Automated financial services can save organizations a lot of time and money while providing powerful performance insights. Yet many organizations are reluctant to embrace automation technologies due to implementation concerns and not knowing where to start. In this article we look at some of the most commonly automated financial processes to give you some ideas and inspiration to get started.
Expenditure Forecasts
Budgets and forecasts play a key role in making informed decisions within any organization. Many organizations continue to rely on manual forecasting processes like filling out generic spreadsheets. Other organizations ignore the process altogether, moving forward without any clear indication of where they are headed.With cost-effective and user-friendly automated financial services tools stakeholders can access expenditure forecasts and run new scenarios in real-time. Not only are the reports based on the most readily available data, but they are free from the errors common in manually prepared forecasts.
Investment Applications
Investment applications and new customer onboarding have always been tedious and drawn-out processes. Strict regulations like KYC and anti-money laundering (AML) laws as well as requirements to establish and maintain risk-based customer identification programs (CIP) make it difficult for banks to expedite the application process. Not only are these processes costly for banks, but they result in poor customer experiences.Automated financial services have a broad range of benefits for processing investment applications and onboarding new customers. Robotic process automation (RPA) eliminates manual review and data entry tasks by capturing data from KYC documentation. Banks can also streamline communication with customers, notifying them of application decisions and providing them with self-service options to cost-effectively expedite the process.
CapEx requests
The CapEx approval process plays an important role in the cash flow of an organization. Yet in most organizations CapEx approval processes are highly inefficient, requiring that requests pass through multiple departments. While significant legwork may be acceptable to some degree for large asset purchases it is less so for minor everyday purchases like office equipment. In addition to being slow, manual approval processes are prone to errors. It is not uncommon for employees to miscalculate or route approvals to the wrong party.The CapEx approval process begins with a request for a capital asset. The proposal or request typically identifies the asset, the cost, and the anticipated ROI. From there the request is typically sent to management. Management considers the need and determines whether the asset falls within the organization’s budget. If approved the request is sent to the procurement team to get estimates and arrange for payment.Organizations can simplify CapEx approval processes as well as increase efficiency and transparency through automation. Approval requests are automatically routed to the appropriate party and reminders sent. The requestor can track the status of the proposal in real-time. Withbusiness process management (BPM) software, organizations can easily design and implement that meet their unique business needs.
