Is RPA the Game Changer for Financial Industry?
The Financial industry is grappling with oceans of data. Adding to its woes are reduced margins due to competition from Fintechs, increased regulatory costs and attempts to grow customer base. To cope up with the existing challenges, there have been a lot of advancements in automation software technologies to create a new breed of cognitive learning technologies with human-like capabilities such as handwriting recognition, natural language processing and identifying unknown images.One such technology which when coupled with cognitive and NLP, can not only help save money and time for companies that use labor on a large scale for general knowledge processing work, but also enable people to perform high volume, high transactional process functions in a shorter duration.Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is the application of technology that allows companies to configure software programs, also called as 'robots', to capture and interpret existing applications for processing a transaction, manipulating data, triggering various responses and effective communication with other digital systems. RPA is one of the key transformational technology trends impacting financial services firms worldwide. According to Mckinsey 110-140 million FTE's (Full-Time Equivalent) could be replaced by automation tools and software by 2020. There are a few key factors that will drive RPA. Firstly' majority of banks are trying to achieve full automation in their operations but are still grappling with having one process across the ecosystem. Secondly, with countless waves of regulations, they are looking at a cost effective yet compliant process which is profitable.
What RPA does, is provide firms with a digital workforce or software robots which are programmed in a rule based manner, similar to humans, but effective for tasks such as logging into user interfaces or processing line items or managing exceptions etc. The aim of using RPA is to automate repetitive and labor intensive workloads in order to increase efficiency while cutting operational costs.
For instance, RPA can be applied to wide range of industries like:
a. Process automation for back-office tasks in finance, procurement, supply chain management, accounting.
b. Automated process for remote management of IT infrastructure which can consistently investigate and solve problems for faster process throughput.
Role of RPA in Financial Industry:
Many big investment banks have started a multi year business Next Generation Optimization strategy, which focuses on Robotics Process Automation(RPA) in order to achieve low OPEX with maximum efficiency and reduced risks. Financial institutions such as RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) are using leading edge Robotics Process Automation system, test driven development and cloud based solution to quickly deliver next-generation optimization. Clubbing this with Continuous Integration (CI), along with Continuous Delivery (CD) pipelines institutions are able to cater fast to this very fast changing environment. By automating operational processes, RPA brings several immediate benefits to the business. These automation capabilities enable more focus and time spent on the customer, and can mean better experience not only for customer but for employees as well. Some of the key benefits are:
Accuracy
Robots don't make mistakes or judgement calls, neither do they get tired. With routine processes completed accurately, every time,you don't need to allocate resources for making corrections. In the long run, robots improve data and process accuracy as well as banking operations transparency.
Reduce Cost
Automation of work processes would mean lesser man-hours which would lead to a decrease in OPEX
Increase in Efficiency and Productivity
Robots don't take coffee, lunch or holiday breaks. This means 24/7 monitoring and processing, increasing speed, efficiency and productivity. With robots taking over labor-intensive administration tasks, it frees up your employees for more high value activities. Now employees can focus on those tasks that can’t be automated, like customer service.
Advance Analytics
Data gathering and organizing becomes easier which helps in predicting future outcomes and helps in optimizing the processes. These analytics can be used for determining the improvement areas that can help in improved processes which can help in achieving higher levels of efficiency.
Scalability and Flexibility
The ability to replicate robotic tools across geographies and business units increases scalability and flexibility. With the evolution of industry landscape, the need for an efficient and controlled process mechanism has also risen. RPA can provide a solution for the management of repetitive processes and at the same time, being cost effective and scalable, enabling firms achieve targets in weeks rather than months.
Future Growth
According to the report published by P&S Market Research the global robotic process automation market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 33.8 percent during the forecast period, to reach $6,247.1 million by 2023. The intensity of rivalry in the global robotic process automation market is comparatively moderate. Most of the vendors operating in the global robotic process automation market are actively focused on enhancing their offerings to meet the ongoing demand for advanced business automation solutions. This includes software integrated with artificial intelligence, and cognitive learning.
Some of the key players operating in the robotic process automation ecosystem are Nice Systems Ltd., Pegasystems Inc.,Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism PLC, Ipsoft, Inc.,Celaton Ltd.,Redwood Software, UiPath SRL, Verint System Inc.,Xerox Corporation, and IBM.
Many big investment banks have started a multi year business Next Generation Optimization strategy, which focuses on Robotics Process Automation(RPA) in order to achieve low OPEX with maximum efficiency and reduced risks. Financial institutions such as RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) are using leading edge Robotics Process Automation system, test driven development and cloud based solution to quickly deliver next-generation optimization. Clubbing this with Continuous Integration (CI), along with Continuous Delivery (CD) pipelines institutions are able to cater fast to this very fast changing environment. By automating operational processes, RPA brings several immediate benefits to the business. These automation capabilities enable more focus and time spent on the customer, and can mean better experience not only for customer but for employees as well. Some of the key benefits are:
Many big investment banks have started a multiyear business Next Generation Optimization strategy, which focuses on Robotics Process Automation(RPA)in order to achieve low OPEX with maximum efficiency and reduced risks
Accuracy
Robots don't make mistakes or judgement calls, neither do they get tired. With routine processes completed accurately, every time,you don't need to allocate resources for making corrections. In the long run, robots improve data and process accuracy as well as banking operations transparency.
Reduce Cost
Automation of work processes would mean lesser man-hours which would lead to a decrease in OPEX
Increase in Efficiency and Productivity
Robots don't take coffee, lunch or holiday breaks. This means 24/7 monitoring and processing, increasing speed, efficiency and productivity. With robots taking over labor-intensive administration tasks, it frees up your employees for more high value activities. Now employees can focus on those tasks that can’t be automated, like customer service.
Advance Analytics
Data gathering and organizing becomes easier which helps in predicting future outcomes and helps in optimizing the processes. These analytics can be used for determining the improvement areas that can help in improved processes which can help in achieving higher levels of efficiency.
Scalability and Flexibility
The ability to replicate robotic tools across geographies and business units increases scalability and flexibility. With the evolution of industry landscape, the need for an efficient and controlled process mechanism has also risen. RPA can provide a solution for the management of repetitive processes and at the same time, being cost effective and scalable, enabling firms achieve targets in weeks rather than months.
Future Growth
According to the report published by P&S Market Research the global robotic process automation market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 33.8 percent during the forecast period, to reach $6,247.1 million by 2023. The intensity of rivalry in the global robotic process automation market is comparatively moderate. Most of the vendors operating in the global robotic process automation market are actively focused on enhancing their offerings to meet the ongoing demand for advanced business automation solutions. This includes software integrated with artificial intelligence, and cognitive learning.
Some of the key players operating in the robotic process automation ecosystem are Nice Systems Ltd., Pegasystems Inc.,Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism PLC, Ipsoft, Inc.,Celaton Ltd.,Redwood Software, UiPath SRL, Verint System Inc.,Xerox Corporation, and IBM.
