The automotive industry has been in a tight relationship with automation over the past decade. However, besides autonomous driving systems and features that make modern cars more automated in many ways, automation also happens on a transactional level – more specifically, the auto loaning process.
The scope of operations that automotive companies now need to perform goes way beyond the assembly line. There are a range of other operations that need a mindful eye: network management, inventory management, insurance claims processing, payment processing are some of them. This is where robotic process automation (RPA) steps in. We are discussing more on it below.
A brief introduction to Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
With Robotic Process Automation (RPA), businesses can automate their internal processes through robotic actions (bots) that perform tasks based on pre-programmed sets of actions or rules. The technology has evolved to use optical character recognition, keystrokes, and application integration, allowing for automation on a wide range of tasks that were done manually before.
The worth of RPA is tremendous, and as the technology matures and continues proving its worth, many time-consuming and repetitive tasks can be performed by RPA bots. The benefits are mostly related to greater efficiency, ease of implementation and quick return on investment (ROI).
Auto Loans And RPA: The Missing Link
We all know that COVID-19 accelerated car sales all over the world, but also increased the prices of vehicles due to the shortage of chips and other vehicle components. All of this in turn gave popularity to auto loans, and consumers saving on transportation during the lockdown are actively looking for new cars.
Unfortunately, not many auto loan providers are using robotic processes to make their customer journey smooth. Auto lending is indeed a complex and very manual process for both borrowers and lenders. From third-party reports that need to be provided by lenders, to credit history, insurance forms and other records, most auto loan documents are big and bulky, and data intake is an ongoing problem.
So, where does Robotic Process Automation (RPA) step in – and how can it automate the loan application process?
Where Automation Between Auto Loans Happens
Automating the auto loan processing is a great way to cut loan approval times from weeks to days, or in some cases, even hours. It also improves data accuracy, and leads to an increase in loan volume without added personnel. The goal of this form of automation is to escape the manual processes and move on to an AI-powered process that uses robot assistants that make loan processing faster and more efficient. This solves a range of problems, including:
● Manual data entry: This is one of the most common issues related to loans processing, requiring a person to manually look at an application data and enter it into the system. With RPA, all of this is automated and done by a bot.
● Automated data extraction: Similar but also different compared to data entry, data extraction is something that is given a revolutionary approach under Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Here, document processing handles data entry, while optical character recognition (OCR) technology extracts data from paper and static forms to later populate the form fields for manual reconciliation. The system can be configured to apply document understanding too, and differentiate between data sources such as a driver’s license, pay stub, tax form, etc.
● Automated intelligent matching: With AI, you can train the system to match information in data fields to a set of specific criteria (income or credit score), and any entities falling outside these parameters will be flagged for manual review.
● AI intelligent processing: The loan processing system can also be configured to handle more sophisticated functions such as risk scoring or fraud detection, or even use advanced business analytics to predict loan volumes, funding, requirements, etc.
As you can see, artificial intelligence (AI) works wonders for automating auto loans, and machine learning (ML) does the same. You can define document types, digitize paperwork, classify data elements to process the loan, extract data based on document types, export data and so on. Once data enters the framework, it can be reused for other paperwork and processes.
Use Cases Of RPA In Auto Loan Processing
As you can see, RPA can be used in commercial areas with the help of over-the-desktop automation applications. The use cases of RPA in loan processing for the automotive loaning industry include the following:
1. Automatic report generation: RPA bots can automatically create reports for compliance that make fraudulent transactions and Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR)
2. Onboarding customers: Manual verification makes onboarding a long process – RPA can extract data from documents and cross-check it against information provided by the customers.
3. Mortgage lending: From loan initiation to processing documents, financial comparisons and a lot more, RPA can increase the customer satisfaction rate.
You can leverage RPA robots to detect loans that are due soon, check balance registers and figure the necessary charges that need to be collected, predict non-disclosure certificates, auto-check data and details, or even capture data of social security numbers through the banking system to calculate the loan exposure.
Automated Digital Workflows For Auto Loan Companies
Another interesting aspect of automation for auto loan organizations are digital workflows. In short, managers relying on agents to remember to ask certain types of borrowers for specific documentation can now rely on technology, namely RPA, to sort through data and trigger requests for new information.
Switching to an automated solution can help these organizations work more intuitively, centralize all digital tools into a single suite, streamline many processes, get visibility on KPIs, and enforce zero IT involvement.
From electronic signatures to smart forms, and instant ID verification, there are many features that can be on your list as an auto loan operator looking to innovate and automate processes using RPA. Automated auto loan processing can help you customize the loan process the way you want to, serving borrowers according to their location and time that best works for their needs.
Final thoughts
On the topic of implementation, RPA can be considered for many parts of the business and the loan processing process. The organization can sit down and decide which area it wants automated by performing a thorough assessment of its operations. If you need help, you can talk to our experts and get guidance on RPA in your industry and how to make the best decision for your business.
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