Chapter 1- Introduction

1.0 Introduction

The chapter presents the rationale of conducting the story and presents the story behind this

technological innovation. The research aim and objectives have also been presented in this

chapter. The structure of the whole dissertation is also provided in this chapter as a brief

overview.

1.1 Background of the Research

The digital revolution in the banking sector began sweeping in the society from more than

two decades ago. The traditional banking system provided the banking and the financial

services manually wherein the organizations only emphasized in the three distinct

components of issuing loans, accepting deposits and providing funds to the business

(Castelluccio, 2017). Gradually with the increase in the demand of the customers as well as

the competition in the market, the banking system increased their line of services ranging

from underwriting activities to investment banking but still manually which in turn increased

the human errors in the process (Anagnoste, 2017). This highly dissatisfied the customers and

affected the profit margin. In order to ease the journey of the customers and gain the

competitive advantage the banking organizations combined the digital speed with the

convenience through human interaction. In this way digital transformation emerged in the

banking organization in order to enhance the experience of the customers and ease the

processes of the banking system (Salami and Ajitoni, 2016). RPA is one of the initiative of

digital transformation in the banking sector which dramatically streamline the banking

processes by shifting the manual tasks to the automation that significantly reduced the human
errors and eased the access to the banking activities (Anagnoste, 2017). The RPA strategy in

banking organizations are based on four priorities namely, reinventing the journey of the

customers, leveraging the power of data, redefining the operating models of banking systems

and hence building a digital driven organization (Crosby et al., 2017).

1.2 Overview of SunTrust Bank

SunTrust Bank is an American bank headquartered at SunTrust Plaza, Atlanta, Georgia in the

U.S, and serves the South-eastern area of the United States. The bank was founded in the year

1891 with the purpose of providing financial services. The bank operates more than fourteen

hundred branches and twenty-two hundred ATMs in the south-eastern part of US and

Washington DC. The bank provides services like accepting deposits, providing loans, credit

cards and other investment related services and has also indulged itself in providing the

services of investment and corporate banking, wealth management and mortgage banking

(suntrust.com, 2019).

1.3 Rationale

A revolution in the process of automation in business is backed by robotic process

automation (RPA) which aims at freeing up time for other tasks for the corporate workers and

making them available for other high-value activities (Suri, Elia and Hillegersberg, 2017).

RPA is regarded as a technological application which is supported by business logic and

structured in such a way that, it can automate the process of business (Cuesta et al., 2015).

The application of RPA enables the organizations to enhance the accuracy by reducing

human errors. It also creates the ability to reduce the expenditures related to the human

resources of the organization.  RPA has gained popularity in the banking sector in recent

years (Westin and Plaga, 2018). The banking industry is implementing the application of
RPA in its various processes in order to enhance their profit margins, along increasing the

level of customer satisfaction. The application of RPA is cost effective and quick in terms of

return on investment (Cortet et al., 2016). The tedious and voluminous tasks of the banking

sector are performed by RPA in order to enhance the accuracy level because the bank deals

with crucial data of customers which needs accuracy, manual operations in this context are

prone to errors. The application of RPA in the banking industry is considered as the proxy for

the manual workforce of the bank as well as the customer service (Mathu, 2017).

The reason for conducting this research is that it should provide a vivid information and

knowledge related to the RPA application in banking industry and how it has impacted the

customers in the banking sector. In addition to that, this research will provide an insight

regarding the perception of the customers for the implementation of RPA in banking industry

(Westerman et al., 2014).

1.4 Research Aim

The study aims to analyse the perception of people about robot advisors in the banking sector.

1.5 Research Objectives

The research objectives are as follows:

 To identify the need for RPA in the banking industry

 To examine the integration of RPA in banks and its stability

 To assess the impact of RPA on consumers and understand the opportunity of such

implementation

 To understand consumers’ perception of RPA

1.6 Research Questions

The research questions are as follows:

1. Research RPA and how it is changing the banking processes?

2. Examine the underutilisation and opportunities for RPA in the banking sector.

3. Examine how RPA is helping the consumers in banking services and the risks

involved?

4. Investigate the steps taken by the concerned industry to revolutionise the Robotics

Program?

1.7 Structure of the Dissertation

This paper contains a chapter of literature review which deals with the insights of noted

authors and surveys based on the research topic. The research methodology chapter deals

with the methods of collecting data followed by the chapter of data analysis which analyses

the results from the data collection. The discussion and evaluation chapter deals with the

interpretation of data and evaluation of the qualitative research. The final chapter is

conclusion and recommendation which deals with the linking of the objectives and

conclusion along with the recommendations and discussion of the limitation of the study.

