6 Reasons to Implement Workload Automation Before Migrating to a New Core

So, you’re planning to migrate to a new core in the next couple of years?    

You’re not alone.   

More than 6 in 10 banks are in the process or planning stages of moving to a new cloud-based core banking system.   

Several factors are driving this urgency. One is the current rate environment, which is driving up margins and helping to restore one of banks’ most important revenue streams. This, in turn, will help financial institutions achieve profitability, giving them the necessary financial flexibility to commit to modernization.  

Another consideration is that legacy core systems are rapidly aging and are not always up to the task of meeting the needs of today’s consumer. Incumbent banks and credit unions need to speed up the pace of innovation to keep up with upstart competitors and consumers’ demands to have access to their financial picture anywhere, anytime within the palm of their hands.   

Unfortunately, banking institutions are facing a massive exodus of institutional knowledge over the next few years as the Boomer generation retires, leaving IT departments bereft of decades of expertise. Coupled with the shortage of high-level technical talent on the market today, the situation will become dire.   

Lastly, compliance pressures are increasing, and industry regulators are demanding that institutions employ the latest security and privacy protocols.

Why Automating Before Your Core Migration Makes Sense   

Faced with limited IT and project management resources and an increasingly complex technology stack, it’s tempting for CIOs to defer implementing a modern-day workload automation and orchestration solution like OpCon until they are deep into their core migration project—but that can be a mistake.   

Implementing workload automation before kicking off your core migration project is often a better choice, as it allows your institution to:   

1. Begin capturing ROI now. 

A core system migration is one of the most complex, time-intensive, and costly IT projects a financial institution will ever undertake. It typically involves staff from across the organization, with impacts felt well beyond IT to cross-functional areas like deposit and lending operations, customer service, digital banking, branch operations, legal and compliance, finance, and internal audit. Due to this complexity, McKinsey states that “technology integrations routinely take significantly longer than expected to capture value and, in examples we have observed, can overrun initial cost estimates by 50 to 100 percent.” It’s not unusual for a core re-platforming project to take many months or even years from initial planning to go live.   

But there’s no reason to wait to begin capturing efficiencies in your operations. You could be leaving valuable time and money on the table—money that could be useful during your core implementation. By implementing a modern-day workload automation solution with the support of an organization like SMA Technologies, with decades of experience in financial services automation, you can begin capturing superior project return on investment (ROI) within just two to three months. For example, starting in the core, organizations can achieve lights-out processing, eliminating the need for manual processing and 24/7 IT staff. Automation also enhances security and compliance by easing the management of role-based privileges and automatically logging all activities for auditing purposes.    

2. Optimize use of limited resources. 

As you begin planning your core migration project, you’re going to need the support and involvement of dozens of team members from across the enterprise. But some of these technical and business experts may not be needed during every stage, particularly during the initial planning phase before the project kicks into high gear. Implementing workload automation is a simpler, less resource-intensive project that can leverage the skills and talents of these folks and allow you to begin reaping benefits like improved efficiency and cost savings earlier.   

3. Bake efficiency into your processes. 

By leveraging the enterprise power and scalability of a solution like OpCon to automate workloads before your core migration project begins, you can reduce the number of manual processes that will need to be migrated to the new platform. This will help speed up the core migration project, ensuring it goes more smoothly with less commitment of resources, costs, and time. As a result, you can reduce the amount of retraining for your team and begin capturing efficiencies and cost savings sooner.    

4. Reduce training hours. 

One of the biggest expenses (and headaches) of a core migration project is the investment in training (or retraining) your team. Everyone from tellers and loan officers to accountants and IT staff will need to be trained how to use the new system interface. By automating redundant and time-consuming manual processes before migrating them to the new core, you will not only create new efficiencies, but you will also significantly reduce the amount of training required. Your team will experience less frustration and fewer errors, improving the experience for your customers and members.   

5. Improve processes outside the core. 

Beyond the core, workload automation can integrate scripts of any language into end-to-end, cross-platform workflows and manage siloed technologies through a single, integrated platform.    

For example, WLA can automate document imaging and storage processes like image loads and reporting to streamline workflows and take advantage of limited resources. Similarly, WLA can streamline other business and IT processes, such as the automation of extract, transform, and load (ETL) processes in a repeatable way for data warehouse, AI, and other applications. This reduces complexity and minimizes the need for human intervention and effort.   

From improving business continuity with self-healing routines designed to keep operations humming even during unplanned interruptions to orchestrating complex, managed file transfers across the enterprise and third-party organizations, workload automation and orchestration can solve a virtually unlimited number of operational challenges.    

6. Implement incremental improvements over time. 

There’s no need to do it all at once! Core migration is a major project with the potential for high return in exchange for a significant investment of time, resources, and capital. By taking an agile, iterative approach and automating your manual processes first, you can help reduce risk while capturing gains sooner and relieving pressure on the team.  

Beginning your core migration journey? Automating your manual processes before you begin can help you achieve greater efficiency and capture superior ROI on your migration project. To learn more about OpCon from SMA Technologies, contact us at contact@smatechnologies.com.