RPA is an automation technology that can be used to streamline a process. The widespread availability of this technology – coupled with ease of implementation – is driving accelerated adoption. Robotic Process Automation is forecast to grow by 33% per year through 2028. A big factor is the expectation that companies can cut costs with RPA.
What is RPA or Robotic Process Automation?
RPA is really just an automation technology that utilizes software robots, referred to as “bots” that often rely upon Artificial Intelligence (AI) to perform an assigned task. You see this every day when going to a website and being prompted if you have any questions by a popup box. Answers will be provided with links for the next steps based on what you type in the input box. RPA is designed to operate processes in the same way that a human would – but doing so without human interaction. The best success comes from applying this strategy to repetitive tasks.
For a more complete description of RPA, read this article: The Complete Guide to Robotic Process Automation.
How Committed is the Insurance Industry to RPA?
According to a Juniper Research report, insurers will spend $634 million on RPA solutions by 2024, reflecting a 245% increase. North America and Europe will lead RPA adoption, with over 30,000 insurance carriers or over 65% of the industry adopting this technology by 2024 (source).
This growth estimate is in alignment with other industry segments. According to Gartner, the RPA market is expected to grow at double-digit rates through 2024 despite economic pressures from COVID-19. Global Robotic Process Automation (RPA) software revenue was about $1.9 billion in 2021, an increase of 19.5% from 2020 (source). Gartner predicts that 90% of large global organizations will have adopted RPA in some form by the end of 2022.
How Can Title Insurance Companies Benefit from RPA?
There are many benefits this technology can provide to the Title Insurance industry. Some examples of how to cut costs with RPA include increasing the accuracy of how transactions are recorded, improving the standardization of business processes, and increasing employee productivity by avoiding the performance of repetitive, low-value tasks. Let’s take a closer look at three ways that RPA can cut costs.
1. Simplifying New Title Search Parameters
A standard amount of information must be collected with every title search. This data might include the property address, the borrower’s personal information, and a history of prior title transactions. In addition, other information must also be collected, verified, and reviewed. This process has traditionally been a labor-intensive, manual process. With RPA and intelligent process automation, input fields can be cross-referenced with other databases to auto-populate fields, quick check addresses with national directories, and even validate with prior customer transaction records.
Over time, the Artificial Intelligence or AI that is embedded in RPA could be assessing potential future issues. This could help avoid making mistakes that led to losses in the past. RPA can also help avoid inefficient use of internal research resources. This intelligence gathering would immediately begin once a new application or order is initiated, potentially avoiding fraud or other possible future losses.
2. Faster, More Accurate Data Extraction
Automated processes with embedded intelligence can positively impact the operating costs of a title Insurance firm. While the industry is steadily moving towards being “digital first,” there are still manual, paper-based processes. Optical Character Recognition or OCR is a technology that can recognize text within a digital scanned document or image. The challenge is that the OCR process is not perfect – nor will it ever be. Some characters will be misread, poor color contrasts may lead to incorrect translations, and other notations or content may get lost in translation.
Significant advances have occurred with the technology behind RPA or Intelligent Process Automation. These advances can have a dramatic impact on how data is identified, extracted, and aggregated. The Title Insurance industry is still quite paper-based, so these technologies can have a big impact on how information is collected, analyzed, and then distributed. Further, the data that is collected in this way carries with it greater value. It is contextualized to the source document that it was extracted. This information can help identify possible issues faster with greater accuracy, resulting in a more streamlined and accurate process.
Learn about Smart Data Extraction™, an Intelligent Data Processing service for the Real Estate and Title industries
Better Marketing Insights
Title Insurance companies that have implemented RPA and other digital automation tools can also benefit from faster, real-time visibility of business operations. Greater access to more accurate management reports has the potential to provide new insights into how new product launches are performing. This intelligence can have a big impact on understanding how well a new product introduction is performed while providing insights into future improvements. The digital infrastructure of automated processes also makes it easier and faster to adjust as needed. Combined, these factors will contribute to a reduction of costs when new processes or products are brought to market.
It makes sense why Title Insurance and other companies are making big investments to cut costs with RPA and other intelligent process automation strategies. An initial RPA project can be done quite quickly – often within a few weeks. Return on Investment can be recognized within a few months, helping to justify further expansion of the program. If you are looking for a trusted advisor who can be your partner for RPA, consider the Axis Technical Group team, which has been implementing these types of solutions for many years with a specialty focused on the Title Insurance and Real Estate industries.