Financial services urged to ‘Hayne-proof your business now’
Expertise automation platform, Open Orbit, is urging financial services firms not to wait until February, but to ‘Hayne-proof” their business immediately using new “expertise automation” (EA) technologies that could minimise impacts from the Royal Commission on customers, reputation, and costs.
These technologies use AI and algorithmic guidance to optimise highly cognitive tasks that require thinking, reasoning, decision-making, understanding, and learning, in order to eliminate problematic, human-driven processes at half the cost and time of a consultant.
Firms that use these now could quickly gain a competitive advantage compared to those who wait for the recommendations of the Commission before overhauling processes, according to Open Orbit.
“When Commissioner Hayne hands down his findings in February next year, there is no doubt that many Australian firms involved in banking, insurance, and superannuation – including much of the ASX top 50 – will be forced to significantly change their practices,” said Niranjan Deodhar, CEO of Open Orbit.
“Many millions of dollars in fines are at stake, not to mention many additional millions in transformation costs.
“In particular, there is likely to be a strong focus on “soft” areas such as corporate culture, where rules may have been in place, but were ignored due to the absence of a culture of adherence.
“As we know, however, fixing cultural issues is notoriously challenging. Hiring a team of consultants to identify and advise on culture can be enormously costly, time-consuming, and still riddled with the same human errors that caused the issues in the first place.
“This is where emerging EA technologies can significantly reduce time and cost, and can assist with much-needed processes such as control and compliance. Financial services firms wishing to stay ahead of the game are therefore urged to act immediately,” continued Mr Deodhar.
According to the Australian Trade and Investment Commission Benchmark Report 2017, Australia’s financial services sector has estimated assets of around AU$7.5 trillion – over four and a half times the country’s nominal GDP.
Being a services industry, it is heavily reliant on the type of human decision-making and expertise that EA technologies could optimise – tasks that have so far been largely untouched by automation and disruption.
“Being able to optimise highly cognitive tasks in financial services will be a real game-changer, in particular for areas such as compliance,” continued Mr Deodhara.
“Doing so before anyone’s hand will have the best outcomes for everyone involved.”
