Sales 2.0: Accelerating Agile Banking with Process Automation

Sam Biardo, Founder and CEO of Technology Advisors, Inc.

Financial services institutions have been met with a host of obstacles in recent years. Between the credit losses endured from the pandemic, the rise of digital-only banks, fintech challengers with no-interest business models, and the historically low-interest rates muting revenues, all financial intermediaries are juggling more than ever before. To tackle these obstacles, banks and credit unions are leaning into automation, AI, and bankingas-a-service (BaaS) to support agile innovation. These agile banking initiatives also are creating an environment where teams can work more cohesively to build a tailored customer experience — one that relies on sophisticated processes that are attractively hands-off.

This is sales 2.0. Sales are no longer segmented into one department. Everyone must think and act in a sales mindset to keep customers engaged, anticipate needs, and distinguish services from competitors. Digital transformation initiatives that hook in AI, analytics at scale, and business process management (BPM) are enabling institutions to sync that sales mentality with their entire organization. A major component of this undertaking relies on process automation. Process automation is essentially what it sounds like. It’s the act of automating and standardizing repeatable business procedures, and banks and credit unions are employing it to cut costs and make sales and CX (customer experience) more proactive. The concept of process automation ties into larger digital transformation goals, and its applications may be a saving grace for banks on the edge.

Nearly There, But Not Quite

While the journey towards agility is wellintentioned, most banks aren’t yet finding it wholly successful. The problem lies in the approach. Digital transformation must facilitate a complete makeover of how teams work and how they think about working. Successful agile innovation demands organization, planning, scalable technology, and— perhaps most importantly—an engineering culture. The people who should lead that cultural shift aren’t who you might think.

The heart of agility doesn’t come from the executives, but rather from the everyday employees working in the call centers, sales, HR, and customerfacing roles. These individuals are acutely aware of the inner workings of their positions. They are the ones who should decide what can be delivered, as quickly as possible, based on their resources. Institutions must, however, still encourage the development of agile skillsets from the top down by getting senior-level leadership to be more hands-on in supporting changes and removing barriers to agility. These managers must shift their mentality from supervising employees to empowering them, and they may need help to do it. The transition demands the right technology tools and a partner who can train managers in agile practices. Once one agile team is successful, the goal is to extend agile teams across the organization.

With a focus on analyzing and improving customer value streams, the entire culture will begin to transition. And the outcome of that shift can be monumental. Banks with agile cultures are much faster at introducing new products and services. Just look at some of the use cases. One U.S.-based financial services company reduced the cost of product development by 40% and cut the time it took to introduce new features by 55% using an agile methodology. A leading U.S. mortgage provider was able to roll out new features in 6-8 weeks instead of their past average of 3-6 months. The percentage of customers who adopted those new features rose from 50% to 87% and customer survey ratings rose along with it.

So, the question is not “why agile?” but rather “how agile?”. Transitioning to agile processes is useful, if not essential, and the numbers point to one route that expedites its adoption: low code process automation.

Low Code Correlations

Conversations across banking organizations expose some recurring themes. First, that a lack of digital skills is holding back digital transformation. A PwC survey found nearly 80% of bank CEOs saw it as a key challenge. Second, that technology adoption is historically slow at traditional banks. An Oliver Wyman study found these banks take 3-6 months to launch a new feature, while challenger digital banks can do the same in a matter of weeks.

Many of these traditional institutions are still using legacy software systems, which also slows down agile initiatives by making it harder to integrate with modern applications. Meanwhile, banks relying on fintech and third-party developers to implement their desired changes are finding it costly and inefficient. So, what are the options?

This is where low code process automation comes onto the scene. As businesses strive for more agile, innovative approaches, the use of low code becomes increasingly attractive. Low code models allow everyday employees to implement agile process automation with fewer hurdles. As a result, applications are developed rapidly, and innovation is democratized.

Low code authorizes those who are dubbed “citizen developers” to act as their own automation advocates. Its ease-of-use reduces costs for thirdparty development by putting agile tasks directly into the hands of employees, like sales and service teams. These novice designers don’t need deep technical knowledge to automate because the low code tool provides a visual, drag-and-drop solution for implementing their vision. In turn, digital transformation is kickstarted, and departments share standardized processes amongst themselves.

Tackling disruption and standardizing processes from within gives headway to a new sales mentality across the organization. Where are we seeing these processes overlap? How can we use the intelligence we’ve gathered to route every possible opportunity back to sales? And more importantly, how can we do this seamlessly within the customer experience?

Low code process automation reduces the cost of change by up to 35% and time-to-market for rapid application development by 40-60%. Banking services like digital loans and accounts can be enabled quickly, as processes that usually take days are suddenly completed in minutes.

Low code also lends itself to streamlined, tailored customer experiences. Customers are happier because they are able to complete transactions digitally and instantaneously. Personalized product upsells are unearthed through existing customer data, and intelligent routing keeps those sales opportunities in front of the right representatives. More than existing as a simple tool, low code automation becomes part of the enterprise strategy.

What About the IT Department?

A common concern when initiating low code process automation is the effects on the IT department. Non-technical users and IT teams don’t always speak the same language and they may have their own ideas about what a successful internal process should look like. While implementing low code automation is an important piece of the agile puzzle, it’s not something that should completely discount IT. In fact, it presents an opportunity for alignment between these two types of users that can aid innovation.

To make it work, the enterprise must establish clear success KPIs (key performance indicators) that are defined in a way that makes sense to both parties. Policies that set guidelines for creating processes will help IT feel they are keeping control while encouraging the business users to introduce their ideas. There must be a clear indication of who will govern applications and which frameworks are approved to create them. The IT staff retains responsibility for security, system administration, and any complicated integrations that come into the digital transformation process.

With citizen developers working within the defined rules of agile development, IT is actually freed up to focus on larger, more complex undertakings that further the digital transformation initiative. Common goals bridge collaboration between the two departments and keep the lines of communication open.

Tomorrow’s Banking

As digital transformation looms large over financial institutions, the strategy for doing it effectively leaves question marks. Which technologies are essential to agile banking? What challenges do we need to overcome to compete with neobanks and bolster our BaaS model? How can we build processes that simplify work but are easily adapted for agile growth?

One thing is for certain. Now is the time to breathe new life into sales and CX and it must be done with effective, agile digital transformation. The banking experience of tomorrow is already here, along with an expectation of personalized offerings and instantaneous transactions. The approach to these changes must happen holistically, and low code process automation can act as a key to accelerating it.

About the author: As Founder and CEO of Technology Advisors, Inc., Sam Biardo, provides creative solutions to solve unique technology problems. In 1991, he left academics to start Technology Advisors with the goal of helping customers improve sales, marketing, and customer service. TAI has since grown to a digital transformation company that strategizes the deployment of low-code solutions. Sam sits on the advisory boards of many CRM companies, is co-host of a monthly CRM talk show, and continues his research on streamlining the software delivery model. Twitter: @SamBiardo, LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sambiardo.