More Expert Insights & Survey Results from Virtual Summit 2020

The global pandemic is keeping us distanced and remote, yet WorkFusion Virtual Summit 2020 brought together over 2,000 participants to discuss Intelligent Automation and Digital Transformation.

As host of the online conference, I not only had the pleasure of being joined by an adorable occasional co-host (my young daughter!) but had the opportunity to introduce a wonderful lineup of customers and industry experts (now available on-demand).

To follow-up on the event itself, we wanted to offer some insight into who was watching (i.e., folks like you!), their areas of interest, and insights from audience surveys.

Who participated?

The automation conference audience was wide-ranging. The most represented industry was Banking and Financial Services, with other attendees primarily coming from Insurance, Healthcare, Retail/CPG, and our Partner community. North America had the largest group of attendees, but nearly half of the participants were from Europe, Africa, and Asia — many watching live sessions until late-evening hours in their home locations!

From junior analysts and developers to roles across the C-suite, we truly appreciate all the active participation.

Who spoke?

We’re grateful for everyone who gave us their time and valuable insights. I particularly really enjoyed the Financial Crimes Roundtable with Sehr Saghir of BMO, Ivan Zasarsky of PwC, and my colleague Grant Vickers — particularly its guidance toward automating with regulators in mind, obviously a common concern for those in regulated industries.

I also had to smile and agree when Tony Saldhana charged everyone to “plan to disrupt yourself before somebody else does!” This is candid, yet true, particularly for those of us in technology.

For a more extensive summary of all sessions, read Key Insights About Digital Transformation Learned at Virtual Summit 2020.

We asked, you answered

Our highly engaged live Virtual Summit audience answered several quick poll questions. Here are their responses:

Q1: Where are you on your automation journey?

As a Digital Transformation conference, we wanted to understand the various stages of the audience.

1. Getting started — Looking at potential and available tools
2. Adopting — Working through POCs, pilots, and initial Production implementation(s)
3. Expanding — A few automations are in Production, now looking for more use cases or capabilities
4. Scaling — Automation is at the core of our corporate strategy

The largest group of respondents are expanding, but they’re looking towards scaling. The overall breakdown shows a relatively even distribution — both about half — between early stages (getting started, adopting) and the more mature stages (expanding, scaling).

Q2: What groups of use cases from Use Case Navigator are on your automation roadmap through 2021?

Here, we asked the audience to check out our Use Case Navigator and consider these process groups:

1. AML, Account Opening, KYC
2. Claims Intake
3. Supply Chain / Accounts Payable
4. Other

With banking being the largest industry in attendance, it’s not surprising that AML, Account Opening and KYC use cases are of highest interest. But since this wasn’t a banking conference, that wasn’t the sole focus, with Supply Chain/Accounts Payable in a strong second place.

Q3: Which financial crime compliance functions are on your automation roadmap through 2021?

As we knew financial crime was a key focus for the large Banking presence, we asked about specific functions (multiple selections allowed):

1. Adverse Media Monitoring (Negative News)
2. Identity Verification
3. Payment Screening Alert Disposition (Transaction Monitoring Alert Review)
4. Name Screening Alert Review for Sanctions and PEPs
5. Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO)
6. Source of Wealth
7. Authorized Signer Management
8. Other

It’s clear that Identity Verification, Payment Screening Alert Disposition (Transaction Monitoring Alert Review), and Adverse Media Monitoring (Negative News) are the hottest topics.

You asked, we answered

In addition to the polls, we kept the live Virtual Summit interactive by adding an “Ask the Experts” widget, powered by a small army from our team standing by for inquiries. There were a lot of great questions — enough so that we’ll dedicate our next post to answering a handful of them. Here’s a preview:

1. What’s an example of a successful Intelligent Automation or RPA project for the banking industry that cuts across multiple systems and processes?
2. How are your customers driving the adoption of automation? Do you see a cultural aspect of automation with people and how do you deal with it?
3. What is a pre-trained bot? How do they work with full use cases or processes? Can they be adjusted to my specific requirements?

Stay tuned for our “Virtual Summit: You Asked, We Answered” blog post to get the answers to these concerns and more!

This is a digital transformation conference that doesn’t have to end: I encourage you to browse our Use Case Navigator tool.

Please feel free to reach out anytime — we’re always happy to discuss any questions you may have.