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Role of Document management Software in digital banking

Written by Ana Canteli on July 05, 2019

The banking industry is among the main vertical markets in the world, with a significant potential for growth in technological investment. This is no surprise, given a large number of transactions carried out daily and the investments that banks devote to process optimization.

Managing the information of an organization properly is something more than necessary in the era of digital transformation, if only by the fact that each day we generate more data and at a faster pace. The importance of data is essential in the banking industry, and in most cases, this information is found in documents.

Documents in electronic format or paper can be part of different business processes: customer service, sales, operations, payroll, legal administration, marketing, etc. Many people identify the concept of a document management software solution with the paperless office, and while it is true that the elimination of paper is a trend that has come to stay, it is more of a derivative aspect of digital transformation. The greatest benefits derived from the implementation of a document management solution are the improvement of business processes, customer satisfaction, the collaboration between the human resources of the organization and higher quality relationships with suppliers and stakeholders. There is much more involved as well, and we will highlight the most remarkable:

• Repository unification: As companies move forward, they find themselves in need of managing a growing set of data, which in many cases contains personal data and sensitive information about individuals or legal entities. A document management system guarantees the identification of all users who access the information, which will be provided based on the definition of their role and the security applied. The security of data and confidentiality are essential values in digital banking, where users can enter data and passwords with which to access their profile, list of products and services, bank statements, etc. An effective bank document management solution considerably reduces the risk of operations.
• Cost savings: The management of millions of documents, which are part of the files, which manipulate not only the banks but also their customers, entail a high financial cost for the entities. Through a document management system, the bank can facilitate the management of specific processes automatically, easily and quickly, which significantly reduces costs - printing, inserting, postal stamp, spending on human resources - which can be used for items or more profitable business processes.
• Savings in time: Useful for more than just banks, dispense with manual or labour-intensive tasks, which streamlines workflows. Customer service should be a priority, especially in a sector such as banking where customers are susceptible to any change or situation. Providing quick access to the information or services that they demand, via the web or through a mobile application, without having to go to the office or queue is something that will benefit all the stakeholders involved; greater customer satisfaction and better image for the bank. A sound document management system facilitates the search of data, information, and files, as well as procedures such as electronic signature, among others.
• Improvement of workflows: A good document management system allows the reduction in the number of steps required to carry out a procedure or process, which directly contributes to increase the agility and efficiency of workflows, since the human resources of the entity will find the information or documents more quickly, while respecting the documentary processes and protocols implemented in the document manager.
• Benefits for the environment: The implementation of the paperless office, directly supposes the reduction of consumption in paper and its effects in the felling of trees, deforestation or the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere as well as the decrease of consumables like toner for printers, and the consequent waste and chemical waste products. Public opinion is increasingly sensitive to this issue, which is why any action related to the respect and protection of the environment is relevant.
• Respect for regulations: banking is one of the most regulated sectors of activity. Ensuring compliance with legal norms and regulations as well as providing the update is essential for any financial or credit institution. However, the fulfilment of this obligation can be complicated, especially in organizations where inspection and control are manual. An appropriate bank document management system will support the execution of the regulatory and legal framework while protecting the data and information of its customers.
• Electronic audit trail: One of the consequences of the last financial crisis was the increase in audits, both internal and external audits that a bank must go through to certify that all established norms and laws are met. A document management system allows the bank to keep all transactions recorded, including the version control and the complete life cycle of files, in such a way that audits become a more agile and efficient procedure that minimizes the presence of errors.

Steps to apply documentary management software

Digital transformation, in addition to cloud-based document storage, includes the digitalization of documents, or big data, and should start with document management.

The pace of change in the processes, products, tastes, and habits of consumers is becoming faster, and document management and digitalization of processes help companies to better deal with uncertainty. We have seen that the advantages of an electronic document management system are evident and very varied, but when choosing a document manager or another, there are a series of steps to consider.

• Integrated document management solution: Keep in mind that many organizations maintain a sizeable historical repository on paper. The chosen bank document management system should incorporate digitization tools. In this aspect, the OpenKM document and records management system offers features such as optical character recognition (OCR) that facilitates the identification of different types of documents, and the extraction of the data it contains. It also provides a text extractor to be able to index the documents. Also, OpenKM's open source technology allows the organization to parameterize the system according to current or future needs and scale the system. On the other hand, the banking industry sometimes finds itself with software that has been obsolete or has not been updated. OpenKM offers SDK's in Java, PHP. and .NET that facilitates the integration of the document manager in the program suite of the entity (CRM, ERP), contributing to the elimination of silos.
• Ease of use and flexibility: when a company starts to manage their documents correctly, they see how their productivity increases and their costs are reduced. But it would be of little use to have a document manager with manuals and user guides if employees or clients do not use these resources. The main benefit of document management lies in the instantaneous access to information. To guarantee the commitment of the user community, it is fundamental to offer simple-to-use solutions that resolve specific use cases that demonstrate that the new application is carried out in less time. These good initial experiences encourage the acceptance of the broadening of the management to more processes or departments. With OpenKM, the organization can improve the day-to-day of its employees and their customers with the use of automation and workflows, in both cases, the impact of possible human errors are minimized, compliance is guaranteed and the achievement of procedure or process.
• Consulting services, technical support, and applications: the selection of a management system is not a trivial decision; it implies a long-term technological commitment. The OpenKM document management system, in addition to offering a completely configurable platform adaptable to each use case, provides a mobile application to reach this growing group of users and facilitate mobility, both for bank employees and customers. On the other hand, the support of OpenKM as a document management provider continues with the technical service that guarantees the sustained updating over time as well as the treatment and resolution of any incident. And to promote the acceptance, use, and amortization of the system, we offer training courses tailored to the type of user and ad-hoc development services to cover any customer need.

With OpenKM you can obtain a working platform for your employees, from any department, promoting collaboration and quick access to documents, while guaranteeing information security, regulatory compliance, and if you wish, to put the system available to your customers, via mobile app or web.