AI-powered process automation for financial services: live demo and Q&A

Ursula Cullen00:00

Hello everyone, Ursula Cullen here from FlowForma, and welcome to today's session: an interactive virtual demo and live Q&A with a financial services focus. The webinar is being recorded, and you'll get a copy of the recording afterwards. Your lines are muted, but please use the Q&A panel and reactions to keep it interactive.

Ursula Cullen00:51

We'll start by introducing FlowForma and sharing common financial services challenges and how a no-code process automation solution can tackle them. Then there's a live demo showcasing FlowForma AI Copilot, which can build the framework of a process in about 30 seconds. We'll close with a rapid-fire Q&A, so keep your questions coming.

Robbie Kane01:35

FlowForma is a global leader in enterprise-class digital process automation. It's designed for both business and IT teams, helping them quickly digitize processes, improve data collection and drive operational excellence. It's a good fit for midsize and large financial services firms that want their teams to digitize and optimize processes, however complex. Users create forms and workflows, generate documents and report, all in one platform.

Robbie Kane02:30

We have over 300,000 users worldwide. Our focus is making sure customers see value quickly: getting their first process up and running fast, with the goal of delivering real, measurable results within the first six weeks.

Ursula Cullen02:47

Robbie has seen companies digitize everything from simple to complex processes with FlowForma, and later David Shanley will demonstrate the tool. David works with organizations evaluating FlowForma to prove its value, and that's what he'll do for us today.

Robbie Kane03:32

From speaking with financial services organizations, we know the need for digital transformation is at an all-time high, as they look to process automation, AI and new technologies for efficiency, accuracy and compliance. Whether it's clients, suppliers or funds, onboarding can be slow and error-prone. Automating it streamlines workflows, reduces manual tasks and gives a faster, more consistent experience, and FlowForma can connect data from multiple systems into one source.

Robbie Kane04:17

Staying compliant with regulations like GDPR and DORA is non-negotiable, and keeping track of changing rules is daunting. A no-code solution like FlowForma makes it easier with built-in audit trails, so every process is traceable and you have a clear record of every action when you need to demonstrate compliance.

Robbie Kane04:52

Approval processes for credit, loans and authorizations are critical and can be cumbersome. AI-powered Copilot is a great way to create approval workflows tailored to your organization. And for firms working toward DORA, FlowForma streamlines incident and risk management workflows by simplifying how data is collected, prepared and presented within DORA's strict incident reporting timelines.

David Shanley05:55

First we'll look at how end users interact with FlowForma forms, using two examples: a non-conformance report and an onboarding form. We'll talk about how they're built and how that functionality applies across financial services use cases. Then we'll build an ICT incident management process from a structure Copilot suggested, watch a recording of a Copilot conversation, and finish in FlowForma Insights, our analytics tool.

David Shanley07:06

This is a SharePoint team site dashboard. FlowForma sits on SharePoint Online as part of Microsoft 365. If I click Regulatory Compliance, I see the forms that need my attention and tiles to start any form. Users don't have to work in an environment like this, though. They can click a link in an email and go straight to their form in a browser tab. There's also a mobile app for iOS and Android that works offline.

David Shanley08:15

The first process records issues: a non-conformance report. The step bar shows the stages: raise the issue, accept it, review the root cause, assign actions, then a final approval. Rules fire under the hood. If I say it's a supply chain issue, a hide/show rule displays the details question. All of it is applied with 100% no code from a single build interface.

David Shanley09:23

Here's a dynamic repeating table where I can add and remove rows, or use a fixed table if users shouldn't change the number of rows. Native SharePoint lists give the end user structured choices: pick a non-conformance area such as competence, and the next question only shows the categories that belong to it. I can also pick a procedure, which pulls the document straight from a document library.

David Shanley10:38

Question change rules give you dynamic content as the user fills in the form. Step-level rules fire the moment the user clicks submit, for example assigning the next step, generating a document or emailing the next owner. Here, submitting the first step generated a PDF.

David Shanley11:35

That's done with the FlowForma Word plug-in. You take any existing document template and place tokens where you want answers from the form. You can add DocuSign for an external signature, and business rules decide which sections appear, so sections that don't apply are stripped out and the document contracts to fit. The document can become a PDF, go to a document library you create dynamically, or be attached to emails.

David Shanley13:00

If the acceptance step owner rejects the issue and adds a comment, a pass-back rule sends it back to the first step with those comments shown read-only, so it can be fixed and resubmitted. I own every step here to move quickly; in reality, clicking submit just returns you to your dashboard.

David Shanley13:43

This kind of functionality suits plenty of processes, such as authorizations and approvals for loans or credit. Steps can be stripped out or added depending on the answers, so a loan above a certain amount can take a defined path through the organization.

David Shanley14:46

On the action step, I decide who owns each line item. These smaller step boxes run in parallel, so each owner works on their task at the same time. Under the hood, the information is written back to a native SharePoint list, out-of-the-box. Each owner only sees their own item, and once both submit, the form moves to the final approval step.

Ursula Cullen16:05

Sorry to interrupt, Dave. Someone is asking about document generation. Could you explain that a bit further?

David Shanley16:20

All you need is the FlowForma Word plug-in installed in your local version of Word. You take any document template you already have and populate it with content from the form it's created from. It's easy to use, flexible, and the document is specific to that form. That's very useful for things like contract management, which matters a lot in financial services.

