Retail

The three levels of digital modernization

In an ideal world, businesses would reach something known as zero operations (ops). Zero ops is a zero-touch, zero-wait, zero-exception, and zero delay operations model – less effort for employees and customers alike.

But modernization journeys differ from company to company, depending on their industry, resources, and current technology landscape. And it happens at the deepest levels of a business – think commercial lending or, to go a step deeper, loan servicing.

Ultimately, there are three broad levels of ops modernization:

Level one: This is the simplest approach focused on the digital modernization of manual tasks. Most of the processes stay as they are, but automation enhances them to increase productivity. Plus, cloud-enabled low-code/no-code workflow apps like ServiceNow or the Microsoft Power Platform on Azure replace spreadsheets and email

Level two: Here, front-to-back processes become more intelligent and more connected. There's a shift to smarter systems of engagement that eliminate steps and orchestrate work across different systems. A company at level two will improve processes incrementally. For instance, artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML)-enabled extraction-as-a-service can transform insurance claims by intelligently receiving, collating, and processing both structured and unstructured data.

Level three: At the highest level, a company totally re-engineers processes, front to back and end to end for value beyond efficiency. They also reach new heights of business agility by shifting their legacy platforms to modern composable architecture on a cloud foundation. The broad adoption of AI/ML delivers data-driven insights that empower employees and more intelligent operations. Better still, companies can modernize their customer-facing platforms with fully automated self-service experiences