1.8 Summary

The chapter thoroughly discussed the need and story of the robotic process automation in the

banking sector. Also, it presents the selected aims and objectives for conducting the study by

the learner which will guide the dissertation. The rationale of the study is also discussed in

this chapter in order to provide a vivid knowledge about the research topic.
Chapter 2- Literature Review

2.0 Introduction

This chapter presents the perception of people worldwide about the robot advisor in the

banking industry. The study equally focuses on the integration of RPA in the banking

industry and its impact on the customers. In addition to this, this chapter would provide the

reader with vivid information related to robotic process automation and its impact on the

banking industry.

2.1 Robotic Process Automation [RPA]

According to Kumar and Balaramachandran (2018), Robotic process automation is

considered as an applied technology that imitates the manual workforce with an aim of

automating the work process by maintaining the cost-effectiveness and efficiency in the

tasks. According to noted scholars, RPA is considered as a form of solution software that is

configured in a way that the tedious operational activities of the businesses are carried out

smoothly by apprehending, interpreting and cooperating the activities of the prevailing

applications and business processes (Aguirre and Rodriguez, 2017). The RPA software acts

as a virtual workforce in the organization, it reduces the intervention of manual workforce.

In order to sustain in this dynamic business environment, organizations are searching for the

effective means which can ensure the high margins, improved performance along with the

quality and cost efficiency (Lacity and Willcocks, 2017). RPA focuses on these challenges

effectively and hence, provides the way-outs to handle the challenges.

RAC is a UK based company providing car insurance services. They implemented RPA in

their business processes to deal with back-office operations effectively to reduce management

expenses. For this, RAC assigned a vendor of RPA. They built a total of ten processes, four

processes were for the back office and the rest were for the strategic platform. The four
automation process of back-office operations saved the labour of seven manual workers. The

automation process minimized the need for manual operational staffs for handling the back

office activities and as a result of that, their profit margin increased. The automation process

in the business enabled RAC to meet the criteria and expectations of the customers (Aalst et

al., 2018).

2.2 Opportunities of RPA in Banking

RPA is considered as a strategic priority in the banking sector because it ensures

enhancement in the profit margin while enabling the banks to maintain their competitive

advantage. According to Laurent et al., (2015), the primary advantage of implementing RPA

is to improve the efficiency and accuracy, reduce the cost of operation, serve the customers

continuously, and automate the business routines. RPA focuses on different aspects, right

from customer service, followed by compliance, collection process, accounts payable and

receivable process along with the fraud detection and many more. According to Barnett

(2015), the banking professionals have struggled to maintain the performance effectively at

minimum cost but still faced problems in the terms of accuracy. In order to deal with that, the

banking professionals embraced certain process applications and methodology which

increased the cost of operations. In contrast to that, RPA focuses on the simple functions but

on a wider prospect and covers every aspect of the business.

One of the major opportunity of implementing the technology of RPA in this sector is that,

the tools and applications of RPA are user-friendly. The goal of RPA application is to create

a simple user interface. According to a noted scholar, the application of RPA is not utilized

by the banks in providing advisory services like investment banking (Lacity et al., 2015). The

banking sector still has to rely on the manual workforce for such services. The Bank of New

York Mellon (BNY) is an American based bank which implemented RPA application in the
year of 2016 and 2017 by introducing two fifty RPA bots. The BNY bots are utilized by the

bank to streamline the process of trade settlement which had benefited the bank by enhancing

the process timings of transactions by 88 per cent (Peters, 2017.

2.3 Impact of RPA in banking industry

In this era of digital transformation, banking organizations are the early adopters of RPA

technology. The banking organizations are deploying RPA applications in their credit

underwriting activities which directly affects the retail credit assessment and fraud prevention

(Asatiani and Penttinen, 2016). RPA evaluates the retail credit assessment by checking

thoroughly the incomes, expenditures and exposures of the customers from the database and

then accordingly, posts it for the purpose of credit analysis in the report. RPA applications

also ensure fraud detection by checking the internal as well as the external databases in order

to accumulate clues related to some sceptical activities regarding the clients (David, 2015).

According to recent studies, there is a strict relationship between RPA of the banking sector

and unemployment (Vishnu et al., 2017). The application of RPA tools completely acts as a

substitution for manual labour. A contrasting view is shared by noted scholars, that the

automated systems in the banking industry need strong support and manual intervention for

the operation of the RPA software. High skills jobs in the banking sector, like advisory roles,

policy formulations and many more will persist in the economy but the low skilled jobs of

banking organizations will turn obsolete due to the implementation of the RPA (Dirican,

2015). In other words, it can be said that the implementation of RPA in the banking sector

will benefit the banking organizations and the high skilled employees too, but will side-line

the low skilled employees (Willcocks et al., 2015).

Nevertheless, the technology of RPA is still in the stage of infancy and is considered

incapable to perform the regulatory and supervisory roles in the banking sector. BB&T
Corporation is the US-based bank holding company which implemented RPA in the business

process for the purpose of improving operational efficiency. The annual report of the bank

states, it invested $50 million in fintech companies for digitalizing their services (Moniz and

Krings, 2016).

