What

UiPath is a New York-based global robotic process automation (RPA) and intelligent automation solutions provider. Founded in 2005 in Romania, it is now publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and has more than 4,000 employees worldwide. It offers automation solutions to a range of industries, including more than 2,000 banking, financial services, and insurance clients worldwide.

Why 

According to Bill Hincher, Director, Banking & Financial Services Industry at UiPath, automation is now “table stakes” for players in the industry. “It's a minimal sort of viable tech for the industry,” he said. “Everybody's moving to this stage at which this is really critical for their business operations.”

While the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic proved the necessity for certain automated and software-driven solutions, other headwinds have further driven demand for products like UiPath’s. Automation rarely is a question of redundancy, Hincher said: Teams like compliance departments are often overworked, and automation can help use the same number of employees to do more work and mitigate losses.

“When we have these conversations with clients, it's often about how we help teams handle backlogs that are existing,” Hincher said. “They're not saying, ‘How do we take our team of 100 and take it down to 50?’”

How

UiPath’s automation-related conversations largely involve working with the C-Suite to coordinate tech, operations, finance, and talent-related concerns. “Change management is never far from any of those conversations,” Hincher said, especially since employees often think that automation invariably brings a round of layoffs. C-level conversations also help “set the vision,” Hincher explained, which can ensure that automation both resolves rote headaches and aligns with an institution’s long-term mission.

With that in mind, players of different sizes may solve for different concerns. Credit unions, for instance, may look to maximize customer success, ensuring that members continue to experience personal engagement. Top-20 banks, which are largely ahead of the curve compared to smaller institutions, may be looking to move from RPA solutions toward intelligent-automation processes that can make a wider range of verticals more efficient from an operational perspective.

Hincher sees intelligent automation as the next technological and operational wave. Many banks dedicate entire teams to logging data from forms and emails for applications, servicing, and support. Creating more versatile, tech-driven operations can help mitigate the effects of sudden pivots—a move away from refinancing applications to HELOC applications, for example—and insulate margins.

Hincher said tech teams within banks that work on different verticals can often be siloed; AI-powered transitions can help catalyze greater cross-pollination. “It’s about connecting the dots within our clients as well,” he said.