The need to migrate RPA platform in the banking industry: everything you need to know

The ever-evolving adoption of automation in several industries has empowered the banking sector to open up new possibilities for Robotic Process Automation (RPA). This has heightened the industry by maximizing efficiency, reducing costs, and achieving operational excellence. According to reports, RPA in banking is anticipated to reach $1.12 billion by 2025.

1. RPA adoption in the banking industry: Overview

A study by McKinsey found that the banking industry has been the second-fastest adopter of RPA after insurance. 20% of participants said that they had implemented RPA at scale or were in the process of doing so. Meanwhile, those who had not yet adopted RPA (60%) said they would do so in the next 3 years. The study also indicated that RPA can bring significant benefits to the bank industries. 

According to Gartner, nearly 80% of finance leaders have already adopted or are planning to adopt RPA, recognizing its potential to revolutionize banking processes. 

The need to migrate RPA platforms

However, after implementing RPA initiatives for a specific period, organizations can feel the need to transform the system for several reasons. 

Over time, the legacy RPA tools can become more complex by interfacing with ERPs, CRMs, and other platforms through APIs. These solutions can have inflexible infrastructure arrangements, causing siloed workflows and unwanted compliance risks. Besides, the sophisticated system always comes with an expensive total cost of ownership. This is the motivator for more organizations to migrate their RPA tools. Blueprint’s research on RPA migration revealed that reducing expensive licensing fees was the most reported reason for organizations to switch their RPA platforms.

2. It’s time to welcome a new RPA partner

Organizations are ready to switch their automation initiatives to another platform. Blueprint’s report reveals that 76% of organizations are in the process of switching RPA estates to a new RPA platform.

Some of the reasons why banks should accelerate plans to migrate to a new RPA platform. 

Reduce costs

As mentioned before, legacy RPA platforms can be significantly expensive, and the prices can increase over time.

Organizations can opt for a new RPA partner with more reasonable pricing models to reduce their total cost of ownership and optimize the business’s operation costs. 

Increase ease of use

Legacy RPA tools often require highly skilled technical employees to build, deploy, and manage automated processes.

Meanwhile, next-generation intelligent automation platforms can provide drag-and-drop features. This minimizes technical confusion, making automation more accessible to the average business user. Besides, the new platform can allow banks to scale automation practices up and down dynamically, facilitating businesses to achieve flexibility and scalability amid disruption. 

Leverage better capabilities and features

New platforms can provide enhanced features and capabilities that can unlock the true value of automation such as higher ROI and increased efficiency. 

Besides, the new platform can integrate better with legacy systems, allowing for a centralized system that adds to the efficiency of the entire workflow.

However, in case some businesses do not want to change, the solution is to adopt additional RPA platforms for more advanced capabilities and features. A study by Gartner found that 40% of RPA buyers will adopt a multi-vendor strategy by 2024.

Read more to find out the emerging trend of RPA duo platform strategy in RPA migration. 

3. How to migrate the RPA platform with ease

Assessing current infrastructure

Before deciding to migrate the RPA solution, it is crucial to have a comprehensive assessment of the existing RPA infrastructure. This includes identifying and evaluating the current state of bots, processes, and integration. Knowing the current state can help businesses to map the journey ahead and identify the potential challenges and opportunities of migration.

Choosing the right RPA solution

Choosing the right RPA solution is essential for successful RPA migration. Businesses can consider the new platform based on compatibility, implementation, scalability, cost-effectiveness, which provides the best support teams, etc.

Careful consideration facilitates businesses to select the best-of-breed solution for their automation and ensures the companies’ scalability in the long run.

Plotting the migration

Planning for the RPA migration enables businesses to spot any issues and make necessary adjustments to ensure they work as expected. Additionally, businesses can test and evaluate the RPA solution in a small department or some specific process before implementing it in the entire organization. 

As mentioned before, businesses can use a duo RPA platform for the first 12 to 18 months. This minimizes disruptions and allows time for businesses to guarantee the performance and end-to-end processes of the new platform.

Migrating data 

Data migration involves a complex process to transfer data from the legacy system to the new one. Therefore, this process requires thorough validation to guarantee accuracy. The validation tool is used to ensure that the data point travels flawlessly to its new destination, reducing the chances of errors. 

Managing risks 

Businesses need to be aware of unexpected risks such as downtime, data loss, disruptions, etc., and prepare comprehensive plans and actions to avoid risks.

Then continuously monitoring the performance of the new RPA platform is critical to ensure the solution meets the organization’s goals.

4. Conclusion

RPA migration is a significant leap in the digital landscape, facilitating businesses’ automation systems to align with their evolving demands. From evaluating existing infrastructure to continuing mitigating risks is important for businesses to navigate challenges and opportunities. Therefore, banks that seek to unlock the full potential of automation can consider switching their RPA initiatives to increase automation performance, reduce costs, and expand capabilities and scalability.