# The race to scale up automation in financial services Author: Pal Sinha, Barnali Author URL: https://financedigest.com/author/pal-sinha-barnali Published: 2020-03-17 Category: FINANCE Category URL: https://financedigest.com/category/finance Meta Title: Financial Services Automation: The Next Decade Outlook Meta Description: Discover how financial services organizations are gearing up for the next decade with increased automation to improve customer experience and drive innovation. URL: https://financedigest.com/the-race-to-scale-up-automation-in-financial-serviceshtml ![undefined](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cm5qst7v3003gwirgwqtxn8i8/images/finance-trends-2019-1736838932111-compressed.jpg) _By **Terry Walby,** founder and CEO of_ [_Blue Prism Cloud_](https://cloud.blueprism.com/) As financial services organizations look ahead to the new decade, they will be aware the next ten years are set to bring about dramatic changes in how they go to market and their service offerings and how they engage with customers. Digital transformation and increasing consumer expectations will place heightened pressure on banks and insurance companies to deliver intuitive and personalized customer experience, far beyond what we currently see in the market. ![Terry Walby](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cm5qst7v3003gwirgwqtxn8i8/images/terry-walby-450x675-1736838932166-compressed.jpeg) Terry Walby This need for innovation will play out against a backdrop of worsening skills shortages and a fierce war for talent within the financial [services sector](https://www.financedigest.com/protecting-the-uk-financial-services-sector-from-cyberattacks-now-and-in-2023.html "Protecting the UK financial services sector from cyberattacks now and in 2023"). Businesses will [need to find ways to maximize the productivity of their people](https://www.financedigest.com/people-need-people-humanising-the-digital-banking-experience.html "People need People – Humanising the digital banking experience") and ensure they are deriving maximum value from key talent. Little wonder then that banks and insurance firms are looking to scale up their automation programs over the [next few years](https://www.financedigest.com/uaes-adnoc-to-open-swiss-trading-office-next-year.html "UAE’s ADNOC to open Swiss trading office next year"). Digital labor will be absolutely critical in delivering [improved customer experience](https://www.financedigest.com/improving-customer-experience-and-profits-with-embedded-payments.html "Improving customer experience and profits with embedded payments") and ensuring compliance, whilst freeing up people from the mundane and repetitive to focus their efforts on innovation, strategic relationships and commercial growth. Our recent research paper, ‘Taking Automation to the Next Level’ revealed the extent to which [organizations are looking to accelerate their rate of automation and deploy digital](https://www.financedigest.com/the-pharmaceutical-isolators-market-to-get-filtered-through-organic-digitized-growth.html "The Pharmaceutical Isolators Market to get filtered through organic digitized growth") labor in more strategic, business-critical areas. Whilst just 7% of organizations currently claim to have automated more than 20% of all of their operational processes to date, this [number is predicted to rise](https://www.financedigest.com/ryanair-passenger-numbers-rise-in-august-to-11-1-million.html "Ryanair passenger numbers rise in August to 11.1 million") to 38% within five years, and as high as 50% within the financial services sector. Interestingly, the drivers for this [next wave](https://www.financedigest.com/the-next-wave-of-fintech-is-here.html "The Next Wave of Fintech is here") of automation adoption are very different from the ambitions that organizations had when they first started out. **The quest for productivity** [Banks and insurance companies](https://www.financedigest.com/allianz-trade-wins-global-banking-finance-reviews-best-trade-credit-insurance-company-asia-pacific-2022.html "Allianz Trade wins Global Banking & Finance Review’s Best Trade Credit Insurance Company Asia Pacific 2022") have traditionally been at the forefront of automation adoption, using virtual workers to streamline back-office tasks across the organization, from HR and accounts through to contact centers and field sales. For their early initiatives in process automation, [financial services organizations were very much focused on driving](https://www.financedigest.com/how-crowdsourcing-can-help-drive-the-benefits-of-advanced-analytics-in-financial-services.html "HOW CROWDSOURCING CAN HELP DRIVE THE BENEFITS OF ADVANCED