Why you should use automation in financial services

Walk into any bank branch and you'll see it - employees buried in paperwork, customers waiting in long lines, and processes that haven't changed much since the 1990s. Meanwhile, fintech startups are approving loans in minutes and opening accounts with just a phone number.

The reality is that if you're still running your financial services operation on manual processes, you're already behind. 

Your competitors who figured out why you should use automation in financial services are stealing your customers with faster service, lower fees, and fewer errors. The question isn't whether automation is worth it anymore - it's how fast you can catch up without breaking everything in the process.

What does automation mean for financial services?

Forget the fancy consultant definitions. Automation in financial services means getting computers to do the boring, repetitive stuff so your people can actually help customers instead of shuffling papers.

We're talking about systems that can read documents, make decisions based on rules you set, and move information between different software programs without someone having to retype everything. It's about stopping the madness of having college-educated professionals spend their days copying data from one spreadsheet to another.

Take something as simple as opening a new account. Right now, someone probably has to manually check the customer's ID, verify their address, run a credit check, input their information into three different systems, print forms, file paperwork, and then call them back with an account number. With automation, most of that happens instantly while your employee focuses on answering the customer's actual questions.

Banks that have implemented DMS in banking solutions know exactly what we’re talking about. Instead of hunting through filing cabinets for customer documents, everything's digitised and searchable. Need last year's tax return for a loan application? It takes 10 seconds instead of 10 minutes.

Where automation in financial services makes the biggest difference

You can't automate everything at once - and honestly, you shouldn't try. 

Here's where most financial institutions see the biggest wins:

Customer onboarding

This process is usually a nightmare for everyone involved. Customers fill out the same information multiple times, wait days for approval, and get frustrated when simple errors delay everything. Your staff spends hours on data entry and document verification.

Automation fixes this by connecting all the dots automatically. Customers enter their information once, the system pulls their credit report, verifies their identity, checks against compliance databases, and either approves them instantly or flags specific issues for human review.

Loan processing and underwriting

Most loan applications follow predictable patterns. If someone has good credit, stable income, and reasonable debt-to-income ratios, approval should be automatic for standard loan products. Save your underwriters' time for the complex cases that actually need human judgment.

Compliance reporting

Every financial institution spends way too much time generating reports for regulators. These reports follow specific formats and pull data from the same systems every month or quarter. There's no reason humans should be manually creating these reports when computers can generate them perfectly every time.

Document management across different institution types

The paperwork problem looks different depending on what kind of financial institution you are. Enterprise content management for financial services covers the broad strokes, but the details matter.

Large banks need systems that can handle massive volumes and integrate with complex legacy systems - that's where ECM for banks becomes crucial. 

Credit unions have different challenges around member services and community banking requirements, which is why enterprise content management for credit unions exists as a specialised solution.

Customer service

Your call centre probably handles the same questions hundreds of times per day. Account balances, recent transactions, password resets and address changes - these shouldn't require human intervention. 

Automated systems can handle routine requests instantly, leaving your customer service team available for problems that actually need personal attention.

The benefits you'll see from financial services automation

Let's skip the corporate speak and talk about what actually happens when you automate financial processes:

Your costs drop fast

Computers work 24/7 without sick days, vacation time, or health insurance. One automated workflow can replace the work of several full-time employees. 

But you don't just save on salaries. You also save on office space, equipment, training costs, and all the overhead that comes with human employees.

Errors become rare

Humans make mistakes when they're tired, distracted, or rushing to meet deadlines. Computers make mistakes when they're programmed incorrectly - but once you fix the program, they never make that mistake again. 

In financial services, where a single data entry error can cause massive problems, this reliability is worth its weight in gold.

Processing times shrink

Here's what typical processing times look like before and after automation:

Customers get happy

When customers can get what they need quickly and without hassles, they stop complaining and start recommending you to their friends. Automated systems provide consistent service quality - no more good days and bad days depending on which employee they happen to deal with.

Scaling becomes possible

Want to double your customer base? With manual processes, you'd need to roughly double your staff. With automated processes, you might not need to hire anyone. The systems handle the increased volume without breaking a sweat.

Compliance gets easier

Staying compliant with regulations like data retention policy requirements becomes automatic instead of a constant source of anxiety. Automated systems apply the same rules consistently and maintain perfect audit trails.

How to get automation right in your financial organisation

Most automation projects fail not because of bad technology, but because of bad planning. Here's how to avoid the common traps:

Start small and prove value

Pick one annoying, time-consuming process that everyone hates dealing with. Automate that successfully, measure the results, and use those wins to build support for bigger projects. Trying to automate everything at once is a recipe for disaster.

Get your people on board

Your employees are going to worry that automation means layoffs. Address this head-on by showing them how automation will eliminate the tedious parts of their jobs and let them focus on more interesting work. 

The most successful automation projects happen when employees become advocates instead of obstacles.

Test everything twice

In financial services, automation mistakes can be expensive and embarrassing. Test your automated processes thoroughly before going live, and have rollback plans ready in case something goes wrong.

How KORTO makes financial services automation simple

Automation is complicated. You need software that understands banking regulations, integrates with legacy systems, and actually works when you need it. Most IT vendors promise the world and deliver headaches.

KORTO is different because we only work with financial services companies. We've seen every possible automation challenge and built solutions that actually solve them instead of creating new problems.

Our platform handles the messy reality of financial services operations. Your loan officers don't need to become software engineers to set up new workflows. Your compliance team doesn't need to worry about whether automated processes will pass regulatory audits. Your IT department doesn't need to rebuild everything from scratch.

KORTO automates the processes that matter most to your bottom line while playing nicely with whatever systems you're already using. We've helped banks reduce account opening times from days to minutes, credit unions eliminate paper-based loan applications, and insurance companies process claims without human intervention.

The best part is that implementation takes weeks, not years.