How automation can unlock potential for financial institutions

As operations in the financial services sector continue to evolve to adapt to different customer, regulatory, and technological requirements, automation has emerged as a hot topic. It remains one of the key digital transformation strategies poised to redefine and revolutionize the financial services industry. This affects many aspects of their operations, but key among the priorities for many companies is communications automation for its customer service.

The speed, ease, and convenience that digital innovations and technologies provide have made front-end operations more accessible and user-friendly for customers of financial institutions. But is automation truly worth the investment in the financial sector? There are four unequivocal benefits of automation for financial institutions.

1. Improved efficiency

Automation eliminates mundane manual tasks, such as customers withdrawing money and updating their statements. This makes physical visits to financial institutions unnecessary for customers.

Popular automation use cases in financial institutions include:

• Loan origination and credit processing
• Back-office operations
• Invoice management
• Customer onboarding
• Fraud prevention

Automating tasks and workflows reduces the time employees spend filing, storing, and searching for documents. This increases employee and process efficiency.

2. Saving money

Banking automation can help cut operational costs in areas such as acquiring office equipment, hiring, employee training, and paying for other significant office overhead expenditures. Automation provides robust payment systems facilitated by informational and e-commerce technologies.

Financial institutions using automation don’t need to engage many employees to handle tasks that a single automation tool can handle. Without automation, these institutions would be forced to spend money hiring new staff and training them regularly.

In addition, automation helps banks avoid costly human errors. It eases and accelerates accounts reconciliation which can be highly demanding and overwhelming. The end of close cycles involves repetitive processes to ensure accurate balance reconciliation.

3. Personalization

Automation allows for personalization at almost every touchpoint. This includes customer interactions and communications via chat, text, or phone. Chat features enable financial institutions to engage customers as they navigate the institutions’ websites proactively.

Personalizing such interactions allows financial institutions to address their customers’ concerns more precisely. It also makes their customers feel more valued, increasing brand loyalty.

4. Improving security and compliance

Automation provides real-time fraud prevention to banks and financial institutions by detecting fraudulent payments using financial data analysis. Artificial Intelligence’s (AI) fast response rate for risk calculation increases daily, empowering financial institutions to get an accurate picture of any risks or anomalies beforehand. In addition, with AI, banks can easily and automatically distinguish between legitimate and fraudulent transactions.

Automated security and compliance features provide financial institutions with continuous monitoring. They function as a centralized repository for all items needed across varying compliance standards, including documentation, processes, policies, evidence, etc., cross-referenced with compliance controls.

Due to such laser focus on banks’ compliance and the constant observation of the financial institution’s environment, automated security and compliance features alert these institutions whenever their environment falls out of compliance.

Increased security and compliance translate to increased customer trust and cost savings. Cyberattacks can be costly, just like the consequences of industry non-compliance.

Conclusion

It’s clear that automation in finance is no longer a luxury but a necessity. With digital transformation leading the way, automation has become a powerful tool for financial institutions to optimize their front-end operations, personalize service, and deliver superior customer experiences, all while reducing overhead.

Through automation technology, routine tasks are eliminated, and employees can focus on higher-level activities that add more value to the institution. At IntelePeer, we understand the unique needs of financial institutions and the importance of efficient, secure, and personalized communication with customers.

With our cutting-edge Communications Automation Platform (CAP), Smart Automation, you can simplify your operations and enhance your customers’ experiences. Contact us today to learn more about our leading CAP solution, Smart Automation, for financial institutions.