Transforming Business Process Documentation in the BFS Industry with Digital Knowledge Operations (DKO)™

Business process documentation is a vast and tedious activity every banking and financial institution needs to perform perpetually in line with their internal policy frameworks and regulatory mandates. Banks often need to maintain a dedicated staff or capacity for documenting the business processes diligently.

At least a few hundred processes and sub-processes constitute front, middle, and back office operations such as customer onboarding, mortgage lending, card processing, core banking (KYC, reconciliations), conflict management, risk mitigation, compliance, etc.

Traditionally, these business processes have been recorded “manually” relying heavily on human diligence and expertise. Aside from consuming sizable efforts and time, this conventional “trust-based” approach has chances of errors or omissions. For example, a subject matter expert or process operator may miss including or updating the steps for a process or record it incorrectly. Further, manual process documentation is cost-intensive for obvious reasons based on human limitations concerning efficiency, productivity, accuracy, integrity, etc.

Another issue is the looming risk of losing vital information due to reasons like loss of physical documents, obsolete steps, and dependencies on people; imagine the only person executing or knowing a business process leaves the organization without documenting the procedure, associated guidelines, and invaluable learnings amassed over time. The situation can result in issues such as capability loss, regulatory risks, and customer dissatisfaction.

Digital Knowledge Operations™ – A Realistic Approach for Transforming BFS Operations

The Digital Knowledge Operations or DKO™ framework can help eradicate the issues related to traditional process documentation practices through digitization and automation. Devised by Anaptyss, DKO adopts a pragmatic solution approach that offers to transform financial services operations by combining the three vital aspects viz.-

1. Careful, domain-centric consulting

: The DKO-based approach hinges on domain-centric advisory to counsel the clients on aspects like policy frameworks, process redesign/reengineering, operating model evaluation, risk management, compliance, etc. The consulting is delivered by a team of industry experts and experienced professionals in a tailored manner based on the scale and specific needs of the financial institution.

2. Digital solution implementation :

DKO is a unique approach as it “unifies” the consulting and implementing pillars to enable more practical, cost-effective, and impactful outcomes. It enables razor-sharp implementation of intelligent digital solutions based on real-world observations and immersive consulting.
The solutions available with DKO are vast, comprising tools for robotic process automation, document extraction, predictive analytics, NLP-enabled bots, AML transaction monitoring, and many more. These solutions help build/augment operational capabilities such as responding to customers in real-time or automating repetitive processes like documentation, customer profiling, etc.

3. Talent services to support operations:

The DKO framework also takes care of the staffing or capability aspect by providing a trained workforce on-demand to provide operational support across the BFS value chain.
The “right-shoring” model is a salient feature of the DKO-based operations model that enables the delivery of services on the client’s preferred shore – onshore, off-shore, hybrid – in a scalable and managed way. In other words, it deploys the workforce and capabilities based on client needs and ensures quality execution with managed operations.

How Does Digital Knowledge Operations™ Enable Fast and Reliable Process Documentation?

Process documentation organizes or collates “instructional” data in the form of process steps, guidelines, best practices, etc. In other words, a business process is standard, repetitive information based on set rules.

The DKO approach can make the documentation activity efficient and sustainable by automating the manual process of observing, recording, and replicating/versioning the procedures. Here’s a general outline of the DKO-based process documentation approach:

1. Anaptyss assigns domain experts to collaborate with client-side subject matter experts/analysts to understand the operating procedures, program details, regulatory obligations, etc.
2. It deploys a robotic process automation tool to record step-wise operating procedures by recording real-time screen activities, keystrokes, etc.
3. Proprietary techniques are used for organizing the recorded process steps into digital “business process blueprints” with annotated text, screenshots, and the latest instructions.

Here’s a case study outlining the implementation of the DKO-based solution approach for end-to-end digital knowledge management for a US-based regional community bank. The business outcomes were astonishing, as the bank could digitize 800+ business process blueprints with 100% accuracy. Also, the digital knowledge Center of Excellence created with the DKO framework allowed the bank to train resources and build execution capability cost-effectively.

Why Do You Need to Consider Digital Knowledge Operations™?

DKO is unlike any other digital transformation approach, and there are several reasons that make it popular in the BFS industry:

1. DKO is data-driven and realistic, which means it promises practical outcomes that are measurable and observable. It relies on the findings of a diligent consultative approach and data insights derived from the systems and people in the client environment.
2. It offers hassle-free and fast implementation of digital solutions, process frameworks, re-engineered models, and any other aspects that require hands-on expertise.
3. The framework offers an extensive solution umbrella comprising tools for automation, data analytics, document extraction, customer interaction, AML compliance, and more.
4. DKO is designed to deliver “value” through cost optimization, scalability, and customizability, making it equally viable for small-to-mid-sized financial institutions, including regional/community banks, mortgage lenders, commercial lenders, etc. The approach offers unparalleled comfort, assurance, and partnership for financial institutions to get started and done with their digital transformation goals!