Exploring Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in Fintech Software Development for B2B Efficiency

Robotic Process Automation is software that automates repetitive tasks performed between applications and systems. To implement RPA in your company, you don’t need to invest in custom financial software services. The software robots also don’t require access to your confidential databases or applications’ source code. RPA tools complete the autonomous execution of various activities between unlinked systems or applications by deploying scripts that emulate human processes.

The aim of RPA software is to replace humans with robots that mimic tedious and mundane actions. RPA can automate a variety of methods, e.g., invoice processing, report generation, customer onboarding, and fraud detection. With RPA, business processes are carried out faster, with fewer errors, and completely automatically. RPA enables management and board to accelerate digital transformation actions and generate a higher return on investment from their staff moved to perform more meaningful tasks.

Robotic Process Automation in the financial industry is not a novelty or a phenomenon that financial institutions feel resistant to. According to the Gartner report, as much as 8 of 10 CFOs have implemented or intend to implement RPA to provide customers with even higher quality service and respond to inquiries in less time.

Given that the world is marching forward and financial institutions do not want to be left behind, more and more are opting for advanced solutions combining RPA with Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. It allows software robots to execute instructions more and more efficiently, learning from their own experiences and the data provided.

Many processes and schemes in finance departments can be easily automated to reclaim the most valuable resource – time. The decision to use Robotic Process Automation in an enterprise should be made first for areas most vulnerable to human error. This is where the most time can be saved by leveling situations that involve reversing the consequences of negligent actions. Where else will the implementation of RPA technology work?

Robotic Process Automation is the key element of the banking industry digitization. As you take part in your organization’s digital transformation, you shouldn’t miss implementing RPA among fintech software. Your digital workers will help you increase your company’s efficiency and generate long-term growth. The robots will make initial contact with the customer, quickly processing inquiries and providing guidance based on lessons learned. RPA backed by ML can also comb through user activities and detect abnormal behavior. It allows faster targeting of cyber security experts and thwarting fraudulent transactions.

Nowadays, banks use financial process automation solutions to perform tasks on data, such as filling out forms, copying, pasting, extracting, and formatting data. RPA tools can also read from and insert records into databases.

In addition to the typically time-consuming tasks associated with working on datasets, RPA solutions quickly offload the burden on human workers for processing inquiries, researching customers, and even opening bank accounts. It allows financial institutions to be at customers’ disposal around the clock, supporting them in real time and bringing them closer to taking advantage of the company’s offerings.

How can RPA improve your company’s service performance? ML and AI-supported robots can group customers by characteristics and offer them additional financial products, such as deposits or loans.

RPA tools using natural language processing can be the first link when it comes to problem-solving. Robots analyze the content received in messages or invoice comments and quickly forward them to the appropriate department, where employees coordinate further action. Machine Learning can also detect patterns in incoming comments or complaints and look for solutions and improvements based on them.

The benefits associated with implementing RPA in a company are myriad. Robotization of processes transforms the functioning of an organization almost immediately, but it also brings tangible long-term benefits. Like any revolution, the digital one also turns the existing order upside down. If you approach it meticulously, your company will stop falling into downtime and get on an upward wave.

The decision to automate financial tasks will pay off very quickly. Finance robotic process automation is straightforward and doesn’t require a programmer to deploy it in the company. You will immediately notice a significant reduction in spending on essential tasks. Employees responsible for them so far can be redirected to tasks where their unique skills are much more useful. Thanks to this, you do not have to incur recruitment costs and don’t struggle with a long-term labor shortage. Your customers will be happy that they will get answers to their questions not only during business hours. Responding quickly to inquiries will increase interest in your organization and inspire greater trust among customers.

Do you maintain a separate department in your company with people dedicated solely to generating reports? The latest RPA solutions leverage AI capabilities and ML models to generate and “view” reports, flag issues, and learn from experience. RPA helps collect data from specific systems or documents, reducing the need to perform these processes manually.

RPA augmented with ML solutions can facilitate the auditor’s data review by selecting the data he would need. It quickly finds them and stores them in a convenient location, so the decision-making process takes less time and is based only on analyzing the most critical parameters. RPA’s solutions have high-quality financial function safeguards in place and operate smoothly.

Numerous invoices that arrive in very different formats are time-consuming and require perceptiveness and meticulousness. The people responsible for this can easily make a mistake after a few hours of work, exposing the company to financial losses. RPA can easily take over this process using Optical Character Recognition (OCR). RPA tools can consolidate data on planned customer payments and invoices that must be paid. Thanks to ML solutions, you can predict the probability of a customer paying on time. Based on this forecast, you can extend payment deadlines for suppliers in advance, plan investments in new equipment or estimate administrative costs.

