Automate Before You Migrate: 10 Ways Automation Eases Core Migration

There are few IT projects that are more resource- and time-intensive than a core system conversion. That’s probably why so many financial institutions have put off these major technology projects for so long—in some cases, for decades.

But following years of deferred infrastructure modernization, banks and credit unions are finally looking to migrate off their legacy, on-premises core systems to modern, cloud-based core solutions. In fact, a recent Accenture survey of nearly 100 leading institutions found that 63% of banks are either in the process or planning stages of moving their core systems to the cloud.

This is an important step. But due to tight budgets and an uncertain economic environment, many CIOs are holding off on implementing a modern-day workload automation and orchestration solution like OpCon until they’ve completed their core migration project. Often, that can be a short-sighted approach.

Here are 10 reasons why implementing workload automation and orchestration (WLA&O) at the beginning of your core migration project can benefit the organization—both now and over the long-term.

1. Capture ROI—before the “I.”
   Return on investment is the key metric that all IT projects must achieve. As one of the most complex, time-consuming, and expensive IT projects a financial institution will ever undertake, core migration is no exception. Unfortunately, many core conversions take significantly longer than expected to capture value and may overrun initial cost estimates by as much as 50 to 100%.
   
   That’s why any opportunity to capture savings up front through improved operational efficiencies is critical. By implementing a modern-day WLA&O solution in key operational processes like lights-out processing, which can eliminate the need for overnight IT staffing, banks and credit unions can begin capturing superior project ROI within just two to three months.
   
   There are also costs related to inaction. Often core migrations are performed as part of a cost reduction strategy, and organizations can begin realizing savings sooner by implementing WLA&O early on in the core migration project. Specifically, organizations that use OpCon to its full potential save over $375,000 on average every year.*
   
2. Optimize use of limited resources.
   A core migration project requires 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. Streamline before moving processes.
   By leveraging the enterprise power and scalability of a solution like OpCon to automate workloads before kicking off a core migration project, banks can significantly reduce the number and complexity of manual processes to be transferred to the new platform. This will help accelerate core migration, ensuring a smoother, more accurate process and faster capturing of efficiencies and cost savings.
   
4. Reduce training hours.
   The investment in team training is one of the largest investments of time and resources for any core migration. Staff from tellers and loan officers to accountants and IT will need to be trained on the new system interface. By automating redundant and time-consuming manual processes before migrating them to the new core, banks can not only capture new efficiencies, but they can also significantly reduce the amount of training required. The team will experience less frustration and fewer errors, improving the experience for employees and customers alike.
   
5. Iterate improvements over time.
   WLA&O supports an Agile approach to technology transformation by allowing institutions to tackle the automation of manual processes sequentially over time. Before starting a core migration, IT departments can address the most urgent, manually-intensive processes first and leave lower-priority workloads for a later date, even post-implementation of the new core.
   
6. Retain institutional knowledge.
   Technical talent is at a premium today. The financial services industry faces an exodus of institutional knowledge over the next few years as the Boomer generation retires, which has yet to be replaced due to the ongoing shortage of high-level technical talent on the market today. By automating manual processes and documenting procedures for those that will continue to require human intervention, organizations can offset the impacts of future brain drain.
   
7. Give your team some “quick wins.”
   Let’s face it, a core migration is a very stressful and time-intensive project that often becomes all-encompassing for staff and management. By getting started early with automation, operational teams can begin seeing immediate, positive results in their day-to-day work. This will help boost morale and excitement for the core migration project, ensuring that the entire team will jump on board when the rubber meets the road.
   
8. Reduce the core migration expense.
   Migrating to a new core is one of the biggest IT projects financial institutions ever face. It typically takes many months of effort, including hundreds of internal and external staff hours. By leveraging the power of WLA&O before beginning a core migration, organizations can streamline current processes, automate manual workloads, and reduce the number of files to be transferred to the new core. The result is many fewer hours needed when it comes time to move processes over into the new system, reducing labor (and consultant) costs significantly.
   
9. Achieve better security and compliance.
   Automation enhances security and compliance by easing the management of role-based privileges and automatically logging all activities for auditing purposes. 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.
   
10. 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 from legacy systems to the cloud, virtualization, and Internet of Things (IoT) through a single, integrated platform.
    
    For example, WLA&O can automate document imaging and storage processes like image loads and reporting to streamline workflows and take advantage of limited resources. Similarly, WLA&O 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.

Planning a core migration? Learn how your organization can benefit from automating before migrating using the industry’s most powerful workload automation and orchestration solution, OpCon from SMA Technologies. Contact us today at [email protected].

*Based on conservative internal calculations by SMA Technologies for OpCon customers that automate at a pace of 105 seconds per task (i.e., 30 seconds to key a manual task, 60-second wait time between tasks, and 15 seconds to verify successful completion of the previous task) at a rate of $34.85 per hour (i.e., average hourly rate for a full-time employee assuming no premium pay for overtime, holidays, nights, or weekends). These calculations don’t include any expenses for errors, re-processing, or other manual operations-related items.