Tech-Savvy Finance:
Enhancing Financial Services Workflows through Automation
The financial services landscape is changing rapidly. As more customers move their money to online-only co-ops and invest in cryptocurrency, traditional financial institutions like banks, credit unions, building societies, and investment management firms must revolutionize their services or face losing revenue to new digital disruptors.
Financial providers are realizing that providing a seamless, personalized customer experience is critical to retaining their tech-savvy customers and attracting new ones. Today’s clients expect their banking experiences to be self-service, digital-first, and reflective of their needs.
With global investments in automation growing in double digits, according to an International Data Corporation (IDC) survey and increasingly strict compliance regulations, companies worldwide are making automation a central part of their business strategies. Compliance is especially important for the financial industry. Automation can mitigate risk by automatically detecting potential fraud cases, documenting client transactions, and ensuring workflows adhere to standards.
The IDC survey discovered top priorities for automation in 2023 are:
- Lower operating costs (42%)
- Greater efficiency (41%)
- Improving customer satisfaction (41%)
Automation technologies assist financial institutions in optimizing the customer lifecycle, helping them stand out from their competitors by streamlining onboarding, managing accounts, and ensuring quick service. Contact Center features like personalization engines, chatbots, and virtual assistants enhance the customer experience by providing fast, accurate, customized support across multiple channels.
Other important operational benefits of automating key workflows, which increase organizational efficiency, compliance, and scalability in an increasingly competitive market. Financial institutions risk falling behind their more technologically advanced peers if they don’t prioritize automation.
Top Benefits of Automating Financial Workflows
As financial institutions transition from manual processes and physical assets to digital procedures and online banking, they rely increasingly on automation to manage every aspect of their operations. From improving the customer experience to processing sensitive documents, organizations must center their IT strategies around automation to stay on top of the competition.
1. Efficiency
Financial services often include repetitive tasks, such as authorizing payments or monitoring fraud. Automation can manage these processes faster and with less error than humans. By automating workflows, institutions can operate more efficiently, reduce manual errors, and free up staff to focus on more complex tasks.
2. Cost Savings
IDC identified lower operating costs as the top automation priority. With workflow automation, financial service organizations can reduce costs associated with manual labour and free up resources for other important business functions.
3. Compliance
Storing and processing sensitive data in the cloud has led to heightened compliance regulations, such as the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), MiFID II, GDPR, Dodd-Frank, and PCI DSS, to improve digital risk management, security, and resilience. Automating workflows ensures compliance processes are standardized and strictly followed, reducing the risk of errors and omissions, and minimizing regulatory issues and fines.
4. Scalability
Online financial providers can reach a much more diverse customer base, resulting in high volumes of transactions. Automating workflows can help financial service organizations scale their operations more efficiently by reducing the need for additional staff as the business grows.
5. Improved Customer Experience
Today’s clients expect quick, personalized banking services at their fingertips. Front-end automation, such as virtual assistants and customized portals, reduces turnaround times, increases accuracy, and gives customers real-time access to their information.
6. Automated Customer Onboarding
Traditional onboarding can be time-consuming and meticulous. By making onboarding an electronic process rather than a manual, paper-based one, financial organizations make it easy for their customers to open accounts and provide essential information from their homes. From there, they can use automation to expedite key parts of the process, so customers can use their accounts faster, further enhancing their overall experience.
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