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Today, banks find themselves at a crossroads in deciding how much automation technology to use and where to use it. The big questions they are asking to inform their decisions include:
- How do we optimize our processes?
- Where does human intervention stop and automation begin?
- How can our operations stay relevant, efficient, and scalable?
To investigate this and more, WorkFusion engaged Chartis Research, a leading provider of research and analytics on the global market for risk technology. After interviewing multiple operations professionals at Tier 1 and Tier 2 banks regarding their CLM processes, Chartis released this white paper filled with results from their research.
Chartis noted that human intervention is still needed throughout the entire CLM process. After all, client-facing job functions deliver higher customer satisfaction when actual people perform them, not some robotic voice on the other end of the phone stating it can’t understand you as you repeatedly say “representative” into your phone. In summation: With robots showing little empathy for people, banks need to put people where they really matter — with other people. How do we know where to put people? How do we know where to let automations do their thing? How do we optimize efficiency in specific operations? Let’s answer these questions by diving into the key drivers identified by Chartis for workplace efficiency in the CLM process.
7 key drivers for workforce efficiency in the CLM process
1. Aligning operations
The war between the front office and back office is over! Or at least, it’s not against each other anymore — banks interviewed for this report consistently said that to create the ideal end-to-end customer experience, it is important that everyone is working towards the same goal. Having the front and back offices share responsibility of key customer processes, such as onboarding, helps processes be “consistent with customers’ expectations for speed, accuracy, and transparency.”
The opposite of this is banks losing “between 20% and 25% of new applicants” because of “leaner, more automated players” becoming a “real threat” with their smarter, faster, customer processes.
So how do we accomplish this goal? Not with traditional RPA. Something else is needed to enhance these end-to-end programs and strike the perfect balance between people and automations. WorkFusion’s Digital Worker Kendrick serves as a KYC analyst with visibility into the entire process and incorporates human-in-the-loop technology, so you won’t lose that personal touch. Read his CV and see if you would hire him.
2. The move towards a single decision
Duplicate data isn’t just annoying, but can actually add significant working hours (6 days in some cases) to CLM processes. In order to streamline operations, data needs to be clean, usable, and reusable. Chartis found among the banks interviewed that having an AI-enabled automated workflow, “almost 90% of that processing time can be cut.”
Chartis underscored how far intelligent automation has come in recent years, and here’s an excerpt straight from the report:
“Intelligent Automation can significantly align operations and increase the efficiency of data use. By not only being able to automate full roles but having pre-build automations, industry best practices can be leveraged OOTB rather than needing to be documented and built.”
Sound familiar? WorkFusion’s Digital Workers check all the boxes. They are an AI-enabled Digital Workforce with industry-specific solutions ready to be implemented straight out of the box. Further, our Digital Workers are able to tap into their network and learn from other processes to keep getting better in their industry-specific roles. Learn more about the network effect here.
3. Differing journeys of automation
The automation journey is a long one, and it can be hard to know where to begin and when, if ever, to end. The problem is even if banks have started their journey of automation, the non-automated and heavily manual processes are “negating the gains of automation” as they now serve as the primary bottlenecks of the process.
Despite the consensus of how big an impact automating these processes can have, “fewer than a third, and generally large banks, are currently adopting an AI-led approach,” with most banks aiming for automations that streamline investigations and review processes.
WorkFusion’s Digital Workers collaborate with people to automate entire processes and to eliminate bottlenecks. I’ve already mentioned Kendrick, the Customer Identify Program Analyst, but there’s also Tara, the Transaction Screening Analyst, Darryl, the Customer Due Diligence Program Analyst, and Evelyn, the Sanctions and Adverse Media Screening Analyst. By hiring this team, you can avoid bottlenecks as they work together like a normal team, just without the PTO, lunch breaks, and the summer slump.
4. Automation: the heart of efficiency
Chartis refers to automation as the “enabler of operational resilience.” Finally! A good type of enabling. Because of the analytics that come from automating processes, businesses are able to identify weak spots, gaps, and (interestingly) where people need to be and where they don’t. Reviewing key metrics “can lead to a reduction of up to three to four hours per analyst per day … in time wasted on repetitive manual tasks.” Of course, this frees up the analyst to do more meaningful work throughout the day, a good thing for them and the company.
WorkFusion’s Digital Workers are all equipped with top-notch analytics dashboards, where you can view specific performance metrics and compare them across industry benchmarks. You can see real-time results of how they are performing and continually optimize the processes. Read more about the WorkFusion platform and analytics here.
The “one decision once” principle, which helps “the alignment of business operations, helping to speed up multiple processes” and an interesting case study included in this section will be a part of the next blog in this series.
5. One CLM workflow
Along the same lines as aligning operations by sharing responsibility of certain KPIs, businesses can also opt to merge banking operations completely, joining together customer due diligence and anti–money laundering checks in one process. By doing this, clients can see their inefficiencies in the existing process and correct them as the operations merge.
Many of our clients have found success hiring both Evelyn, the Sanctions and Adverse Media Screening Analyst, and Darryl, the Customer Due Diligence Program Analyst. Another option is to create your own employee with a custom Digital Worker. Curious about the ‘Build-a-Bear version’ of Digital Worker? Read more on our website. The best part: you can name it whatever you choose.
6. Adopting automation
Automation is no longer solely for deep-pocketed large banks. WorkFusion’s innovative low-code and no-code solutions make automation more accessible than ever to banks of all sizes and/or those plagued by legacy systems.
In fact, many small and medium-sized banks have “exploited their relative lack of established infrastructure to automate faster and more efficiently,” states Chartis in the report. And banks that have yet to see large payoffs from their limited automation efforts are now turning to practical use cases to implement in their efforts.
You guessed it. Two elements that WorkFusion Digital Workers have: low-code and industry case studies. Read more about our large banking presence, with the Tier 1s and others, here.
7. Automation evolution + the new normal
Chartis puts it best: Automation is the “new normal for the unpredictable world.”
It’s no secret that this world is not the same as it was three years ago. I don’t have to remind you of the several “once in a lifetime” events we have all had to live and work through. Because of all these changes, companies are looking away from the “process automation and toward a more durable lifecycle automation” to combat increased sanctions, higher attrition, and other effects of these global events. More discussion of this evolution, and WorkFusion’s take on it, will appear in a subsequent post in this series.
In the meantime, if you have any questions, please email me at eking@workfusion.com or request a demo today.
