We Did the Math: How FSIs Thrive
with Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
Data is a fundamental factor for companies in the Financial Services Industry (FSI), but it's one that many FSI companies struggle to control. As FSI entities deal with exponentially-increasing torrents of data—from account information to credit memos to spreadsheet entries—many risk drowning in the tide.
Fortunately, FSIs deal with data and workflows that can easily be handled by Robotic Process Automation (RPA): software that can be programmed to perform high-volume, repeatable, rules-based processes.
Consider this example: a bank receives a credit level adjustment request from a client. The bank must check if the proper parameters have been met by the account, update the database to reflect the new credit level, and send the confirmation from the mainframe out to an existing SMS gateway.
With hundreds of such requests fielded in a week, you can imagine the errors and redundancy introduced by human operators; the decreasing efficiency over time as the monotony of the task kicks in; and the man-hours required to complete these operations manually.
RPA “bots” thrive on such time-consuming, single-minded rote tasks, effectively replacing the human inputs in any given process. “Bots” automate sets of activities, while management software orchestrates the “bots”’ workflow. Compared to people, RPA performs these activities more efficiently while improving the accuracy and quality of the output, as the human error factor has been completely removed.
A financial technology company in Shanghai enlisted RPA bots to take over the tedious job of converting spreadsheets into value-added tax (VAT) returns, reducing the length of the in-house process from 1,400 hours every year to 280. The RPA takeover freed the fintech company’s staff to focus on higher-value, more insight-driven work—resulting in improved morale and a lower staff turnover rate.[i]
And a commercial bank redesigned its claims workflow by putting some 85 “bots” to work on 13 processes handling 1.5 million claims requests a year. This implementation of RPA helped the bank record a 27 percent increase in tasks performed “right first time”, while adding the capacity equivalent of 230 full-time employees for only 30 percent of the staffing cost.[ii]
While figures may vary depending on the scope and size of the implementation, the overall benefits of RPA for FSIs are consistent in every one. Increased efficiency and capacity. Reduced error rate. Improved customer experience and employee morale. And a return on one’s investment ranging from 30 to over 200 percent in the first year alone.[iii]
FSIs can work with FUJIFILM Business Innovation Hong Kong to achieve these outcomes. With our deep understanding of your specific needs, we can implement and customise RPA solutions for your enterprise—allowing you to harness your data for optimum results, instead of being overwhelmed.
Reference:
[i] “How RPA Can Improve Efficiency and Employee Engagement.” EY. Ernst & Young Global Limited, June 7, 2018. https://www.ey.com/en_gl/digital/how-rpa-can-improve-efficiency-and-employee-engagement.
[ii] “Robotic Process Automation.” Deloitte Insights, 2019. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/signals-for-strategists/cognitive-enterprise-robotic-process-automation.html.
[iii] Lhuer, Xavier, and Leslie Willcocks. “The next Acronym You Need to Know about: RPA (Robotic Process Automation).” McKinsey & Company, 2019. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/the-next-acronym-you-need-to-know-about-rpa.