2.4 Integration of RPA in Banking Industry

The banking organisations globally, consider the integration of RPA in order to minimize

manual errors. RPA bots ensures the reduction of cost (processing) by 30% to 70%. RPA in

can automate several manual processes and hence, can free up the skilled workforce for more

essential tasks (Ford, 2015).

Customer Service: Banks deal with various queries ranging from account related information

to balance related queries and resolving the queries in low turnaround time is considered as a

major challenge for bank employees. RPA, along with artificial intelligence, can resolve the

queries of the customers with the help of RPA software like Chatbot and NLP. This software

can resolve the issues and queries of the customers through chatting in the vernacular

language.

Compliance: According to a survey of Accenture in 2016, more than 70 per cent of the

respondent agreed that RPA is capable for compliance process hence the usage of the

application in the banking sector enhances productivity along with the improved quality of

compliance procedure (Zaitseva, Buryakov, and Gornostaeva, 2014).

Accounts Payable: The RPA tool Optical Character Recognition (OCR) can translate the

vendor related information from the digital copy of the form, update the information in the

RPA system and validate the same as well. RPA, in cases of any non-clearance, can inform

the executives for resolving the issue (Lacity and Willcocks, 2017).
Credit Card Processing: RPA can process the credit card application within a few hours as

the software multitasks and can ensure the validation of the documents, background checks

and other allied checks. Based on retrieved information, the software opts to accept or reject

the application (Dapp, Slomka and Hoffmann,  2015).

KAS is an Amsterdam based bank, which in the year of 2016, implemented RPA in its

business processes. The RPA bots of the bank mainly concentrated on the copy-paste

activities at scale. As per the annual report of 2017, the bank implemented RPA in more than

fifteen processes which benefited the business of the organization by reducing the cost and

improving the performance in the terms of service quality (West,  2015).

2.5 Impact of RPA on Banking Consumers

According to Freeman (2015), implementation of RPA in banking organizations impacted the

customers the most because they are considered as the end-users of the services. The

customers of the banking sectors support the digitalization of the financial services because

this enhances their satisfaction levels by directly resolving the queries raised by them ranging

from the status of application to the transfer of payments. RPA software interacts with the

customers in vernacular language and accordingly, resolves their issues. The banking

organizations can meet the expectations of the customers by implementing the robotic

process automation.

A contrasting view is shared by some noted scholars, they point out that privacy and security

are more important factors that can influence the experience of the customers (Wisskirchen et

al., 2017). Customers of the banking organization perceive that, the complete automation of

the banking services can hamper their privacy, as; using RPA, the system cannot utilize

human intelligence and completely rely on artificial intelligence. Nevertheless, the customers

of the banking sector are looking for RPA chatbots and facial recognition security because
these applications of automation reduce fraud and social threat (Villaronga, 2015). Danske

bank, which is headquartered at Denmark, implemented the RPA in the year of 2016. The

implementation of RPA focused on the automation of the customer account processes. The

bank successfully automated the process of customer handling.

2.6 RPA in SunTrust Bank

SunTrust Bank implemented RPA to eliminate tedious manual tasks. Their motive was to free

up the workforce of the organization so that, they could concentrate more on other value-

added tasks. In the year of 2016, SunTrust Bank formed an Information Technology team for

the deployment of RPA. The organization enacted PEGA ROBOTIC DESKTOP

AUTOMATION (RDA) in the operational areas of the bank, such as customer bank card,

wire and ACH. Other operating areas were also included, such as the mortgage, treasury

implementations, wholesale lending and image services. The robotic automation of SunTrust

Bank augmented workforce intelligence, the desktop activities connected to the cloud-based

analytics, built necessary insights about the technology, processes and people. The RDA

enabled the organization to improve the experience of the employees as well as their

customers.

SunTrust Bank engaged the employees in casual conversation, communicating the success

stories and serving the customers. It plans for further implementation of RPA in the payment

and lending activities, tech deliveries and business process maturity segments. The bank

benefited from the implementation of RPA in the context of annual savings, error rate

improvement, transaction speed improvement, SLA improvement and training time

improvement (suntrust.com, 2019).

2.7 Conceptual Framework

Enhanced service
quality through RPA
application

Less turnaround time;

fast service

Perception of the
customers of
Reduction of manual banking sector
errors; increased
accuracy regarding the
implementation of
RPA in banking
organization
RPA resolves the
queries in minutes

Reduced fraudulent
activities with the usage
of RPA tools

Lack of human
touch

Security and privacy

issue
2.8 Research Gap

In the beginning researches on this topic, it is noticed that the authors did not promptly

specify the perception of the customers on the automation of the core processes in the

banking organisations. The current research has covered this literature gap. Moreover the

current research also underpinned the factors of RPA that are affecting the customers.

