Although many simple finance and lending-related processes may be easily managed with straightforward workflows, this industry often wrestles with complex tasks and highly variable processes that require case-by-case consideration and management.

Situational challenges, including the amount of unstructured data financial institutions may collect as part of financial processes, create unique obstacles for efficient internal operations. These companies face a greater need for collaboration, as well as software solutions that can offer this agile management framework.

Fortunately, modern decisioning software offers a solution. Intelligent business process automation tools, no-code flow design, and decisioning software can all be used to support financial case management—no matter how individualized or complex that process may be.

Here’s an overview of how to use decisioning software to support case management in the financial services industry.

1. Separate workflow processes from case management processes to understand where case management is needed.

Case management isn’t the right approach for every type of financial task or process. If you’re dealing with multi-step processes that are consistent and repeatable, such as guiding new hires through onboarding or processing applications for checking accounts, then workflows are more appropriate than case management.

But there are endless instances in which processes can be highly variable, data doesn’t fit neatly into form fields, and a one-size-fits-all approach just doesn’t work. Mortgage approvals is a great example. Because of the unique income backgrounds and existing liabilities for each borrower, as well as the loan amounts they may seek approval for, it is hard to apply a standardized structure to this process.

This is even more true when applying for small business loans, where the business model and other criteria can be highly unique and entirely unfamiliar to the lending institution.

In these situations, case management is the logical solution. You can build a case management flow that dedicates stages to collecting photos and other unstructured data. In addition, you can plan for a wide range of scenarios in which steps are completed out of order, or human interventions from adjusters and managers are used to modify the management of each case.

2. Create a case management model based on each use case.

Case management and workflows aren’t an either/or option when you’re using decisioning software. Instead, you can combine these processes within case management to ensure that certain steps follow a logical, repeatable process, while other stages provide the flexibility that case management offers.

This could involve using workflows to ensure proper document and information gathering on a loan request, as well as workflows to guide credit checks and other important tasks. Dispute resolution can use case management to handle each disagreement and guide the process toward an organized solution. The same goes for call center interactions, during which customers may have a wide range of requests or needs that include questions about fees and terms or new financial products.

Institutions can also incorporate case management in cases in which documentation and other steps are specific to the nature of the request. This is often the case when processing small business loans—especially for companies with an unorthodox structure or business model.

3. Outline the series of states and incorporate custom configurations.

In a decisioning software platform, users can quickly create multiple stages of case management in mere seconds. This provides the general infrastructure that will be used to guide tasks and actions that follow a less structured process.

Within the software platform, you can set up both automated and manual trigger actions and establish validation rules for each stage. Thanks to the ability to add activities to each specific state, organizations can manage each case regardless of its unique requirements. No matter how complex a case may be, decisioning software can bring order to the management process.

4. Quickly edit case management states as needs evolve.

Suppose a financial institution wants to create a new case management approach to account for a new type of business loan product being supported at the local government level. Drag-and-drop tools available in Decisions make it easy for finance professionals to create a new state in the case management cycle that accounts for the unique requirements of qualifying for that product, according to if/then logic.

Build the tools you need to succeed.

Nobody understands their technology needs as well as the professionals who use those technologies on a daily basis. That’s why Decisions offers no-code software to quickly create workflows and case management flows ad hoc, ensuring that our financial clients are able to build solutions to their most pressing problems.

Learn more about the benefits of Decisions by watching one of our recent webinars.