In a 2010 departing memo to Microsoft employees, executive Ray Ozzie said this:
“Complexity kills. Complexity sucks the life out of users, developers and IT. Complexity makes products difficult to plan, build, test and use. Complexity introduces security challenges. Complexity causes administrator frustration.”
Since Ozzie’s departure, there’s no question that IT environments have grown more complex. While financial institutions (FIs) are grappling with IT system complexity, they are doing so at a time when the flow of IT talent is at a troubling lull. Whether you consider it The Great Resignation or the Great Reshuffle, the fact remains that FIs simply cannot overlook how talent shortages are impacting their ability to innovate and keep up with the expectations of their customers and members.
The most viable solution for FIs is to implement workload automation and orchestration (WLA&O) software, significantly reducing a financial institution’s need to rely on staff to perform routine, process-oriented tasks. With fewer skilled IT employees, WLA&O allows for the reallocation of existing talent to focus on the most important initiatives – this strategy can be a game-changer for those that are hurting for talent to help propel them forward.
More and more, FIs need assistance implementing, managing, and optimizing their WLA&O software to realize all the operational benefits. For many organizations, automation management can become a full-time job. Enter Managed Automation Services (MAS), the key to highly successful automation execution amidst the Great Resignation.
The focus of MAS
Especially for FIs with complex IT infrastructure, a third-party MAS team adds an additional layer of support with the help of automation engineers who can assist with the automation, monitoring and management of automated systems. MAS helps to optimize the processes and run incident responses by building error logic into and across the operations.
MAS consists of three main focus areas:
- Consulting: A qualified MAS team can distinguish the difference between the need for automation management and understanding the specific needs of a financial institution – two totally different things. MAS experts offer insight that can uncover new automation opportunities for a single project or throughout an entire organization.
- Monitoring and maintenance: This will include things like performing upgrades, installing new components, and monitoring that those components are functioning properly. That can be everything from guaranteeing notifications are sent from the system to ensuring the automation platform is communicating with the database.
- Operational support: Regardless of the automation, there should still be regular attention to ensure goals are met and being capitalized on. Experts monitor the applications and processes, resolve alerts, and proactively improve automation efforts.
The benefits of MAS
One of the greatest benefits of incorporating a responsive third-party MAS team to oversee back-end automation is in-house IT staff gains time to focus on strategic priorities. Some other benefits of a MAS within a financial institution include:
- Document imaging and storage
- Payment processing
- Business intelligence and reporting
Furthermore, the MAS team, comprised of automation engineers who have a deep understanding of the software, can help a financial institution to establish desired outcomes and then optimize the software to achieve them. Because the team will have an abundance of experience working with financial institutions, they will be able to apply that to achieve greater levels of operational efficiency.
How it works
MAS enhances the power of workload automation and orchestration software through the guidance of engineers who know the platform better than anyone. Experts will work with a financial institution to figure out which processes can benefit from automation and how those initiatives can be incorporated into an existing IT environment. Then, that engineer will maintain the automation efforts in accordance with goals and defined success metrics. A tiered MAS program can give an institution the very specific amount of support it needs.
Some areas MAS can be utilized include:
- Accomplishing lights out processing at all hours while keeping access to 24/7 monitoring
- Boosting security and compliance while achieving the highest form of efficiency with experts in the automation of financial institutions
- Implementing complex digital infrastructures throughout one or several instances of WLA&O software to automate necessary jobs efficiently
- Simplifying data management and extract, transform, load (ETL) processes while lowering the chance of errors and time spent on troubleshooting systems
Automation revolutionized
As the expectations of customers and members are at an all-time high, there’s never been a better time for financial institutions to benefit from the revolution that is automation. At a time when it is becoming increasingly difficult to find and keep IT talent, MAS liberates institutions from repetitive tasks and helps them redeploy resources where they’re needed most through the direct support of third-party experts.
