Why RPA or APIs are helpful for Due Diligence

The coronavirus pandemic appears to have pushed technology adoption into overdrive as companies adapt to a work-from-home model to protect the health and safety of employees and clients alike. Forbes notes, for example, that teleconference company Zoom saw its daily user base grow from ten to 200 million in the first quarter of 2020. And it’s not just using technology to enable virtual meetings seeing increased interest. Robotic Process Automation, or RPA, is attracting attention as companies re-evaluate how business is conducted, particularly time-consuming, repetitive tasks like due diligence. That’s why we teamed up with CeFPro to produce an on-demand webinar on creating efficiencies within your vendor and third-party risk management workflow with RPA and APIs. Our own Tracey Boylston, Director, Global Alliances & Data as a Service, is joined by Bruce Mazza, Vice President, Global Technology Alliances, Blue Prism, Prakash Narayanan, Automation Director for Eli Lilly Capability Centre, and Rinat Malik, RPA Implementation Specialist at BMW Financial Services to offer practical, real-world insights into the challenges and benefits of automating risk management workflows. What will you learn from watching this webinar? 

Get acquainted with technical terminology

As a risk management professional, you’re probably used to talking in shorthand because acronyms abound—ABC, FCPA, KYC, and PEPs are a few that spring to mind. But if you’re venturing into fintech territory, you may be less familiar with the lingo. During the webinar, you’ll get a quick overview of common acronyms and terms related to risk management technology implementations, including:

• Which other terms are used to describe RPA, such as digital workers, digital workforce, or intelligence automation?
• How do a UI (User Interface) and a GUI (Graphic User Interface) differ and why does it matter for RPA implementations?
• What are Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and how can they enable enhanced risk management?

Once we’ve set the stage, we dive into the “process” part of RPA. 

See what makes a workflow automation-ready

Managing risk efficiently has become increasingly difficult due to several factors. Global third-party networks—be they customers, business partners, and suppliers—mean companies face a much broader regulatory landscape that changes from country to country and is constantly evolving. Round-the-clock news and social media pose a huge challenge for identifying potential reputational, financial, or strategic red flags as they emerge.

Yet, the typical onboarding due diligence workflow has remained consistent. That’s where RPA can help drive efficiencies.

• Mundane, repetitive processes are ideal candidates for automation.
• Automation helps reduce errors due to a typo or a lapse in attention
• Digital workers typically operate 10x faster than human workers
• Digital workers can be trained—through AI and machine learning—to flag exceptions that require human insight
• Digital workers operate 24/7, allowing you to speed up on-boarding which leads to better customer or vendor experiences
• Digital workers free up human counterparts for more high-value tasks, such as conducting risk assessments and making critical decisions that require emotional intelligence.

Not only can implementing RPA for due diligence offer a quick time to ROI, but it also digitizes the risk management workflow from end-to-end. If the workflow is solid, this enables you to capture a complete and irrefutable audit trail of due diligence work—a critical requirement for staying within the good graces of regulators the world over.

Is it time for a change in your approach to due diligence?

Organizations are in uncharted territory as economies reopen, but it’s already clear that the new normal will likely see companies continue to use the work from home model. A recent blog from RPA leader Blue Prism notes that in this unusual time, a centralized digital workforce provides critical support AND security. It notes, “Digital workers interact with human workers to support the business functions, offering a robust unified workforce that an organization can count on both during a crisis and during ‘business as usual.’ It’s not about replacing human employees or even simply augmenting the human’s capacity. No, if this is done right, a unified workforce is a force multiplier for the human employees.”

Find out if this “force multiplier” is right for your business in the CeFPro on-demand webinar.