2.9 Summary

From the above study, it has been summarized that the application of RPA has benefited the

business process automation. The study encompasses various aspects of RPA which benefited

the banking industry in the process of automation. Additionally, it also has provided the

application of RPA in SunTrust Bank. Along with this, the study has highlighted the impact

of RPA on the banking customers and their perception.

Chapter – 3 Research Methodology

3.0 Introduction

According to Bernard (2011), research methodology is considered as a procedure that is

conducted by the learner in order to concentrate on the research problem that has been

discussed in previous chapter of the dissertation. This chapter on research methodology of

this dissertation presents the research philosophy adopted by the learner, the research

approach along with the research design, followed by the research process and method. This

chapter also includes sampling techniques and ethical considerations along with the research

timeline.

3.1 Philosophy of the Research and its Justification

Research philosophy is considered as a belief through which, the data for conducting the

research are collected, analysed and utilized. The main purpose of research philosophy is to

understand the rationalizations for the formation of the research paper. Various research

philosophies exist, but the most commonly used philosophies are Ontology, Epistemology

and Pragmatism (Quinlan et al., 2019). Ontology is considered as a philosophical concept that

is directly linked with the society and aims at defining the relationship between the social

facts and other factors that exists in the society. The philosophy is further divided into two

parts namely, Objectivism and Subjectivism. Objectivism is considered as a communal

phenomenon that links the uncontrollable external realities. Subjectivism on other hand

considered as social phenomena that are based on the perceptions and actions of affected

area. Epistemology philosophy aims at the originality and validity of theoretical knowledge

which and the philosophy comprises with two factors namely Positivism and Interpretivism

(Alvesson and Sköldberg, 2017). Positivism is referred as a philosophical theory which aims

to determine the relationship between the natural phenomena and their factors. Interpretivism
focuses on the interdependency between the learner and research in order to understand the

depth of the knowledge. Pragmatism focuses on the alignment of philosophical concepts

along with the research objectives and aims.

Justification:

The learner has selected PRAGMATISM research philosophy because the reality is stable

and the philosophical concepts can be linked with the objectives and aims of the research.

This theory is used by the learner while conducting this research which is considered as a

practical and current issue.

3.2 Approach of the Research and its Justification

The research process can be defined as a procedure that aims at explaining the detailed

methods of collecting the data as well as analysing the collected data. In other words, it can

be said that the research approach aims at addressing the research problem. The research

approach can be further divided into two groups namely Inductive and Deductive. Inductive

research approach aims at building theory starting from observations and ends at the

establishment of the new insights regarding the research topic (Walliman, 2017). The bottom

– up approach is followed in this research approach as it starts with a conclusion. On the

other hand, Deductive research approach can be described as the fundamental form of

research approach which follows top – down approach that is in other words it can be said

that the research approach starts from the premises that is based on the facts and truths. The

research approach first understand the existing theory thereafter frame hypothesis or research

questions, followed by observing the whole process and then confirming the research.
Justification:

Deductive research approach is suitable for this particular research because the approach is

more scientific and practical as compared to the inductive research approach. Moreover the

learner follows the top – down approach for conducting this research.

3.3 Design of the Research and its Justification

The research design can be defined as a strategy based on which the entire research is

conducted. In other words, research design is a procedure that is considered by the learner

while addressing the research questions accurately and vividly (Vagle, 2018). Research

design can be segmented as Exploratory research design and Conclusive research design. The

explanation of the research design is summarized in the table.

Table 3.0.1 Design of Research, created by learner
Basis Exploratory Research Design Conclusive Research Design
1. Meaning The research is conducted for The conclusive research design

the identification of the can be defined as exploring

problem with transparency. and explaining a situation.

2. Objective The main objective of this The basic objective of the

research design is to uncover conclusive research design is to

the insights of the learner. identify and explain the roles

and functions of the research

topic.
3. Characteristics The research design is user The conclusive research design

friendly and structured. is very particular and rigid in

nature and is unstructured.

4. Sampling techniques The sampling techniques under The probability sampling

this research design is non- techniques are used under this

probability sampling. research design.

Justification:

The learner has selected the Conclusive Research Design as the research design will be able

to explore the study which is based on the primary research as well as secondary research.

This research design ensures that the learner can clearly conclude the understanding of the

research topic.

3.4 Research Process

Research process is considered as the procedure of identifying, discovering, evaluating and

analysing the data that support the research objectives (Patten and Newhart, 2017). Certain

steps of research process are discussed below in the following points:

 Determining the research topic for the dissertation by identifying the problem.

 Constructing research aim and objectives

 Carrying out the literature review based on the research topic.

 Choosing the data collection methods.

 Acquiring data through primary research.

 Analysing the collected data for drawing inferences.

