PWC predicts that more than 30% of today’s human workforce will be replaced by artificial intelligence (AI) and/or robotics by the year 2030. This kind of development will change the way we work, and we have been aware of this for a period of time now. Jobs requiring social, emotional, and literary abilities are at the lowest risk of displacement. However, jobs that require manual labour or repetitive tasks that can be automated will see a higher impact in the coming years.
In compliance this impact will be sooner rather than later. Managers have been exploring Artificial Intelligence and other technologies to monitor businesses and individuals to ensure compliance. We see a future where IT and compliance will work together as partners to put in place emerging technologies, such as Machine Learning, Neural Networks, Deep Learning, and Natural Language Processing, among others. The aim of using such technologies in compliance departments is to easily identify misconduct, corruption, financial crime and reduce human error.
"Now is the time to really impact your long-term AI direction. For the greatest value, focus on augmenting people with AI. Enrich people's jobs, reimagine old tasks... Transform your culture to make it rapidly adaptable to AI-related opportunities or threats." Svetlana Sicular, Artificial Intelligence Expert at Gartner.
There are already several mature solutions in the market to help compliance teams to automate their function and make compliance less stressful. The current solutions include automation of process, mobile apps, cloud technology, workflows etc.
In 2019, Gartner predicted that 70 percent of organizations will integrate AI to assist employees’ productivity and improve functions by 2021. AI and automation have been applied to undertake routine work on financial institutions, in tasks such as financial contracts review, deal review, reports and monitoring. These are usually complex tasks, that require high attention to detail. In these cases, technology can assist and augment the work of employees by reducing error and providing recommendations during the process.
In the financial world, poor attention to detail when processing a deal and/or lack of risk mitigation can lead to fines and damage the company reputation. It means that business can rely on technology to reduce their expenditure and increase profits.
“In 2021, AI augmentation will generate $2.9 trillion in business value and recover 6.2 billion hours of worker productivity” Gartner Report.
In the past, large financial institutions would develop and deploy these technologies themselves, but recently they have noticed that the cost does not pay off. We now see a trend towards outsourcing all kinds of technologies used by financial institutions to reduce operational costs.
The fast pace of FinTech forces institutions to adapt their systems regularly to comply with the latest demands of IT operations and regulatory requirements. Many tier 1 institutions noticed that they were building a software repeatedly, bringing the cost to billions in 2019. As having this high cost is not sustainable, looking for an external solution became the only option, shifting the in-house tech to a vendor tech solution.
These technologies do not have to be costly, although it requires some work to implement at the start. Assuming that the compliance team is aligned, and your vendor understands your objectives, the implementation process should run smoothly. We are sure the implementation of a compliance technology is worth the resources and work put towards it. As a result, in the future you will find your department liberated and free from manual and monotonous tasks that will be automated.
If you want to achieve an effective and successful implementation that makes it possible for everyone to benefit, you will require discipline from managers and stakeholders. With the additional cost-savings from implementing technology, employers and management can focus on upskilling their staff and increase their investment in training.
Alongside the use of great technology to assist the compliance department, compliance officers will have more time to concentrate on other important tasks, such as work on improving employee interaction, training as mentioned above and risks awareness; all important touch points to build a healthy and productive department.
MCO has a set of innovative products and we lead the change in areas such as compliance in the control room – ensuring that the deal cycle moves more quickly but stays in lockstep with regulations. If you want to know more about the benefits of technology in compliance contact MCO today.