As a technology partner for the BFSI sector, we stepped into 2020 with great optimism. Many of our clients and prospects were on the path to automating their daily processes, as a step towards complete digitization.
We were in daily conversations with our counterparts on the client side on how RPA could be used to programme out repetitive parts of their internal processes. Management wanted us to work with IT teams to build automation that would reduce manual error, improve efficiency and free up employee time for customer service.
Converting crisis into opportunity
So, when the pandemic struck, BFSI companies were not really taken unawares. Rather, top management and IT teams reached out to us to speed up implementation of projects that were already underway. Three main drivers led to this urgency:
- Resource crunch: Covid restrictions meant BFSI companies had fewer numbers of staff coming to work. Smaller teams serving large numbers of people especially in rural areas and small towns posed operational difficulties.
- Cost pressure: With a drop in deposits, defaults on payments and a spike in withdrawals, Indian BFSI companies found they had to deliver high levels of service to distressed citizens under constrained circumstances. Management had to find a way to help teams do more with the existing IT infrastructure and systems as large investments for upgrades were not possible.
- Growing role of technology: As mentioned before, clients were already aware that investment in technologies like RPA would boost efficiencies and help teams move away from repetitive back-end work to customer-facing tasks. They pushed us build on this advantage. We worked with their IT teams to use the pandemic scenario to further innovate and expand the areas where automation could be deployed.
The obvious choice of the activities for automation were reconciliation activities, activities like processing of applications and KYC verification, handling the L1 support in Service desk, etc.
Onward to 2021
Clients are now seeing benefits of these transformed processes in terms of cost savings and performance boost. RPA has resulted in reduction of workload and streamlined operations. This has led to enhanced customer experience.
By converting crisis into opportunity, we have helped BFSI clients maintain employee morale and meet customer expectations during the stressful pandemic situation. With minimal incremental investment, clients have now seen better ROI on existing IT systems.
The coming year will only see a faster pace of adoption as clients work with us to digitize for greater customer satisfaction, more time for creative employee inputs and higher profitability.
As all BFSI companies head towards end-to-end technology transformation, the differentiating factor will be how we can help our clients creatively use technologies like RPA to build competitive advantage.
I will touch upon this and other areas in my upcoming article on what 2021 holds for technology in the BFSI sector.
*Originally Published on LinkedIn
Author: Ahana Content Team