 Drawing conclusion from the research and establishing new insight from that.

3.5 Research Method

Research method can be defined as the procedure of collecting data and information,

measuring and summarizing data and finally analysing those information or data by various

methods. The research method can be divided into parts namely Primary Research Method

and Secondary Research Method.

3.5.1 Primary Research Method [Quantitative]

Primary research method refers to the collection of first-hand information which has not been

collected by any other learner (Leavy, 2017). The sources of collecting primary data are

surveys, interviews, observations, experiments, case studies. In this particular research, the

learner conducted primary research by circulating the survey questionnaire through e-mail,

blog post and over social media like Facebook post.

3.5.2 Secondary Research Method [Qualitative]

Secondary research method can be defined as collection of data which already exists. The

learner collects the existing or past data through this method as this ensures the quick and

easy process. The two main advantages of collecting secondary data are inexpensive and less

time consuming (Lhuer, 2016). The sources of collecting secondary data are government

websites, scholarly articles, books, journals. In this particular research, the learner conducted

an interview to the managers of banking organizations which already implemented RPA

application.

3.5.3 Research Hypothesis

In general, a hypothesis statement can be defined as the statement of claim for a research

project. There are two types of hypothesis statements such as null hypothesis and alternative

hypothesis. Statistical tests are performed for performing the hypothesis tests. Following are

different hypothesis for this research project:

Customer Perception towards Robotic Process Automation in Business:

H0: Robotic Process Automation has not influence over the perception of customers towards

quality of banking services

H1: Robotic Process Automation has influenced the perception of customers towards quality

of banking services
Satisfaction with Banking Services:

H0: Robotic Process Automation does not lead to customer satisfaction in banking sector

H1: Robotic Process Automation leads to customer satisfaction in banking sector

Improvement in Banking Service:

H0: There is no role of Robotic Process Automation in the improvement of quality and speed

of banking services ion banking sector

H1: Robotic Process Automation is highly effective contributed in improvement of quality

and speed of banking services ion banking sector

3.6 Population and Sampling

Sampling is considered as the most important element in conducting a research as it aims to

identifying the accuracy in the survey result. If anything wrong happens in this step then the

final result get distorted. There are sampling techniques that aims at gathering the samples for

the research. There are usually two types of sampling techniques followed, namely;

Probability sampling techniques and Non-Probability Sampling techniques. Probability

sampling refers to the sampling techniques in which the sample are selected from population

following the probability theory that each individual has equal chances of getting selected

(Brannen, 2017). Simple random sampling, stratified random sampling, systematic random

sampling and cluster sampling are types of probability sampling. Non – Probability Sampling

can be defined as a sampling techniques wherein the individuals does not get the equal

chance. The various types of non-probability sampling techniques are convenience sampling,

consecutive sampling, quota sampling, judgemental sampling, snowball sampling.

Justification:
The sample size for this particular research is 100 and probability sampling technique will be

used for this research, it ensures equal chances of being selected. Random sampling

technique is chosen by the learner from the different categories of probability sampling

techniques.

3.7 Ethical Considerations

This research work guarantees that all the research work has been accomplished as per the

understandings of moral foundation. While conducting the research processed the learner has

keenly observed and followed the ethical issues related to the research process. The Data

Protection Act 2001 this act ensures that it is the legal duty of the researchers to keep the

collected information safely so as to safeguard the interest of the participants. It is the

responsibility of the learner to not to provide unauthorized access to anyone for the details

provided by the participants (Krippendorff, 2018). Equality Act 2010 is considered by the

learner because it ensures protection from discrimination while conducting the survey

irrespective of age, gender and economic and social status.

3.8 Gantt Chart

Table 3.2 Gantt Chart for the study, created by learner

Components of Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6

the research
Identifying and

selecting

research topic
Determining

the scope of the

research
Conducting the

literature

review and

other aspects of

research

methodology
Conducting the

research
Collection and

analysis of data
Project

completion and

documentation

3.9 Summary

From the above chapter, it can be summarized that the learner has followed Pragmatism

research philosophy, along with deductive research approach for this study. The learner

adopted the conclusive research design and hence, considered both primary and secondary
research methods followed by probability sampling techniques. The learner also considered

ethical consideration and followed Data Protection Act, 2001 and Equality Act 2010. Gantt

chart has also been provided by the learner in this chapter.

Chapter – 4 Analysis and Results or Findings

4.0 Introduction

This chapter focuses upon the results and outcomes of the research that are performed within

the customers of banking sector. This helps to identify the results based upon the perception

of the customers on the implementation of RPA in banking sector which has been done by

conducting a T-Test on SPSS on the selected hypothesis.

4.1 Data Analysis

In this present case, the survey is conducted upon the customers of the banking organizations

in order to understand their perception regarding the implementation of RPA in banking

sector. (refer Appendix 1A & 1B for analysis).