David Shanley17:22

Next is an Engage form. Engage brings third parties into a process with either anonymous or secure access. The person only interacts with one step, through a form service. With anonymous access there's no FlowForma user overhead: you might have 500 internal users and 30,000 external parties, and the external people just get a URL with no credentials. That's useful for external complaints or customer and supplier onboarding.

David Shanley18:25

All of FlowForma's functionality is available in an Engage step. A rule concatenates the person's name, another asks what their language is if they choose Other, they can upload ID, and a validation rule stops them submitting if the two email addresses don't match. You capture their email because you can bring them back into the process at later steps.

David Shanley19:26

With secure access they're classed as FlowForma users and sign in with a Facebook, Google or Microsoft account. When I submit the anonymous form, the instance lands on the second step in my onboarding dashboard, with all the information from the first step pulled through.

David Shanley20:30

Now the build: an ICT incident management process. Here's the finished version first. The initial step is the incident report. Choose an affected area and only its items appear. I can describe the incident, upload and annotate a picture, set a color-coded severity, pick the incident type and the date and time, and a get list data rule pulls in previous incidents of the same type.

David Shanley22:22

On the initial assessment step there's an AI summarization that collates the answers from earlier questions into a summary, which is very useful in a long process. The assessor can request more information, which passes the form back, or mark it as a cyber attack, which brings in a cyber security incident response step. That's what we'll build.

David Shanley23:30

This is the flow designer. The left panel has your steps and their questions, the middle panel is where you configure steps, questions and business rules, and with form preview on, the right panel shows the form as you build it.

David Shanley24:05

Before the session I had a conversation with Copilot. I asked it to create all the steps in an ICT incident management process, including a cyber attack. It returned the steps and their questions, I asked it to add five questions to step one, and when I was happy I clicked Build, which created the framework. Without Copilot, I'd add the steps and questions myself in the middle panel.

David Shanley24:52

Now I change the questions. Reporter's name becomes a person or group question. On the roadmap, Copilot will also suggest question types and map them through. I add an area question that looks up a list of categories, then make the affected item look up a second list filtered by the chosen area. Severity becomes a visual choice: high in red, medium in orange, low in gray.

David Shanley27:27

Now some logic. The reporter's name is pulled in automatically, and a get list data rule on that question looks them up in an employee list and maps their department. If the incident type is Other, a hide/show rule asks what it is. It's 100% no code: drill down, pick the condition, and choose what to show.

David Shanley29:20

As I build, I can create test forms to check the result. The department fills in, the item list cascades from the area, and choosing Other shows the extra question. Copilot will also be able to read a form from another system or a process diagram you upload and use it to give you a framework.

David Shanley30:30

On the initial assessment step, I add a summary question and a feedback question, so the assessor can say whether they like the summary. Then a step-level summarization rule fires when the first step is submitted. I pick the input questions, such as reporter, department, area, system, description, severity and date, and output the summary to the second step.

David Shanley33:08

In the test form, submitting the incident report moves it to the next step, where the AI summary is waiting, and I can mark whether I like it.

David Shanley33:30

Next, a question on the second step: is more information needed? If yes, a hide/show rule shows a comments box. On the first step I add a hidden, read-only comments question. Then, at step level, a pass-back rule sends the form back to step one when more information is needed.

David Shanley35:43

It's not expression language, it's not low code, it's 100% no code. Using the same condition, a hide/show rule shows the comments on the first step, and a set question value rule copies the assessor's comments across. In the test form, the comments now appear on the first step for the reporter to address.

David Shanley37:00

Last, I change the second step's question to: is this a cyber attack? I add a dedicated cyber-attack response step, position it as step three, and hide it. A hide/show step rule on the trigger question shows it when the answer is yes. Say yes and the step appears; say no and it's gone. That's how quickly you can build.

David Shanley38:40

Here's a recording of a Copilot conversation. I started with nothing and asked which processes help with operational resilience in the finance sector. Within seconds it returned several areas, and I chose business continuity planning. I asked it to create all the steps and questions for that process, then to regenerate them with short question titles, and clicked Build.

David Shanley39:52

A lot of the time you won't have the process expertise in-house, or it's hard to track down, so having Copilot as a process expert alongside you is very beneficial.

David Shanley40:20

FlowForma Insights is our analytics tool. The real-time dashboard shows process performance, uptake among end users, who your super users are, and, importantly, which items are overdue and missing their service levels. The out-of-the-box reports are pre-built, so you just add them, and you can build your own charts from business data captured in the forms.

David Shanley42:50

You can drill down from a chart to a single form instance and, for example, delegate it to someone else. You can also build automatic reassignment into the process design: if nobody has touched a step after three days, it moves to the next available person, so you can load-balance the work.

Robbie Kane43:50

A large part of that process was built in under 40 minutes. Here are some of our financial services and insurance customers. Marsh created workflows for disaster recovery planning and application risk assessment. Aon focuses on onboarding, offboarding, insurance vetting, data access and GDPR requests, internal transfers, complaints and outages. Grant Thornton have seen a 60% efficiency gain by automating their job appraisals process, along with data access requests and client acceptance.

Robbie Kane45:06

We also offer a fully supported free trial, so you can prototype, build and deploy a process with guidance from our process specialists, prove the value of FlowForma, and build a business case with a working prototype. We activate the trial and agree success criteria, build the process together in co-development sessions, and then launch it.

Ursula Cullen46:57

Thank you both. Dave usually runs these demos over an hour or more, so that was a lot in a short time. Dave is available to show more specific financial services use cases, and Robbie can help you get started and build the case internally. Thanks for joining us today.