We recently considered the significance of the latest Forrester report, Envisioning End-To-End Process Redesign in Financial Services: A Customer-Focussed Approach to Zero Back Office and the positive impact on digital transformation.
The benefits for staff and for customers on process redesign are clear. The team at Forrester allocated three key pillars to process redesign to achieve automation, called the “three Ps”:
Platforms that can co-ordinate humans and automation
Practices that focus on people and prevent silos
Partners that support not only the core system but also autonomy and agility needs
Finding the right platform
Financial institutions often find the task of digital transformation overwhelming; this can be because teams attempt to transpose existing manual processes into the digital channel. Far from achieving the original goal to center the service around the customer and improve efficiency, layering APIs and RPA to existing processes only adds complexity. Sometimes a new platform can widen the gaps between legacy systems and customers’ needs. What is needed are platforms that can coordinate humans and automation. With a customer-led design in place, building processes that ultimately sequence and direct human and machine tasks using real-time context and analytics will lead to greater adoption of automation-led platforms.
Establishing new practices
In the report, Forrester considers the value of a zero back office (ZBO) strategy. This strategy underpins business transformation by starting with a holistic view of the customer. The involvement of staff is important because they are often experts on their specific area and how it relates to the customer. Often there is a fear that automation can lead to job losses, but it can also lead to more rewarding work for all involved. We know that internal teams are essential for the success of digital transformation because they can revolutionise the organisation’s practices. As the report states:
Keeping your employees focused on the desirable end state for customers and the potential for better work from a new process, rather than the possibility of job loss, is crucial.
Working with partners
At CREALOGIX, we don’t see ourselves as a provider to our clients, but a partner in their digital transformation. In our role as a partner to financial institutions, we work closely with clients. We not only provide them with the latest technology and innovation but also crucially, the latest thinking on customer-focussed digital services. Partnership is perhaps the central pillar to digital transformation – not just external partners such as CREALOGIX but an internal team that works in partnership to deliver customer satisfaction and a platform that facilitates this. Forrester presents an exciting and inspiring view that champions the democratization of automation, putting the power into the hands of the people who use it. I was delighted to contribute to this report and believe that this is a future-fit vision of digital transformation that everyone can embrace.
Envisioning End-To-End Process Redesign in Financial Services: A Customer-Focussed Approach to Zero Back Office is available to Forrester subscribers or for purchase.