4.2 Descriptive Analysis

The Descriptive Analysis of the respondents for the demographics section, done on SPSS,

have been attached in Appendix 1-C.

4.3 T-test:

Hypothesis 1:

H0: Robotic Process Automation has no influence over the perception of customers towards

quality of banking services

H1: Robotic Process Automation has influenced the perception of customers towards quality

of banking services

Hypothesis 2:

H0: Robotic Process Automation does not lead to customer satisfaction in banking sector

H2: Robotic Process Automation leads to customer satisfaction in banking sector

Hypothesis 3:

H0: There is no role of Robotic Process Automation in the improvement of quality and speed

of banking services ion banking sector

H3: Robotic Process Automation is highly effective contributed in improvement of quality

and speed of banking services in banking sector

The tables above are interpretation done on SPSS. The results show that the p-value is 0.00 in

all cases. The above 3 factors, How far do you agree that loan processing time has decreased

over time with automation?, What difficulty do you face in banking?, How far do you agree

that implementing RPA has made transactions safe and secure? Directly impact the

perception of the customers towards quality of banking services and with the p-value , it

indicates that the null hypothesis is rejected. Which also means that H1: Robotic Process

Automation has influenced the perception of customers towards quality of banking services,

H2: Robotic Process Automation leads to customer satisfaction in banking sector holds true.

This also indicates that there is significant inter relationship between customer’s perception

towards quality services provided by any bank as well as customer satisfaction in banking

and the factors such as loan processing time, difficulty faced by customers in banking and the

customers’ thinking that RPA has made their transactions safe and secure. When the

responses to these queries are run on SPSS, the p-value always comes back as 0.00. Hence

there is strong interrelationship and this makes the hypothesis true.

The above SPSS analysis shows that p value is again holding true for the factors, - How

strongly do you agree that RPA can minimise employment opportunity? How far do you

agree that RPA has eased consumer access to banking features? What are the risks involved

in RPA for consumers?. This indicates that H2: Robotic Process Automation leads to

customer satisfaction in banking sector and H3: Robotic Process Automation is highly
effective contributed in improvement of quality and speed of banking services in banking

sector, both hold true and that their null hypothesis is also rejected.

This also indicates that there is strong interrelationship between factors reflecting customer’s

interpretation of the effects of RPA, such as, if employment could be reduced because of

usage of RPA in banking sector, if the customers think that RPA usage in banks are easing

their transactions they usually have with banks while accessing banking features and also if

they think that there could be any potential of threat with them opting for RPA enabled

banking. They affect the hypothesis created - Robotic Process Automation leads to customer

satisfaction in banking sector and Robotic Process Automation is highly effective contributed

in improvement of quality and speed of banking services in banking sector positively. With

increased amalgamation of RPA into banking transactions conducted by consumers, they do

indeed are thinking of their safety but the ease of access of banking features, lesser wait

times, education by banks to their consumers that how safe the transactions would be now

with implementation of RPA in their banks are removing doubts in customers. They are no

longer thinking of it as a hassle, rather; they are welcoming the newer features and the speedy

delivery of services and taking it positively.

4.2 Summary

This chapter summarizes the outcomes and findings from the primary research that has been

conducted on the banking customers in order to know their perception regarding the

implementation of RPA in various processes of the banking organizations. On SPSS, a T-Test

was conducted for factors - How far do you agree that loan processing time has decreased

over time with automation?, What difficulty do you face in banking?, How far do you agree

that implementing RPA has made transactions safe and secure? How strongly do you agree

that RPA can minimise employment opportunity? How far do you agree that RPA has eased

consumer access to banking features? What are the risks involved in RPA for consumers?. 6
hypotheses were tested against the factors. The hypothesis were - H0: Robotic Process

Automation has no influence over the perception of customers towards quality of banking

services, H1: Robotic Process Automation has influenced the perception of customers

towards quality of banking services, H0: Robotic Process Automation does not lead to

customer satisfaction in banking sector, H2: Robotic Process Automation leads to customer

satisfaction in banking sector, H0: There is no role of Robotic Process Automation in the

improvement of quality and speed of banking services ion banking sector, H3: Robotic

Process Automation is highly effective contributed in improvement of quality and speed of

banking services in banking sector.

The results of the T-test indicated that all the three null hypothesis could be rejected and that

H1: Robotic Process Automation has influenced the perception of customers towards quality

of banking services, held true. Also, H2: Robotic Process Automation leads to customer

satisfaction in banking sector, held true and lastly, H3: Robotic Process Automation is highly

effective contributed in improvement of quality and speed of banking services in banking

sector, also held true.

