Digitization in all its guises has thrown the spotlight onto just how fragmented data sets and processes are. Manual and distinct processes are hard to manage, slow and there is a high risk of error. 

But automated data management, where complex processes are streamlined and data are brought together can solve a lot of these issues. The end result is increased productivity and smoother, timelier, and accurate processes that enhance your operations and grow your business - keeping both end investors and advisors happy into the bargain!

Here’s how 

Automated document routing
Managing customer account data, HR forms, and classifying email or mailroom documents as they come in makes sense. The ability to redact documents as well as scan through all historical documents to find relevant fields to redact; such as credit card and bank details and NI numbers or similar is an obvious win. And being able to integrate with other relevant applications such as Pronto, Procure, and iressXplan also adds efficiency when dealing with data in volume. 

Having the functionality to streamline and automatically route the data and documents that you do need and ignore what you don’t makes operational sense. Knowing that document routing has been optimized from both a process and a compliance viewpoint brings both better productivity and peace of mind. 

Simplified approval process
Advisors large and small need to have an operationally sound onboarding process. In the past, this has been anything but slick with data relating to AML, KYC, and other details required by the client services team being inputted manually and often more than once. Extraction, input, and classification of sensitive and personal data and documentation has been infamously clunky, time-consuming, and thus ripe for automation. 

But by setting out the approvals process from the outset advisors can map the journey of data extraction and input and accurately route the sequence of operations, define standard processes across the organization and make sure that each and every process follows a timely and consistent approval process. This improves transparency and gives back control as well as saving time, money and mitigating against errors – thus creating a sleeker process that pleases advisor and end clients alike.

Faster exceptions handling
In a world where data threatens to overwhelm, being able to accurately identify exceptions and deal with them efficiently is key. Using humans to re-key data and manually process and resolve exceptions is not timely, efficient, or effective when vast volumes of data are at play. Automation makes light work of exceptions and involves humans only when necessary. Machine learning helps with this, enabling the automation process to continuously improve and making sure that exceptions data is tackled appropriately, that nothing slips through the next, and thus that downstream data is accurate and actionable, and usable. The idea is that exceptions processing becomes a digital assembly line where each component is managed optimally, that the human/ machine balance is perfectly maintained and where the machine learns from the human – thus improving the process on an ongoing basis.

Enhanced data validation
Automated validation is another volume play. It is not enough to have the data in the system it needs to be in the right format and verified so that across data sets, apples are being compared with apples and so that data across several forms, such as the address on a driving license as well as that on a payslip, can be compared. 

This builds on the automation functions around data classification and identification and adds to the validation comfort level. Having accurate and validated data feeds into pretty much every other process; both KYC and compliance as well as innovation, better decision making, and the development of products and services for customer engagement and retention. Better processes and accuracy also work to build the client relationship in the onboarding phase. 

Less human error
To err is human but to accept and forgive the limitations of the human in a context of an avalanche of data is simply divine! Accuracy is king and advisors need to have faith that what they are presenting for KYC, compliance, and customer service purposes is fit for purpose.

Humans are also less secure than machines and even in a cyber security context, humans are often the weak point of entry into a system. 

Automation vastly reduces the risk of human error when dealing with big volumes of data as it allows for accurate and up to data extraction and input of data, following pre-defined processes, automatically flagging something that needs human intervention, and learning from itself continuously.

Make it a reality with Umlaut & Hyperscience
The theory behind automation processes is the same; by cutting out unnecessary administrative tasks and installing automated processes where disparate data, both structured and unstructured, is gathered you get better operational efficiency and the ability to deal with large volumes of data accurately. That means less time spent on paper shuffling and more time dedicated to serving your clients’ needs. Indeed, by using Umlaut to integrate the Hyperscience platform into your existing systems you get all of the above! You can meet your automation needs, improve document processing and unlock economies of scale. 

This input to outcome platform molds to your existing business processes and optimizes them making for the ability to grow and scale because you are more effective in the first place and can therefore take on more. Hyperscience is easy to install and set up and can be configured intuitively to classify, extract and enrich data in the way that you choose!

This makes sense from a cost perspective but also serves to boost the business by giving you surety over data accuracy, the means to provide better service to customers, and the visibility over data to make strategic decisions and grow the business. Why wouldn’t you?