Why 2021 is the Year of Process Intelligence for Banks

By Mark Elkin, Global SVP, Solution Consulting at Signavio

Even as we hit the one-year mark into the pandemic, financial institutions are reeling from its effects and struggling to transform. We see an accelerated need for digital transformation, increased focus on customer experience, and ongoing need for cost and risk reduction. It’s no wonder financial institutions often look to technological change as an answer — especially as consumers search for contactless ways to maneuver through an increasingly digital world.

In fact, The Economist Intelligence Unit reports that 66% of banking executives say new technologies will have the biggest impact on banks. Looking at how far we’ve come with automating the banking experience since the start of the pandemic, this is not surprising. At this point, ATMs and mobile banking capabilities can handle most transactions previously performed by tellers.

That said, we have not yet reached a fully automated banking experience. Even if the customer experience does eventually achieve full automation, this doesn’t mean internal processes at banks will. There are processes that will always require human oversight or intervention. In other words, automation must still be interconnected with the manual processes. Understanding exactly how each process works, and interacts with others, is vital to ensuring these connections are strong and regulatory compliance is maintained. That is where process mining comes in.

Process mining is essential for banks and can make or break their success in the digital age. Further, in each case outlined below, process mining is the key to better outcomes in efficiency and effectiveness. Process intelligence gives banks the tools to analyze less structured processes, identify opportunities for improvement, and increase both the speed and accuracy of processes.

As part of understanding end-to-end business processes, process mining allows banks to view multiple systems within their organization, and multiple processes within those systems, as a cohesive whole. This overarching vision means banks have the information they need to identify opportunities to refine and/or standardize their processes. Process mining can uncover in-depth, actionable information about the way complex processes actually run, as well as how they interact with other processes within an organization.

Process mining enables banks to monitor the way processes unfold, providing a seamless view of external transactions and internal processes from start to finish. With process mining, at any point where a compliance response is required, it can be generated automatically. In doing this, banks are able to ensure they act in accordance with all regulations, speed up things like reporting suspicious transactions to authorities, and reduce the overall potential for errors.

Process mining can soften the impact of change and disruption by helping organizations to make better, more transparent, and data-driven decisions. This avoids the perception that decisions are being made for the wrong reasons. After any change, process mining can then be used to monitor the changes themselves, assess the health and effectiveness of updated processes, and correct negative impacts.

Process mining helps banks understand customer behavior to better predict interactions across customer journeys. It’s the link between the underlying processes within an organization, and how, when, where, and why customers interact with those processes. Taking a customer-centric view of business processes gives banks the benefit of external perspectives  — including those from consumers, clients, or vendor businesses — allowing the bank to change the way it operates to provide more positive experiences.

5. Boosting innovation

By offering insights into the way existing processes operate — and highlighting opportunities for optimization — process mining helps banks and financial institutions remove…