“We’re creating software robots to mimic what humans do [in mortgage lending]”, said Mark Davison, a partner at ISG, a technology research and advisory firm specializing in Robotic Process Automation (RPA).
Mortgage lending is just now moving into the digital age and it appears it may leap right into robotic processing and maybe artificial intelligence. Are you ready for this?
According to Mr. Davison, these robots have the capabilities to sign an application, make certain menu selections, make transactions, copy and paste information, and the ability to replicate current processes.
Automation being used today is mostly in back-end operations. The technology was developed to gather and process data and track information, with the ability to perform certain calculations and spit out forms.
To update such technology for a more robust process usually requires extensive reprogramming of existing legacy systems. Such updating is quite costly and time-consuming.
Not so with robots. RPA operates at the surface level, replicating what humans do.
The RPA robots are programmed by using existing screen capture technology, recording what a human would see and use for the task involved, and then mimic that function.
The RPA technology is designed to interact with, rather than replace, current LOS processes. As a result, it can be implemented much more quickly and is more cost efficient, providing immediate returns on investment.
As with just about anything, there’s a slight drawback. Although it is believed that RPA may be a subset of artificial intelligence and machine learning, it differs in one major way. RPA has the capability to replicate what humans do but it does not know, nor understand, why they do it.
RPA relies mainly on structure. Without certain inputs and information, it won’t work. Accordingly, systems need to ensure the data and information needed for the RPA to operate is available, present, and accurate so the proper actions may take place as expected.
So, I guess for now we’ll still need some people to ensure the robots are doing their jobs correctly. At least until such time as the robots can do that function as well.
The future will be here before you know it. When it happens, I sure hope we don’t get a visit from the Terminator…
Editor’s Note: Skynet is a fictional, neural net-based, conscious group mind, and artificial general intelligence system that features centrally in the Terminator franchise and serves as the franchise’s main antagonist.