RPA and AI in Banking : The next step in the efficiency game for banks to deliver better Customer Experience (CX)

The future of banking is adaptation of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for better Customer Experience (CX).

In order to remain competitive in an increasingly saturated market — especially with the more widespread adoption of virtual banking — banking firms have had to find a way to deliver the best possible customer experience to their customers. Internally, the challenge to maximize efficiency and keep costs as low as possible while also maintaining maximum security levels has also increased. Banks have been seeking cost reduction strategies for years. To answer these demands, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has become a powerful and effective tool to further reduce costs and transition from services-through-labor to services-through-software.

Ever since RPA was introduced to the financial world, this virtual workforce has helped banks minimize (or, in some cases, eliminate) human intervention in the execution of tasks and decision-making and dramatically improved operational efficiency, sometimes up to 70%. By shifting much of these tedious, manual tasks from human to machine, banks have been able to significantly reduce the need for human involvement, which has had a direct impact on everything from performance and efficiency levels to staffing issues and expenses.

RPA has been widely adapted by many financial institutions and other industries; but, if you think stand-alone RPA is the trendiest technology by far, you may already be lagging.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has started permeating intelligent organizations and advancing to the fundamental toolset for daily engagement with people for both customers and employees.

The definition of AI includes technologies such as speech recognition, natural language processing (NLP), semantic technology, biometrics, machine and deep learning (ML/DL), swarm intelligence, and computer vision.

The adaption of RPA and AI in the banking sector

Even though the most prominent examples of AI exist in the customer experience space, AI technology is also playing a major role in driving further operational efficiency across various sectors. Coupled with RPA, AI can replicate not only simple, but also complex, labor activities requiring expert judgement or complex decision-making at greater scale, speed, and accuracy than humans.

RPA has helped banks dramatically accelerate speed of work and adherence to working procedures in repetitive and manual-labor-heavy processes. However, if banks leverage the power of AI and the surging popularity of cognitive technologies on top of RPA technology, they will be able to lead the digital transformation and unlock untapped opportunities. They can use Computer Vision and DL to understand and act upon digitized documents, utilize ML to find the best solution to any unexpected event in a process, and closely monitor human transactions through NLP tools, prompting alerts for any out-of-the-ordinary activities. Through these and other kinds of applications, AI helps drive efficiency, reduce risk, and foster better compliance.

At Banks, lawyers spent thousands of hours studying financial deals. An AI system is capable of doing the challenging job of interpreting commercial loan agreements, taking on a task that swallows several thousands of hours of work by lawyers and loan officers. The AI system reviews documents in seconds and is less prone to error. The system cuts down on loan-servicing mistakes, many of which resulted from human error, in interpreting thousands of new wholesale contracts per year.

Key processes suitable for Automation in Banking Industry

• Account origination
• KYC Process
• Deposit processing
• Account receivable
• Account payable
• Mortgage processing
• Loan processing
• Investment processing
• Cheque processing
• Underwriter support
• Collections
• Lapse
• Surrenders
• Customer service
• Employee on boarding and off-boarding
• Billing
• Credit Card Processing
• Fraud Detection
• Service Desk
• Compliance
• General Ledger
• Report Automation
• Account Closure Process

RPA Benefits

• The robots work 24X7 for you, with highest accuracy at lowest cost. They can complete task by themselves or finish one initiated by human.
• Robots are highly scalable meaning you can add more robots on a click during peak hours of your business.
• Robotic Process Automation also generates full audit trails for each process to help you achieve process compliance and reduce business risk.
• You can realize the impact of RPA from the day you adopt it, for example you can see the processing cost reducing by 30–70% or the turnaround time reducing from days to hours or minutes.

The future lies with Artificial Intelligence

AI is improving its capabilities with increasing speed thanks to better computing-power and specialized hardware, and has increasingly proven itself in historically human-dominated fields. In the future, AI will be able to autonomously analyze what’s out in the open digital world (internet), combine internal data and open data, and pursue ideas suggested by the AI algorithm. In the not too distant future, we may even see one AI solution creating another.

Today, the rise of machines and AI is no longer something straight out of a sci-fi movie. Robots will completely replace some human labor in the near future. Therefore, now is the time for banks to seize the opportunity to shift gear in the efficiency game and use AI to their best advantage.

In conclusion, today’s banking firms are facing increasing demands to maintain as lean an operation as possible while also delivering exceptional client experience at the lowest costs. Robotic process automation is making it possible for financial institutions to achieve these goals and remain competitive in an ever-changing environment.

Author’s RPA solution deployment experience in the banks globally across geographies -

Vartul Mittal has successfully deployed RPA in more than 5 leading banks and financial services companies. The use cases range from new business, customer service requests, regulatory compliances, reporting, employee onboarding, customer onboarding, service desk automation etc. With this experience, Vartul has established a structured approach to building RPA solutions. This experience helps financial institutions define an RPA roadmap, select appropriate tools, create a pilot, set an operating model, perform governance, set up the right team and test the solution before launch.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR -

Vartul Mittal is Technology & Innovation Specialist. He has 12+ years of strong Global Business Transformation experience in Management Consulting and Global In-house Centres with a remit to drive understanding and deliver Business & Operations Strategy solutions globally. He is always looking for new ideas and ways that can make things simpler.

He has lived and worked across multiple countries and cultures involving senior client stakeholders from various industries like Financial Services Sector, FMCG and Retail. He has delivered engagements for Fortune 500 organizations such as Coca Cola India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IBM, Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Life Insurance, Citibank and Barclays. Vartul Mittal is also renowned speaker on Cloud Computing, Automation, AI and Innovation among Top Universities and International Conferences.