Over the past few years, automation has been driving the digital transformation (DX) journey of many organisations in an ever-dynamic business environment. The IDC APJ Automation Survey 2022, commissioned by UiPath, confirmed that 43 percent of organisations in the banking and insurance industry will execute automation on an enterprise-wide scale by 2025. Automation offers remarkable scale, business resiliency, and agility, and most organisations in India have also been leveraging this technology to become more real-time, personalised, and super-efficient.
In 2022, the average organisation from the banking and insurance industry in the APJ region is expected to generate 65 percent of its revenue from digital products, services, or digitised experiences. As a larger number of organisations embrace the digital-first state, enterprises in the region and in India must elevate their automation mindset and scale to maximise value from investments.
Outlook of the banking and insurance industry
Customers in India are expecting an omnichannel experience from the banking and insurance industry. It is driving players to adopt automation to enable enriching experiences for their customers. About 54 percent of the banking and insurance firms across the APJ state that experience and management is a key metric to evaluate the success of automation projects.
Although the banking and insurance industry is a tightly regulated sector, every player has a unique maturity point. Additionally, the pandemic has changed customer interactions as well. We can note an increased focus on real-time, customised, and predictive analytics to improve customer experiences. Despite the increased digital adoption that puts some of the transaction systems under duress, the inherent scale of operation that automation brings can accommodate this rise in customer-facing inquiries and related transactions.
The exponential growth in digital transactions, new customer demands, rising security and governance considerations, and the need to deliver scalable services has driven banking and insurance enterprises to invest heavily in DX and automation. It is anticipated that twice as many organisations will move to an enterprise-wide deployment of robotic process automation (RPA) by 2025, thus allowing organisations to optimise customer journeys. The same IDC report anticipates that 75 percent of all consumer and small business loans in APJ will originate through AI-enabled and automated processes in the next two years.
The banking and insurance sector is one of the earliest adopters of automation and because of this sustained investment, it has stayed ahead in the maturity curve. Automation improves accuracy in 76 percent of organisations and an example of this is what ICICI Bank was able to achieve with automation. ICICI bank automated over 250 processes in 2021 and plans to automate over 500 re-engineered processes by the end of 2022. These automation projects have allowed the bank to achieve improved customer experience, cost savings, agility and scalability to handle volume surges amongst many other benefits.
Role of CIO/CTOs in scaling automation
The shortage of experienced tech workers is also driving change as 38 percent of organisations in the region are building their future workforce by providing comprehensive training focusing on reskilling and upskilling. This is where the role of a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Chief Information Officer (CIO) is redefined. Traditionally, the functions of CTOs and CIOs were to identify and track emerging IT trends that could improve their company’s products and services while managing repetitive tasks.
However, the pandemic-induced accelerated DX has necessitated that CTOs and CIOs emerge as key drivers of enterprise automation. Due to increased service requests, cyberattacks, and the demand for new digital solutions, IT operation activities have increased significantly. In 33 percent of organisations in the region, there is a coherent strategy in place with leadership-driven initiatives. In addition, about 63 percent of firms state that their automation staff is distributed among IT, line of business (LOB), and/or centre of excellence (COE).
CIOs and CTOs are key to the implementation of intelligent automation solutions that transform a company’s operational processes, such as infrastructure automation and service management integration, and ensure security compliance to create zero-touch service management capabilities. A recent Morgan Stanley Research report highlighted that IT spending and demand for digital growth and operational efficiencies will continue for the rest of the year. Therefore, CIOs and CTOs must find a balance between growth and efficiency.
The road ahead
Today, automation plays an important role not only in achieving operational efficiency, but also accelerating the digital growth journey. It allows self-service capabilities for customers and employees and provides a holistic view of the customer journey. By reducing the life cycle of product development, integrating with legacy systems, and creating new value propositions through artificial intelligence and machine learning, automation translates business growth strategies into substantial solutions that can be delivered remotely — all of which are significant benefits that can be reaped in the banking and insurance industry.
— The author, Scott Hunter, is the Vice President of Strategic Engagements and Transformation Lead for APJ at UiPath. All views expressed are personal.
First Published: Nov 7, 2022 11:25 PM IST
