In 2024, generative AI will continue to demonstrate its business value across all sectors. This is particularly notable in the financial services industry due to its ability to eliminate repetitive administrative tasks that overwhelm the sector. As the current financial services sector faces the complexities of an ever-evolving and innovative environment, intelligent automation and hyperautomation emerge as transformative solutions to help organizations navigate their surroundings. Industries are turning to process automation tools that utilize artificial intelligence (AI), business process management, and robotic process automation (RPA). These tools enable organizations to streamline and scale decision-making more effectively, helping them maintain their competitive edge by increasing productivity, improving customer satisfaction, and saving money.

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A McKinsey study highlighted that the integration of generative AI into the business operations of financial services could generate annual operational savings of between $200 billion and $340 billion globally for the industry. The report also highlights that generative AI could help financial institutions generate additional value of between 2.8% and 4.7% due to productivity improvements. When combined with improvements in customer satisfaction and employee experience, it is no surprise that banking will be one of the two industries to spend the most on artificial intelligence solutions in 2024. AI tools hold great potential, but financial organizations must ensure they are fully optimized and securely integrated into workflows.

The Three Levels of Automation

The three levels of automation (simple, intelligent, and hyperautomation) allow organizations to remain highly competitive, with each level building on the complexity and power of the previous one. Simple automation involves using a single automated process to solve simple tasks. Intelligent automation refers to automation technologies that enable rapid end-to-end decision-making, creating workflows that can evolve without human interference or interaction. It achieves this with robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence technologies. Hyperautomation offers a holistic strategy that connects people, systems, bots, AI, and business rules within end-to-end automated processes. By leveraging AI and RPA alongside additional tools such as decision protocols, workflow coordination, and intelligent business process management (iBPM), organizations can foster a unified and dynamic automation strategy.

Enhancing Time Efficiency with Automation

Time is undoubtedly one of the most valuable assets for any organization. In an industry burdened with monotonous, repetitive, and time-consuming tasks like data entry and identity verification, tools that can help increase efficiency without compromising accuracy and attention to detail are invaluable. Businesses can automate these workflows, further boosting efficiency by freeing up time for employees to focus on more complex and higher-value tasks, paving the way for organizations to invest more time and resources in strategic initiatives.

Additionally, as consumers continue to demand a high level of service, the benefits of time savings extend far beyond internal processes. With widespread digital transformation, customer expectations are beginning to evolve, expecting seamless experiences, personalized interactions, and instant gratification. With AI and hyperautomation, financial companies can keep up with these expectations, implementing 24/7 chatbots to quickly resolve customer inquiries while delivering a personalized and enjoyable banking experience. Companies can also speed up customer onboarding by extracting data and automating fraud checks for greater accuracy.

Strategic Implementation: Process Mining and Integration

Integrating multiple sources is a vital step in successfully implementing automation. One of the key benefits of intelligent automation and hyperautomation lies in their ability to break down silos. Silos isolate pockets of information, hindering effective collaboration. In the financial services industry, employees regularly face the task of manually working through separate systems to connect all relevant data; silos can be very obstructive. To overcome this obstacle, low-code solutions like those we offer at Appian facilitate accessible application programming interfaces (APIs) that can help with seamless integration with current infrastructure to consolidate data from various technologies into a centralized repository that serves as the foundation for optimized processes.

The successful implementation of automation requires meticulous planning and strategy. Instead of rapidly automating at scale, organizations should first identify one or two key areas where automation can deliver tangible benefits and start there. In this case, at Appian, we also offer process mining as an excellent tool to help identify problem areas, bottlenecks, and root causes of issues that would slow down or negatively impact the data transformation process. This can help an organization identify the areas to focus on first.

We are in an era of increasing pressure for companies to integrate new technologies to maintain a competitive edge. By leveraging intelligent automation and hyperautomation, financial organizations can embrace change through structured and thoughtful implementation strategies. Those who use these tools will be the first to drive productivity, generate revenue, and improve customer satisfaction.

SOURCE: Appian's Tribune. ''Navigating Financial Transformation: How Organizations Can Implement Intelligent Automation and Hyperautomation.'' Fundssociety.com. 08/08/2024.