Banks that can enable fully automated bank operations are going to be far out ahead of everyone else
By Bradley Clerkin
I recently attended the Bank Automation Summit in Charlotte and was ecstatic to see a handful of forward-thinking bank leaders (both technology and business leaders) articulate what we know to be the true goal or North Star of robotics and automation in banking: complete automation of current bank operations.
What these leaders are driving their organizations towards is the creation of a competitive advantage that only can be brought about by making automation and robotics the center stage of their modern operating model. They know by doing this they will fundamentally create a new model of banking altogether.
Take KeyBank for example, whose head of robotic process automation (RPA) plans to expand his team by up to 30% this year for a total of 120-130 people!
What Does It Take?
Adding in robotics and automation requires a marriage of business and technology to create a successful product operating model.
This includes:
Cross-functional teams of robotics, automation, business, cloud, and development SMEs.
Agile work prioritization, communication, and funding processes that can adopt to an evolving landscape and support agility.
The ability to ramp up engineering efforts at high velocity, driving continuous value to production via cloud, DevOps, and platforms.
The Divide
The impact of this automation will drive a further strategic divide between banks that get it and those that do not. We have already witnessed that banks which invest in modern cloud and development technologies, capabilities, and talent are creating a substantial competitive gap between themselves and the banks that do not. Fully automated bank operations would widen that gap many times over. Therefore, no investment in automation is too large.
The impacts of this new model — of all banking processes as we currently know them becoming automated — are immeasurable, from efficiency to customer satisfaction to mergers and acquisitions.
Consider these examples:
The reallocation of workforce from repetitive tasks to engagement and other higher-value work.
The impact on mergers and acquisitions when the technological integration aspects are cut in half.
Bankers engaging customers with first with robotics and then with real-time products which have little to no waiting on validation, compliance, or approvals.
The reality is yesterday was a good time to get going on achieving fully automated banking operations. The banks that invest now will leave others in the dust. What we recommend is to first focus on operationalizing the IT product operating model at banks and make robotics and automation a core capability the operating model enables. Robotics and automation, done right, requires agile, cross-functional teams, business partnership, cloud, and DevOps.
If you are a CIO of a financial institution, it is time to act, invest, and operationalize the IT product operating model and make robotic and automation a core capability it enables. BreakFree has the expertise and frameworks to help accelerate the operationalization of product and the scaling of a highly effective robotics and automation capability.
Want to learn more? Give us an hour on the whiteboard and we’ll show you how all the pieces fit together.
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