The pandemic brought out inefficiencies among many BFSI players, especially those sitting on fixed capacities and CAPEX-based models. To know more about the significant change and the opportunities in the BFSI sector, Mridul Sharma, Chief Operating Officer, Arka Fincap Limited, had an interaction with Shruti Jain of Elets News Network (ENN).
You hold over two decades of experience in the BFSI sector. What according to you is the biggest game changer in the operations domain?
In the operations domain, the key change in this period has been the digitisation of processes. This was a key step from the earlier progress in the 1990s when the basic transaction processing was digitised, the next decade saw the processes being digitised. This phase was characterised by the modernisation of paper-based processes to workflow/imagination-supported processing and the customer’s getting a lot of self-service
capabilities through the mobile/internet channels.
This change was pivotal to the transformation of the customer experience as earlier customers had to get servicing through physical visits and paper-based processing to the ones preferred today, i.e. digital channels-based servicing.
Another key change that I have seen is the use of a mobile phone as a personal banker. Gone are the days when we used to visit our bank branch for basic transactions. We live in an age where with the click of a button on our phone funds can be transferred, loans can be availed and all this in a seamless manner with no need for any paperwork.
You joined ARKA Fincap in 2019. What major developments in terms of OpenStack technologies have you undertaken?
ARKA was born in 2019 and given this timeframe, we made it clear to ourselves that we will act and function as per present digital- first times, and not be seeped in the past ways of functioning. The differentiation that we wanted to have in our set of solutions was to be
architecturally flexible to enable quicker product launches and be scalable to meet seasonal spurts in demand.
Arka is built on complete ‘low-code, no-code configuration-based cloud stacks. We have kept our technology agile and flexible by using low code platforms to make them user-friendly while our systems are focussed on augmenting product capabilities. We have used supported open stacks, be it in our API hubs or web gateways. We have ensured that open-source solutions are used in our onboarding platform to keep the technology cost minimum to sustain lower margins and higher returns to the shareholders.
Our in-built Loan Origination System (LOS) empowers all users with true insight into the organisation through an end-to-end integrated platform that spans across business products and combines customer onboarding, account opening, loan origination, workflow,
credit analysis, content management and instant reporting capabilities.
The pandemic brought in several significant changes in the BFSI sector. How do you see it as an opportunity in disguise for NBFCs?
As they say, the pandemic pushed forward the digitisation agenda for many companies across sectors. For us, no major change was required to switch to the digital mode as we had built our systems such that they were digital right from the start. Our processes were location-agnostic and were accessible to our employees and customers on their devices from anywhere.
The pandemic also brought out inefficiencies among many BFSI players, especially those sitting on fiXed capacities and CAPEX-based models. For our architecture, it was a proving ground since we had no fiXed costs, we could pivot fast and shut down selected operations if it was not required and save costs.
As a leader, how do you channelise technology in sync with operations capabilities for levelling-up client experience?
The ultimate focus for us, at Arka, is the client experience. We use the latest technology
to build customer focussed journeys and supporting processes so that we participate in the customer’s day-to-day life in an engaging and easy-to-use way, rather than the customer adapting to ours. So, for us, the effective use of technology is in building and delivering technology-backed ops which create value for our customers, our employees as well as our other stakeholders.
What were your learnings from 2022? How are you planning 2023 in sync with innovation?
In 2022, we started pressing the accelerator for the products, processes and distribution we had built in the first 3 years. This year we could see the model working in ways that we could easily change/alter our products and processes, change customer journeys and enable our digital partners, among others. We enabled this through the use of APIs ensuing split-second processing and response all of which was achieved at a very frugal Opex.
For 2023, the focus will be flexing this model further and bringing in constant changes as required to maximise impact and efficiency. We will focus on further automation in areas wherever required to remain agile and nimble as we scale up our business.
Elets The Banking and Finance Post Magazine has carved out a niche for itself in the crowded market with exclusive & unique content. Get in-depth insights on trend-setting innovations & transformation in the BFSI sector. Best offers for Print + Digital issues! Subscribe here➔ www.eletsonline.com/subscription/
