Nitro Blog

How to Accelerate Digital Transformation in Financial Services and Insurance Institutions

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Our financial lives used to consist almost entirely of live and in-person experiences.

Our financial lives used to consist almost entirely of live and in-person experiences. You had to banter with the bank teller, sit across from your portfolio manager, or apply for a mortgage in-person, by hand!

The Financial Services Landscape

The current financial industry landscape couldn’t be any more different. You can check your balance, sell investments, pay bills, and even apply for a loan all with a few clicks of your mouse or taps on your phone-without even talking to another human being.

Banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions have taken notice-and they’re moving quickly to propel their businesses toward digital transformation, with a big push toward speed, intuitive customer service, and ease of use. This is also true of forms of equity release services (visit their website for more info) and other areas of the financial world. Many banks are also trying to find as many ways as possible to help customers obtain invaluable items such as credit cards for themselves. Customers looking for a credit card without ssn may soon find that they are completely in luck as there are now ways for these types of cards to be obtained. A similar experience may be had by those with bad credit who fear that they may be unable to apply for a credit card; there’s plentiful advice online for those looking for information on “how to fix my credit” so that more financial services will be open to them.

Navigating this transition successfully requires enlightened leadership who can evaluate whether legacy vendors are slowing the company down and then take action to provide the right tools to the entire organization, not just the business units that shout the loudest. Not only will this reduce costs, your staff and customers will feel the increase in productivity and competitive edge in this new, scalable environment.

It’s All About the Customer

With fewer people visiting branch locations, banks and credit unions are increasingly focused on their web and mobile experiences to fill their customers’ needs. Likewise, investment and capital markets firms have put their focus on data and automation to meet the demand for increasingly faster trades and other transactions.

Behind these innovations is a growing desire by the industry to be more customer-centric. In an era when user experience can be just as important as the products or services themselves, finance and insurance institutions compete with tech companies and consumer brands for stars, likes, shares, and praiseworthy word of mouth. A sound strategy for document productivity can be an essential tool that allows your organization to provide remarkable customer service.

Don’t Let Legacy Slow You Down

Although your firm may have the most innovative and noble digital transformation ambitions, too often these plans are waylaid by legacy infrastructure and the outmoded schools of thought that accompany it.

These issues are not unique to the financial sector but have deeper roots here than in other industries. Many of the world’s largest and oldest banks still subsist on a system built decades ago in a programming language few speak and even fewer are learning. Switching out these systems for more progressive, adaptable alternatives is considered by some firms to be too costly and time-consuming a proposition.

These same firms face challenges with staff productivity, often imposed by legacy document management systems that cost too much and are used by too few employees to be truly effective. The good news? This particular challenge has an affordable, user-friendly solution.

Technology Partner Who Understands Your Industry Digital Transformation Needs

A comprehensive PDF productivity suite like Nitro digitizes processes, accelerates completion of tax forms, enhances security for account statements, and leaves your team available to focus on the bottom line. It streamlines all manner of document workflows, from the mundane to the complex:

  • Accelerates loan applications and claims processes
  • Distributes account statements quickly and securely
  • Shares credit reports electronically
  • Ensures mortgages, employment verifications, and tax forms are all easily managed and promptly completed

Case Study: Swiss Re

The power of an integrated document solution propelled the world’s second-largest reinsurer to new heights of productivity and cost savings. Swiss Re has been a leader in financial services and insurance since 1863.

In 2010, it knew the time had come to modernize its document processes and bring insurance contracts into the 21st century. To accomplish this, it needed to provide as many of its employees as possible with tools that would reduce paper consumption and enable digital transformation.

“After seeing increased productivity, reduced paper waste company-wide, and a significant increase in user collaboration, Nitro Pro is now Swiss Re’s first-choice PDF product,” says Heinz Urech, vice president of information technology.

Embrace the Digital Transformation

When executed smartly and mindfully, a PDF productivity solution can propel the financial and insurance industries towards digital transformation with unique cost savings, unexplored efficiencies, and the agility to respond to market forces with confidence.

Legacy vendors will only take you so far down this path. Read our infographic to see how the right technology partner can turn outdated document practices into a new day of productivity.