Smart Tools: How Smaller Banks Can Benefit

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and cognitive computing applications are gaining traction among financial services organizations seeking to reduce costs, increase productivity and add business value for a variety of businesses.  RPA tools are easy and inexpensive to implement, and apply if/then rules to execute clearly defined, routine and repetitive tasks in much the same way that humans do.  The annual cost to implement and maintain a software “Bot” that performs the rote work of ten to 15 humans can be as low as $10K.

More advanced cognitive tools employ natural language and pattern recognition capabilities to enhance customer service and glean insights from massive volumes of unstructured data. Banks such as Bank of America, Mastercard and Santander are deploying cognitive chat bots to provide account information and initiate transactions, and to conduct sentiment analysis and determine if a customer is expressing anger or frustration. This can allow banks to identify dissatisfied customers and prompt a proactive escalation to resolve the issue.

In mortgage banking, pattern recognition can help sales and marketing teams to analyze data and target customers for additional relevant offerings. If, say, a young couple with small children purchases a home, they can be tagged as ideal candidates for college savings plans, and be steered towards appropriate products.

While large, global banks have been leading the charge on automated intelligence, smaller regional banks in many instances have the scale, scope and resources needed to achieve benefits.  Since regional banks increasingly find themselves competing against larger players, the potential of smart tools to level the playing field can’t be ignored.

A new Softtek white paper examines potential applications of RPA and cognitive technologies, and describes how smaller, regional banks can deploy the tools.