Chapter – 5 Discussions and Evaluation

5.0 Introduction

This chapter focuses upon the discussion about the qualitative research (Refer Appendix 2)

that has been conducted by the learner by interviewing the bank managers of some reputed

banks which had implemented RPA in their business system. This chapter highlights the

insights and perception of the bank managers regarding the implementation of RPA in

banking industry. This qualitative research enables the learner and the reader to gain vivid

information and idea about the perception of the customers regarding the implementation of

RPA. In this chapter, the learner presents the knowledge gained from interviewing five bank

managers from different organizations on RPA or about to implement the automated system

in their organization. Their views are point of discussion in this chapter.

5.1 Data Interpretation and Analysis

5.1.1 In response to the first question, Manager A stated that due to the increase in the usage

of technologies like smartphones, internet, robotic technology and many more, the

digitalization and automation process of banking sector has become unavoidable in order to

meet the customer’s expectations. According to Manager C, digitalization in banking sector

implies the conversion of human intelligence into artificial intelligence and RPA plays a

pivotal role in this conversion. According to a manager, RPA is considered as silver bullet

for bringing in digitalization in the banking sector. RPA supported many global banks for the

implementation of digitalization in the specific area of their organization. The banks are

testing and trying out RPA pilot projects to begin their digital journey. The pilot projects of

RPA helped the management of the banking organizations to convince the customers as well

as the senior management to support digitalization in certain areas of banking processes.

While conducting the interview Manager D stated that there are certain business units of
banking organization wherein the running cost is considerably high, the digitalization

initiative through RPA tools considerably helped the organization to reduce the cost of

operation. Manager B states that, digitalizing the simple processes of banking organization

(back office operations, application processes) through RPA tools are considered as

beneficial because this free up the employees for high skilled and analytical tasks. The view

of Manager E was similar to all the managers in this particular question.

5.1.2 In response to this interview question, Manager B stated that RPA is successfully

implemented in many core areas of banking especially the front and back office operations.

RPA software also serves the customers by resolving their queries and address their issues in

less turnaround time. According to Manager A, the main reason for implementation of such

automated process in his organization is the rising numbers of fake and fraud cases. The core

area of banking process is transaction and RPA software uses the method of “if - then” in

order to identify fraud transactions. The automated system identifies the account which is

indulged with multiple transactions within short span of time and then accordingly flag the

account to help the organization to identify the fraudulent activity. In this interview question,

Manager E stated that RPA is also used in the account opening and closing process that is

the automated system is configured in such a way that it can verify the documents of the

customers and can open the account on behalf of the customer with successful compliance of

KYC. The system also send automatic remainders to the customers for account closure due to

the failure in compliance with KYC process. Manager C and D, in response to this interview

question responded in same way that, the application of RPA is used in the mortgage process

because the automated system completes the whole process in less turnaround time.

5.1.3 In response to this interview question, Manager A and E responded that their

organization uses RPA tool named Blue Prism that successfully connect the Artificial

Intelligence and machine learning in order to analyse human sentiment for resolving their
queries. The tool supports vernacular languages and thus enables the customers to interact

with the system. This RPA tool is used by the banking organizations to deal with front office

operations. According to Manager B and D, their organization uses the RPA tool named

UiPath which is a rich featured software that enables the banking organization to evaluate the

retail credit and hence detects the retail credit frauds. Manager C stated that his organization

rely on RPA bots for trading activities because this automated bots enable the organization to

deal with rule based process.

5.1.4 In response to this interview question, Manager A stated that the RPA application

positively impacted the customer’s experience because in this era of digitalization the

customers prefers automation in services. The application of RPA also reduced the manual

errors in the process with low turnaround time for loan and credit card process. On other hand

a contrasting view is shared by Manager E that though the application of RPA enhanced the

satisfaction level of some customers, there are some customers who are not satisfied with the

automation in resolving the queries because it lacks human touch and intelligence. Manager

C shared that the customers of his organizations are not satisfied with such automation in the

trading activities because according to them this automation can hamper their privacy and

security. Manager B stated that RPA application is adopted by the customers of his

organization positively because the software reduces the turnaround time and also limited the

fraudulent activities. According to Manager D, RPA benefited the customers by providing

convenience and transparency and thus saves their time. The application of RPA has reduced

the manual error and this enhanced the customer loyalty towards the organization.

5.2 Summary

From the above study, it has been summarised that the bank managers shared their

viewpoints and opinion regarding the implementation of RPA in the banking organization

and also shared the impact of such implementation on the customers of the banking industry.
The interviewed Managers also revealed the RPA tools that their organization uses in order to

digitalize the organizational process. The role of RPA in the digitalization of banking process

is also revealed by the bank managers in this interview.

