed. While banks and financial institutions have explored and invested in the digitization and modernization of systems using Intelligent Automation (IA), the focus was largely on how to improve customer service. Following the tumultuous COVID pandemic, financial institutions have a renewed focus on automation and the operations side of their business, given the unexpected influx of loan applications (via the Paycheck Protection Program) and subsequent forgiveness processes.
Still, change is hard. The focus has changed, yet legacy systems continue to be the mainstay in the banking industry. While manual efforts are arduous and inefficient, much of the workforce is accustomed to performing these tasks and adoption of IA seems daunting. What you may not know is there are many IA technologies, including workflow orchestration, that Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can help create a layer of modernization using the same legacy infrastructure but provide a better customer experience and overcome data silos. Examples of these include email case management, self-service, contact center AI and many more.
As per a leading publication and research:
At Lateetud, we’ve walked clients through this process, once they’ve identified operations inefficiencies – particularly in their loan onboarding and servicing processes, which include slow-downs in opportunity assessment, pre-closing, and servicing stages of the loans. Holding on to manual processes in these areas have consequences; banks experience longer cycle times, higher error rate and longer service maintenance times. In one case, Lateetud helped Citizen’s Bank create ease and efficiency for teams with RPA, ultimately providing rapid, measurable value.
The process was phased: first, we helped them choose the right RPA technology and identify the first set of pilot processes for automation and then conducted structured, comprehensive process assessments to create a roadmap based on the value delivered. Next, we moved Citizens Bank to extend the capabilities of RPA even further by incorporating Business Process Management/Digital Workflow and Intelligent Data Extraction into their operations. Today, Citizens Bank enjoys the following improvements:
More and more, you’ll find economic experts and financial analysts who advocate for anticipating unexpected events that can shake up business as usual. If we learned anything from the COVID pandemic, it’s that the only constant is change and preparation is the best prevention. As digital transformation charges on, touching processes and systems in multiple industries and sectors, the competitive future of financial institutions may rest on its willingness to embrace automation and its impact on inefficiencies – in both customer service and operations.
Yet, as with any investment in technology, banks will inevitably experience cultural change with digitization. Most important is not only enthusiastic and supportive buy-in from management but seamless adoption from users. It’s important to remember that digital transformation is just that – transformative. While this clearly connotes positive change in many ways, financial institutions need the right partner to walk them through the process and adapt to end-to-end solutions in a way that clearly outlines their value for the organization. Reach out to us and let us help. Visit: https://www.lateetud.com/contact-us