Robotic process automation in the finance

The financial industry is an area where the number of repetitive, manual work is huge. Many processes must be performed repeatedly on different platforms. 24/7/365 performance, no errors, no overloading with manual work sounds like the definition of an ideal solution for financial institutions. It is not difficult to conclude that Robotic Process Automation and the financial industry are very well matched couple.

Of course, this is a simplification and the whole process is much more complicated than this simple statement. However, the facts allow us to be a bit enthusiastic about this matter. According to Horses for sources during the 2016-2017 market of RPA increased by 63%. And if it is always worth to have both feet on the ground, in this case, facts push to the conclusion that if you have not already done this – it is worth to think about possible use cases of this technology.

5 reasons why you should automate your busienss processes

Customer service

Many basic services in the financial industry based on simple and clear rules. These tasks should be performed as efficiently and accurately as possible so the user experience remains undisturbed. How can RPA support look like in practice in this area? When we are setting up an account, it is critical to verify the correctness of all data, credit history and compliance rules. A robot can do this job efficiently by checking correctness and verifying discrepancies.

Robots are able to analyze data effectively and on their basis, prepare investment recommendations. A financial adviser can make decisions based on a thorough analysis of a wide and current data set. Next to financial advisory we can mention loading a detailed customer profile included previous interactions with support or automate of KYC (Know Your Customer) process.

Financial Reporting

Financial reporting is a process that requires a combination of data from multiple sources, information from many people and departments. Each time the collection and structuring can be entrusted to robots. Saving time, elimination of errors are the main benefits that can be expected after handing over the tasks to the robot.

Risk and compliance management

The characteristic of tasks related to risk management allows robots efficiently and accurately replace human work, i.e. finding information from all available sources and systems and present them in a structured manner. In addition to high accuracy, an additional benefit is a more full volume of data and sources than it would be possible to be processed by a single person.

Maintaining data compliance

Customer details are often changing. Unfortunately, not always the changes are implemented automatically to all necessary systems. In result, data are outdated or must be manually updated on all systems. A robot with access to appropriate reference points can extract relevant data and update in all required places.

Accounting settlements

According to the researchers, in the case of repetitive manual actions the level of errors fluctuates between 5-10 %. Accounting is usually associated with long hours of sitting and performing repetitive activities, and however great effort was put on it, avoiding mistakes is not possible. The RPA can solve this problem – the process will be accelerated, errors will be eliminated, and the employee can focus on tasks requiring decision-making.

The list of the processes can be much longer – all repeatable processes, based on clear rules, required a large number of manual steps can be added to the list. If we will only remember about limitations and properly balance automation with human involvement, we can be sure that implementing RPA will be profitable.