Chapter – 6 – Conclusion, Limitation & Recommendation

6.0 Conclusion

As the research comes to a conclusion, it could be inferred that the technology of automation

in banking sector nowadays is playing a big role which directly impact the customers. In this

area, it can be considered that the banking organizations are increasingly heading towards

automation of the core process through the application of RPA technology. The RPA

technology has benefited the banking organizations in terms of reduction of operational cost,

accuracy and meeting the anticipations of the customers which in turn enhanced the

sustainability of the business. From the study it can be concluded that the customers of the

banking organizations are also benefited with such automation. The RPA has reduced the

turnaround time for loan application, credit card application and also enhanced the quality of

services. In addition to that the technology also resolves the queries raised by the customers.

Nevertheless, the customers are bothered about the security and privacy because according to

them RPA in some core process of banking organization can hamper the security. Hence,

human intervention in some core banking process is mandatory. The impact of RPA on the

customers varies from process to process and hence this blended perception of the customers

are considered as the outcome of the research.

6.1 Linking with the Objectives

Objective 1

RPA plays a vital role in the banking industry as it enhance the customer’s experience and

also maintains the operational efficiency by improving the organizational performance and

agility. RPA software can benefit the banking organizations by tracking the manual

operations and actions and replicating the same to perform the tedious and redundant rule

based tasks. This objective is linked with the “Robotic Process Automation”,
“Opportunities of RPA in banking” and “Impact of RPA in banking industry” part of

literature review which supports the fact that RPA has benefited banking organizations in

various ways. The objective is linked with the Data analysis part “How strongly do you

agree that technology has eased the banking process globally” which show that 36% of the

respondent strongly agreed that RPA technology has eased the banking process globally. The

objective is supported by the part of qualitative data analysis “How helpful has RPA been in

the digitalization of banking processes” wherein the bank managers supported the

digitalization process through the RPA application.

Objective 2

The integration of RPA applications with the banking core processes like customer services,

compliance, KYC process, accounts payable, accounts receivable, loan processing, credit

card facilities and many more are supported by the banking organizations. This objective is

linked with the “Integration of RPA in banking industry” part of the literature review which

states the integration of RPA with banking processes. The objective is also linked with the

Data analysis part “How far do you agree that loan processing time has decreased over time

with automation” wherein 40% of the respondent strongly agreed and “What features are

you aware of that has been integrated with RPA” wherein maximum respondent were aware

of automatic bill payment and checking account details. The objective is also supported by

qualitative data analysis “What are the core areas of banking which is successful with

RPA” and “What are the best tools of RPA that are utilised in banks” wherein the

managers revealed the processes that are integrated with the application and tools.

Objective 3

The customers support automation of some processes in the banking organization but they do

not support the automation of all the core processes, in that context the impact of RPA varies.
This objective is linked with “Impact of RPA on banking consumers” part of literature

review. The objective is also linked with the data analysis part “How far do you agree that

implementing RPA has made transactions safe and secure”, “How far do you agree that

RPA has eased consumer access to banking features” and “What are the risks involved in

RPA for consumers” wherein the participants responded in a different way. The objective is

supported by qualitative data analysis “How RPA has impacted the banking customers and

how you do think they perceived it” wherein the bank managers revealed a blended impact of

RPA on customers.

Objective 4

The customers perceive that RPA application is useful in some processes but automation in

the core processes can hamper their privacy and security. This objective is linked with

“Impact of RPA on banking customers” and “RPA in SunTrust Bank”. The data analysis

part “How far do you agree that RPA has eased consumer access to banking

features” ,“What are the risks involved in RPA for consumers”, “What facilities as a

consumer are you getting from RPA features” and “How strongly do you agree that RPA

features will help banking organisations” is linked with the objective. The objective is

supported by qualitative data analysis “How RPA has impacted the banking customers and

how you do think they perceived it”.

6.2 Recommendations

Recommendation 1: It is strongly recommended to the banking organizations before

implementation of RPA in core processes they should conduct an interactive session with the

potential customers in order to communicate the benefits of RPA in the banking organization.
Recommendation 2: The banking organizations before scouting for the tools of RPA or

vendors for RPA should consider the challenges in the journey of automation and then

accordingly should select the tools for RPA.

Recommendation 3: The banking organization should value the perception of the customers

and accordingly should automate the processes. In other words, the organizations should not

automate the core and sensitive processes in order to maintain the privacy and security of the

customers.

Recommendation 4: Rather than implementing RPA technologies in the front office

activities like dealing with the queries of the customers, the banking organizations should

implement RPA technology in back end processes which does not directly deal with the

customers.

6.3 Limitations and future scope of study

While conducting this study, the learner faced various problems like the respondents for the

primary research were not cooperative. The bank managers were not comfortable enough to

reveal information regarding the automated system of their organizations. The quantitative

and qualitative research was time taking and this time constraint is considered as one of the

limitation in this research. As the issue is current, so there is limited research on the topic and

it caused hindrance to conduct the secondary research.

The research could be furthered as an empirical study as, the research could cover the need

for implementation of RPA in banking organizations and also sheds light on the perception of

the customers regarding such implementation on a wider scale.