RPA is such an advanced tool that human intervention would only be possible if the robot had a significant problem interpreting the data on the invoice. In this case, there would be a need to check the document by the user and a manual process of redirecting it to the appropriate department.

Robots can help with ongoing risk assessment – it is essential to relieve the audit specialists in your company. Any potential risk breach due to specific transactions or changes to the company’s underlying financial data will generate an alert that a human must handle.

RPA plays a significant role in strengthening financial process management and protecting finance departments from reputational damage. RPA collects data from specific systems or documents, replacing business auditors. ML allows you to select data the auditor may need for later business analysis.

Do you feel convinced to automate the dirty work and hand it over to the systems created for it? RPA is easy to implement, and you don’t need to hire a software developer to start working with it. But before you begin familiarizing your digital employees with the working environment, you should decide on what scale you want to robotize your enterprise. For this purpose, it is worth consulting a company specializing in custom solutions for the fintech industry. Professional advice will allow you to adjust the scope and areas where RPA will bring you the most cost savings.

Which areas of your business should be the first to expand with RPA? Base your selection on a few vital automation criteria. First, choose stable and predictable finance functions (e.g., accounting systems) that are well documented so that you have accurate data to compare with the situation after implementing RPA. Estimate the savings in time, costs, and other resources, you will get by introducing robotization to a specific area. It is a good practice to choose those processes that are the largest or are performed most often – automating the most popular activities will guarantee the fastest return on investment in robots.

Sometimes it is better not to automate the entire complex process thoroughly but to divide it into smaller sub-processes. Then, it is worth implementing automation only for selected elements and leaving the remaining ones temporarily under human control. Only when you see that the robotization of individual areas went smoothly and the result meets your expectations, you can proceed to the selection and implementation of robots for subsequent subprocesses.

You are one step ahead of introducing RPA in your company. A renowned software development company carefully designed the implementation of manual labor robots. At the same time, you hear the whispers of your employees in the corridors, fearing for their future in the company. Some of them are increasingly boldly protesting against the digitization of the enterprise. You, in turn, begin to doubt whether it is entirely safe to allow robots to perform tasks, and you do not expose your company to cyberattacks. Are all fears valid? How to deal with the weak points of digital transformation?

RPA, like any other system and application, must have appropriate security measures. Without security measures in place, an RPA bot could be used by cybercriminals to inject malware into an organization or expose sensitive data. Only people who need it daily should have access to RPA.

As with other elements of the IT infrastructure, access to RPA should be secured with multi-factor authentication. Inactive accounts of people who previously had access to RPA bots should be regularly deleted.

The implementation of RPA in financial enterprises will significantly reduce the need for jobs whose task is to perform repetitive and tedious tasks. People replacement in mechanical positions will undoubtedly stimulate the development of new roles in which employees will face more complex tasks. Thanks to this, people will be able to use their creativity to develop the company’s strategy and solve current problems.

Organizations will shift the direction of their employees’ development toward promoting a learning culture. The more easily individuals can adjust to new circumstances, the greater the benefits of a company’s digital transformation. Your job will be to invest in educating your team and offering training programs to help them keep up with constant change.

RPA is a user-friendly technology, but its scope and resource management can be problematic. Therefore, the RPA implementation requires thorough audit trials to ensure that there are no discrepancies in the work of robots. During the implementation of RPA, data quality may also suffer as there are discrepancies in how data is presented. Therefore, there is a risk to the quality of the data and the need to coordinate the ways of displaying the information.

Another significant ethical risk is the imbalance in investing in people and technology. If you do not want to negatively affect employees’ morale and attract their reluctance, you must make careful decisions about downsizing or outsourcing employees. However, the shift in the balance of power between robots and workers allows companies to take advantage of the best of both worlds, i.e., optimal cooperation between people and technology.

The development of Robotic Process Automation has grown significantly since its original introduction to the business world. Today, it has an integral role to play in your automation strategy. Properly configured and implemented RPA will translate into significant time and cost savings for your company.

The digital landscape is changing and becoming more complex, so it is necessary to use more advanced tools. To avoid getting stuck with many non-integrated solutions, contact Scalo for advice on setting up RPA with your company’s infrastructure. An efficient combination of robotization with Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and other functionalities, such as OCR, will accelerate the development of your company and increase customer interest in your services.