Today's financial environment involves more layers of interconnected complexity than at any previous point in history. Complex relationships play out across computer systems worldwide as corporate customers and individuals work with banks to manage and move their money. This complexity extends to the realm of regulatory compliance, too—and today's processes aren't always suited for that work. With tools such as Tungsten RPA, it's possible to remake how your teams handle critical compliance processes.

Introducing automation elements into the picture can lead to a better customer experience, improved outcomes, and lower risk. That's true even when your initial goal is to simply streamline work such as "know your customer" (KYC) efforts or anti-money laundering (AML) research. Understanding the value and the potential of automation starts by exam-ining the challenges facing today's financial organizations. The need to try another path reveals why the status quo is unsustainable.

Financial organizations face increasingly complex compliance

The rise of interconnection between systems and industries has allowed for incredible amounts of innovation. Unfortunately, that's true for bad actors as well. Today, there are many ways for someone with malicious goals to attempt to exploit financial systems or to flout the law. In a more digital world, even criminals need to find ways to access financial systems.

As a result of all these new opportunities, banks must devote many employee work hours to customer due diligence (CDD), AML, and KYC efforts. All this time takes away effort and energy better used in other ways. However, these processes are unavoidable—so what can you do? Rethinking how your compliance teams work from a fundamental level is the answer.

Where the traditional ways fall short today

Where does the need for automation arise? In other words, why can't businesses stick with the work they already know? When we consider how those processes fail to measure up, it's easier to see why new solutions are the answer. Briefly, the major issues facing financial organizations today include:

• Workflows that focus too much on manual labor, or "swivel-chair automation." Manual methods are the traditional approach, but they can require large numbers of employees dedicated to these processes. Error rates and the time it takes to complete tasks can climb.
• Productivity loss. Bogging down compliance procedures means other business processes don't work as quickly or efficiently as they should.
• Poor customer experiences. Long turnaround times and delays decrease customer satisfaction and negatively impact business reputations.
• Weak audit trails and opaque processes.

Ultimately, all these contribute to the biggest problem of all: reduced effectiveness in compliance processes. That inefficiency results in a higher risk of fraud, financial loss, or even punitive regulatory action. Making a pivot towards robotic process automation can address all these concerns.

Using robotic process automation to reshape workflows

With robotic process automation, your business can craft all-digital robots that perfectly recreate how humans interact with the software systems you use for financial compliance. Instead of one individual checking a dozen different systems and inputting the same information into every form, a software robot can do it all - and do it faster, too.

Robots allow for automating many parts of the compliance process, from extracting data from documents to looking for critical red flags. You can configure rules that tell the robot to grant customer approval automatically if they clear all the necessary hurdles. When a robot detects a customer or action that may potentially be out of compliance, it can route that data to the correct human worker for manual review and action.

When integrated into your business with an eye towards the future of intelligent automation, robotic process automation (RPA) delivers quick wins in critical processes without requiring a major technological replacement. Instead, it slots into your existing setup to boost productivity and improve outcomes daily.

Assessing the benefits of an investment into RPA

With almost a tenth of staff in most financial organizations dedicated to compliance work, it's not hard to imagine how a hyper-efficient robotic workforce could change the game. Remember, these aren't total re-placements for humans; software robots work alongside their human col-leagues to extend capabilities and put better outcomes within reach.

With a well-configured and smartly-deployed RPA solution, you'll access essential benefits such as:

• Reduced errors. Humans make mistakes, which can be trouble-some in compliance workflows. Robots follow the same rules every time, 24 hours a day, all year long.
• Digitally-compiled audit trail. Automatically generate insights to help you better understand why a particular decision was made.
• Reduced burden on the high-value time of experienced staff. Re-dedicate employee work hours to more productive and valuable tasks rather than hours spent swiveling between systems to con-duct due diligence.
• Lower operational costs and increased speed to profitability.
• An enhanced reputation among customers for a fast, responsive, and reliable system.

Extending your functionality further with the Tungsten Automation Marketplace

Tungsten RPA is more than just what you get "out of the box." It is a highly extensible framework that enables both low-code automation from with-in your organization and the incorporation of outside solutions. The Tungsten Automation Marketplace, for example, is a digital arena where professional developers and businesses share solutions across asset categories.

This includes tools for our RPA suite, such as pre-configured robots al-ready built for specific compliance procedures. Taking these and using them as-is—or modifying them for your own needs—offers more ways to find process improvements. With resources such as these, extending the impact of your spending is even easier.

Master your compliance procedures for smarter, faster work today

There's no getting around the need for CDD, KYC, and AML procedures in the world of finance today. They're as fundamental to your work as any-thing else—and that demands a robust solution to make these processes as functional as possible. By reducing human touchpoints and increasing the amount of control you have over your data, it's possible to achieve a modern setup for faster, more effective work.

Organizations like yours can create and customize an automation environment that offers the best fit using Tungsten RPA and the wide range of solutions available right now on the Marketplace. By tailoring these tools to meet your needs and extending their functionality when required, regulatory compliance becomes one more fine-tuned process contributing to your overall success. Find out more about what software robots could do for you today.