Understanding the Power of Hyperautomation for Financial Services 

What is Hyperautomation? 

Hyperautomation has been recognized as one of the major technology trends to reshape the business world in the upcoming years. According to a recent Gartner survey, around 65% of the leading respondent organizations have seen positive results from deploying hyperautomation strategically. Hyperautomation, according to the survey, is more relevant as a condition for survival rather than a choice.  

Hyperautomation especially becomes more relevant for companies in the Banking and Finance industries which have a lot on the line when it comes to failing to stay compliant with evolving technological regulations and environments. This article examines hyperautomation, its benefits for banking and finance, and how companies can leverage the full potential of this new-age technology. 

Benefits of Hyperautomation for the Finance Industry 

Why is hyperautomation all the rage in the tech world? Let’s explore its relevancy through the benefits it offers to the BFSI sector: 

• Stay Compliant: Hyperautomation can automate tasks related to compliance, such as data entry, document review, and risk assessment. This helps organizations ensure that they are following regulations and reduces the risk of penalties. By automating compliance-related processes, organizations can maintain a strong compliance framework. 
• Risk Management: Hyperautomation streamlines risk management by automating risk assessment, reporting, and mitigation, ensuring operational stability and resilience. 
• Enhanced Data Governance: Hyper automation automates data tasks such as collection, cleaning, and analysis. It enhances data quality, informs better decisions, and ensures data integrity. Automating tasks like identity verification and background checks can improve customer experience, expedite onboarding, and mitigate fraud risks. 
• Fraud Detection: Hyperautomation can prevent fraud by analyzing large chunks of data to detect suspicious behavior patterns. Hyperautomating these crucial tasks not only saves your company’s money from lawsuits but also frees up human resources for tasks requiring manual effort. 

Use Cases & Examples of Hyperautomation in the BFSI Sector  

Automating finance tasks is crucial for businesses to operate efficiently. Here are some of the new-age technologies that go hand-in-hand with hyperautomation: 

1. Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning 

1.  Automating Repetitive Tasks: One of the key benefits of AI/ML is the ability to accurately extract data and automate routine tasks such as answering customer queries and scanning candidate profiles. This can significantly enhance operational efficiency and reduce the workload of employees. 

2. Enhanced Productivity: By automating business processes that were previously executed manually, AI/ML engines can free up employees to work on high-value tasks, thereby boosting productivity and improving the overall effectiveness of the organization.  

3. Cybersecurity Enhancements: In today’s digital landscape, cybersecurity is of utmost importance. The use of AI/ML-driven models can proactively detect system vulnerabilities and monitor online threats, helping to prevent data breaches and enhance cybersecurity in financial organizations.  

2. Robotic Process Automation 

1. Customer Onboarding can also be streamlined using RPA. This includes rapidly verifying customer identity documents and managing the Know Your Customer (KYC) process. 

2. Invoice Processing involves automating the handling of invoices, which can include validation, matching, and recording for payment processing. 

3. Foreign Exchange Payments can be complex, involving the conversion and transfer of currencies, managing exchange rates, and ensuring compliance with international financial regulations. RPA can help automate these processes, ensuring accuracy and compliance. 

4. Account Reconciliation is the process of comparing account balances and transactions between different financial systems or ledgers. RPA can automate this process, saving time and reducing the risk of errors.  

3. Business Intelligence and Analytics 

1. Data Integration and Management involve the process of aggregating data from various sources and storing it in centralized data warehouses. This approach is highly efficient and allows for easy data management and accessibility.  

2. Hyperautomation-based BI & Analytics: Enable organizations to make informed decisions by providing relevant and timely data insights. These insights can help businesses achieve success by making informed decisions. 

4. Handling Claims 

1. Insurance claims processing can be almost entirely automated by insurers, without any need for human intervention. This process involves three main stages: claims intake, which involves extracting data from documents; claims assessment, which involves analyzing the claims to determine whether they align with the customer’s policy; and claims settlement, which automates transactions for valid claims.  

2. Workplace claims, on the other hand, refer to requests and claims made by employees to their HR department. These might include vacation requests, expense reimbursements, complaints, and more. 

5. Order to Cash (O2C) 

1. Order management is a process that involves retrieving emails and relevant attachments, and extracting information about what customers want. This can include new orders, order updates, or order cancellations. Once this information is gathered, internal systems are updated accordingly, and any necessary actions are taken to address customer queries. 

6. Back-office Operations 

1. Retail banks manage and monitor hundreds of back-office processes, such as loan operations, accounting, auditing, and HR. These processes are often manual and time-consuming. Process mining and digital twins can help banks gain process intelligence, automate back-office processes using intelligent bots powered by AI and NLP, and reduce the need for human intervention. 

Hyperautomation Best Practices 

Deploying new strategies always comes with an inherent risk of failure. Let’s look at some foundational best practices to ensure a successful hyperautomation strategy: 

• Center of Excellence (CoE): Establish an automation CoE to oversee hyperautomation initiatives:  

1. Comprises of both technical and business experts, this business unit will bridge the gap between decision-making and automation implementation  

2. Identify processes that can be automated 

3. Create an implementation roadmap, and  

4. Establish a unified vision and standardized practices within the organization  

• Leverage the Power of Change Management: To ensure a successful digital transformation, it is essential to have a change management strategy in place. A significant reason for the failure of such initiatives is a cultural deficit.  

Therefore, organizations must focus on creating a strong company culture for hyperautomation reskilling and upskilling of employees.  

• Partnerships and Third-Party Collaborations: Collaborate with third parties such as fintech companies, help in developing innovative products and services. Fintech companies often use big data, AI, and automation to create solutions that meet the unique needs of customers. By partnering with fintech companies, traditional banks can discover new ways to use hyperautomation technologies and improve the customer experience.  

Conclusion 

Hyperautomation brings a lot of new possibilities into the fold, especially when it comes to industries relying on heavily secure and compliant environments like the BFSI firms. However, the premise for leveraging hyperautomation remains the same as companies across all industries – automate as many processes as possible to deliver quality products quicker.  

We are well into the digital age, and it is high time that finance companies utilize smart technologies to the fullest to derive optimal business value while enforcing the highest degree of compliance. Additionally, having the right expert teams or partners for executaing the perfect hyperautomation strategies can take your digital transformation journey to greater heights.