Unleash the Power of Automation: Fueling Bank Growth with Ease.

The report, “The State of Automation in Financial Services 2024,” by SMA Technologies highlights the growing trend of banks integrating automation technologies into their operations and explores the challenges they face in implementing these systems. Key findings from the survey of 580 US-based executives in the banking, credit union, and insurance sectors include:

– Most respondents have already integrated some form of automation, with many planning substantial investments in the future.
– Automation technologies are helping to improve customer engagement and satisfaction, streamline processes, reduce manual errors, and enhance operational efficiencies, resulting in cost savings and a better return on investment (ROI).
– Over half of the respondents reported saving at least $100,000 annually from automation.

The report identifies several types of automation solutions, including basic job schedulers, workload automation (WLA), robotic process automation (RPA), business process automation (BPA), IT process automation (ITPA), intelligent document processing (IDP), intelligent process automation (IPA), and integration platform as a service (iPaaS). Respondents reported being most satisfied with RPA, IPA, and WLA tools, while iPaaS had the lowest satisfaction rating.

Budgetary concerns, such as cost and limited resources, were identified as common obstacles to implementing automation. However, the report suggests that automated solutions do not necessarily require significant upfront investment and that the focus should be on implementing the right solutions rather than on cost.

To overcome barriers to automation, financial services organizations should gain executive buy-in and support, provide training for employees, adopt low-code or no-code options to overcome talent shortages, and create a change management culture that embraces innovation.

The report concludes that financial services organizations need to recognize the potential benefits of automation in terms of cost savings, operational efficiencies, and improved customer service. By focusing on automation, banks can unlock its complete value and accelerate growth in an increasingly competitive industry.