ANALYTICS IN FINANCIAL SERVICES") efficiencies. Indeed, cost was cited as the top objective for automation by half (50%) of respondents, followed by increased productivity (25%) and improved business outcomes (17%). This is re-shaping the way that leaders are now looking to identify the areas of greatest potential benefit for [intelligent automation](https://www.financedigest.com/why-intelligent-automation-should-be-a-top-priority-for-enterprises-in-2022.html "Why Intelligent Automation should be a top priority for enterprises in 2022"). Only a quarter (25%) are focusing on addressing the most under-performing processes; the vast majority (75%) are instead assessing the potential benefit of [Intelligent Automation](https://www.financedigest.com/installing-trust-what-intelligent-automation-can-do-for-the-healthcare-sector.html "Installing trust: What Intelligent Automation can do for the healthcare sector") in terms of how it can provide key employees with tools to experiment. This represents a marked [shift in thinking from where the industry was five years](https://www.financedigest.com/vw-to-speed-up-electric-shift-in-five-year-plan.html "VW to speed up electric shift in five-year plan") ago, or even two years ago. More recently, however, the focus has [shifted away from tactical deployment to more complex and strategic](https://www.financedigest.com/why-businesses-need-to-shift-their-e-invoicing-approach-from-local-and-tactical-to-scalable-and-strategic.html "Why businesses need to shift their e-invoicing approach – from local and tactical to scalable and strategic") initiatives. Intelligent Automation (IA), which combines traditional Robotic Process Automation (RPA) with [Artificial Intelligence](https://www.financedigest.com/types-of-artificial-intelligence.html "Artificial Intelligence") (AI) functionality, now allows firms to automate a far wider range of workplace processes, faster, more effectively and securely. As a result, the drivers for automation have evolved. No longer are banks looking to RPA technology to [reduce cost; instead, they are ramping up their use of Intelligent Automation to tackle widespread skills and productivity issues](https://www.financedigest.com/simple-ways-to-reduce-business-costs.html "Simple Ways to Reduce Business Costs"). **We have reached a tipping point where automation is now less about tactical cost-reduction and more about [customer experience](https://www.financedigest.com/getting-customer-experience-right-in-financial-services.html "Getting customer experience right in financial services"), strategic growth and speed to market.** Financial [services firms](https://www.financedigest.com/how-financial-services-firms-can-mitigate-against-their-top-data-security-threats.html "How Financial Services Firms Can Mitigate Against Their Top Data Security Threats") are re-defining how ‘work’ is resourced across their operations, based on the relative strengths and capabilities of human and digital labor. For [business leaders](https://www.financedigest.com/how-business-leaders-can-adapt-or-replace-covid-related-perks-to-the-post-pandemic-world-while-keeping-employees-on-side.html "How business leaders can adapt or replace Covid related perks to the post-pandemic world while keeping employees on-side"), it’s a game-changer, providing the agility to respond to market disruption and adapt to regulatory change, and also to pursue new opportunities that would otherwise be impossible with a traditional approach to resourcing. **A third of strategy leaders within financial services believe that this type of Intelligent Automation could transform part of their [business](https://www.financedigest.com/business-finance-the-fintech-evolution.html "Business finance: the fintech evolution"), whilst 8% feel that IA could in fact transform the organization as a whole.** Whilst automation strategy leaders within financial [services](https://www.financedigest.com/facilitating-open-finance-through-secure-services.html "Facilitating open finance through secure services") were on the whole satisfied with the results of their automation initiatives to date (90% said their expectations had been met), only 17% felt that their efforts to date had exceeded their expectations. This was strikingly low compared with industries such as utilities and the public sector, where 58% and 52% respectively felt that their early automation projects had exceeded expectations. Part of this may be due to the sophistication of technology within financial services and their high expectations when it comes to innovation and [digital transformation](https://www.financedigest.com/whose-role-is-it-anyway-why-finance-underpins-data-led-digital-transformation.html "Whose role is it anyway? Why finance underpins data-led digital transformation"). Another factor may also be the relatively high level of [operational efficiency](https://www.financedigest.com/finance-operations-efficiency-7-ways-to-slick-up-your-department.html "Finance operations efficiency – 7 ways to slick up your department") that has traditionally existed within the industry. **Challenges to scale automation programs** However, another aspect undoubtedly at play here is the fact banks and insurance companies led the first wave of adoption of [automation solutions](https://www.financedigest.com/convenience-offered-by-home-automation-solutions-to-offer-opportunities-for-market-players-iot-has-encouraged-the-demand.html "Convenience Offered by Home Automation Solutions to Offer Opportunities for Market Players; IoT has Encouraged the Demand"). This meant that there was often little or no precedent to inform leaders as they [developed their businesses cases](https://www.financedigest.com/covid-19-makes-the-case-for-technology-and-automation-for-business-development-in-professional-services.html "Covid-19 Makes the Case for Technology and Automation for Business Development in Professional Services") and strategies for RPA adoption. In many cases, there was an element of trial and error and learning through mistakes. The research reveals that automation leaders are facing a new set of challenges as they look to scale up their automation programs. On the operational side, these include difficulties accessing the technical skills they [need and a lack of alignment between the IT department and other business](https://www.financedigest.com/do-small-businesses-need-branding.html "Do small businesses need branding?") functions. These issues were certainly around at the outset of automation programs but they have become more pronounced. Evidently then, at a strategic level, the [big challenge for automation leaders is how best to roll out digital labor at scale across multiple business](https://www.financedigest.com/how-china-became-big-business-for-twitter-from-blocking-to-blue-checks.html "How China became big business for Twitter, from blocking to blue checks") units, whilst maintaining the visibility, control and consistency to deliver optimization. It is a question of governance. **Decentralisation of automation** Smaller, discreet automation projects are relatively easy to manage and control – usually with a central team of experts (both internal and external) overseeing and delivering the technology platform, skills and staff training [required to introduce digital](https://www.financedigest.com/fraud-protection-why-customer-onboarding-requires-digital-identity-processing.html "Fraud Protection: Why Customer Onboarding Requires Digital Identity Processing") labour. However, the research uncovers a widely held view, particularly within financial services, that such a centralized approach simply cannot deliver what is required [moving forward](https://www.financedigest.com/life-is-moving-forward-china-declares-new-covid-phase.html "‘Life is moving forward’: China declares new COVID phase"). The feeling is that if [digital labour is to move from being deployed for specific use cases within pockets of the organization to more wide scale adoption](https://www.financedigest.com/why-banks-cant-adopt-digital-identities-fast-enough.html "Why Banks Can’t Adopt Digital Identities Fast Enough"), then skills, tools and ownership must be spread out throughout the business. These are hugely exciting times for banks and [insurance companies that are looking to scale up their automation programs and transform](https://www.financedigest.com/transforming-insurance-through-artificial-intelligence-and-machine-learning.html "Transforming Insurance Through Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning") their operational models. The opportunities to pursue new business initiatives, develop new products and services and [drive growth](https://www.financedigest.com/how-embedded-insurance-can-drive-growth-and-value-for-the-insurance-and-finance-sectors.html "How Embedded Insurance Can Drive Growth and Value for the Insurance and Finance Sectors") are almost limitless. Without doubt, it is the ability of banks and insurance firms to build, manage and optimize this blend of human and digital labour that will decide the [winners and losers](https://www.financedigest.com/the-pound-gilts-and-stocks-likely-winners-and-losers-from-uk-budget.html "The pound, gilts and stocks: likely winners and losers from UK budget") in the 2020s. --- This blog is powered by Superblog. Visit https://superblog.ai to know more. ---