Only 3 in 10 financial services use robotics: Blue Prism

Security and data privacy concerns affect RPA adoption.

There are a lot of unexplored opportunities for robotic process automation (RPA) in Singapore, Blue Prism, an intelligent automation company, revealed in its RPA in the APAC Financial Services Sector survey.

Only three in 10 (28%) of Singaporean financial services have used RPA solutions and technologies, against the Asia Pacific (APAC) average of 53%. Moreover, only 34% of business leaders indicated they were familiar with RPA, compared to the 71% regional average.

The top two challenges listed by respondents in implementing or deploying RPA programmes were security and data privacy concerns and identifying the right processes.

APAC Vice President of Financial Services Robert Dewar noted, "This report revealed the opportunity to further understand and encourage the adoption of RPA and Intelligent Automation solutions in Singapore's financial services sector. RPA implementation improves competitiveness for businesses as it drives business agility and resilience. Businesses must first understand this principle then put it into action. At Blue Prism, we are committed to partnering and supporting companies by providing enterprise-grade technology that augments workforce capabilities and enables companies to increase their productivity and efficiency."

Singapore also has the highest percentage of financial institutions that do not use any of the five disruptive technologies (artificial intelligence, business process management, machine learning, deep learning and predictive analytics) at 19% despite the country's investments and acceleration of digitalisation in the financial services sector.