Orchestration technologies… what are these?
If I check ChatGPT, it defines orchestration technology as: ‘The automated coordination, management, and integration of various tasks, systems, and processes within an organization’s workflow to achieve a specific business outcome’. Basically, it controls and oversees the execution of many complex, interdependent tasks across many different systems, applications, and environments to make sure they occur in the right order, at the right time, and with the proper resources.
The most important thing for me is the fact that workflow orchestration technology enables organisations to optimise their operations in huge ways. It’s more than just reducing or removing manual actions, it’s about connecting people and systems to streamline complex business processes that dramatically slash operating costs.
What does Orchestrator do?
Simply put, we take a web of different tasks and processes, automate them and connect them in a streamlined, STP workflow that minimises the need for manual intervention – saving you money in the process.
Others talk of workflow automation but Orchestrator goes further. It has been compared to having an upgraded central nervous system. It allows many-to-many interactions among multiple users, optimising the workflow pipe around teams and their members, and integrating seamlessly with third-party systems. It also tells you how you are doing in terms of SLAs or other targets.
Ultimately, it gets you to the stage where you can manage your transaction flow ‘by exception’ – in other words, everything else flows from one end of the sausage machine to the other without human intervention. It transforms productivity and your capacity to grow.
Even that is not the end of the story. By monitoring performance and measuring it against expected results at operation and business levels, you pave the way for continuous improvement.
Do I need to invest in my technology in order to accommodate Orchestrator?
No, not at all. We have purposely designed Orchestrator to integrate with any existing platform architecture, ensuring smooth data exchange and interoperability. Our powerful modelling technology allows you to customise your use of any platform to achieve repeatable, cost-effective outcomes.
We already use Bravura’s transfer agency administration application. How easy is it to add on Orchestrator?
Very. Orchestrator works exceptionally well in tandem with all of Bravura’s transfer agency applications. Direct access to core data does not require initial integration and data reconciliation.
What sort of firms can profit from using Orchestrator?
Any financial firm with significant transaction processing flows. We see our role as driving value throughout the financial services industry through helping firms improve their operating models.
Lots of different businesses – pension providers, wealth platforms, transfer agents – have achieved big savings in manual processing time using Orchestrator. It is bespoke and very customisable. Whatever your firm’s requirements, we can design and configure workflow processes to fit.
How easy is it to implement Orchestrator?
We do all the work. We start by mapping your existing workflow, calculating transaction volumes and the number of FTEs involved in order to assess the potential for savings. Orchestrator employs graphical process design, using industry-standard notation, to quickly identify core processes and reusable components to automate processes. We then create a tailored architecture design together with the required integration mechanisms.
Orchestrator comes with an established library of templates and actions that serve as the building blocks for transforming your business processes. There is no need to deploy code. We transition stage-by-stage to minimise any impact on your day-to-day operations. And with a growing collection of best practice solutions we can ensure that you upscale with Orchestrator as quickly and smoothly as possible.
How easy is it to integrate with other systems?
You could say integration is Bravura’s forte. Orchestrator integrates seamlessly with other systems using standard web services (SOAP, REST) and custom API wrappers, ensuring smooth data exchange and interoperability. We commonly integrate Orchestrator with third-party transfer agency, wealth management, tax and compliance systems. You can continue to draw on tools and services from best-of-breed suppliers. In short, Orchestrator can send commands to any application that has an API.
Can Orchestrator accommodate our legacy systems before we get around to replacing them?
Yes, we have the ability to connect systems of all kinds, allowing you to refocus on building out your new operating model without interrupting activities.
How does Orchestrator engage with the internal teams?
You can tailor workflows to meet your requirements. A user-friendly graphical interface allows you to manage the way your people perform their tasks and configure workspaces to fit your team’s structure. Work items can be delivered to a relevant team’s queue so all members can see the workload and expectations at the start of the day. Team leaders can assign individual items to specific individuals.
The number, priority and importance of items can be used to automatically allocate tasks and keep moving the process forward. Configurable user interfaces and task cards ensure that team members have all the relevant information and tools need to complete their tasks efficiently. You can also start or pause processes and Orchestrator provides support for exception handling within STP workflows.
Our web-based, user-friendly dashboards provide real-time reporting and automated SLA calculations.
What oversight do individual team members have over the workflow?
It all comes down to transparency and back-up where it matters. A configurable interface ensures people can see the full details of their tasks as well as the progress of other items. Orchestrator provides access to previous comments, documents and other open cases in relation to the client in question. It can display data from other systems, to-do lists and connections to other screens and applications.
Your team leaders can access real-time dashboards to help inform their decision-making, track the progress of work items and assess performance against SLAs and other targets.
Real-time reporting helps you monitor performance, identify bottlenecks and drive further improvement. Performance can be tracked at team and department levels.
How resilient is Orchestrator?
At Bravura we put reliability and resilience ahead of all else. Orchestrator can be hosted on Cloud, ensuring both great resilience and scalability.
Where does Orchestrator sit in the bigger picture of a possible move to a digitised model?
As the industry adopts new technologies, it’s important to remember that the market participants won’t be replacing all of today’s processes overnight. The risk would simply be too high. For example, a tokenised model will have to run alongside the existing workflows for a good while until there is full confidence in its stability and reliability. Because Orchestrator is already available and can get trade data from any system, it will actually help you move to digital assets in the future.
We spend a lot of time and effort communicating with customers, often over minor issues. Can Orchestrator take over some of that workload?
Yes. Orchestrator automates and standardises your communications with customers. It triggers letters, text messages or emails on set dates, and will send reminders where necessary, minimising manual input both for you and your clients, who get a more consistent experience.
What changes will end-clients see from our adoption of Orchestrator?
The reviews are in, and they are good! End-investors and advisers will see faster turnaround times for requests and queries, with fewer delays caused by human error.
A customisable front end offers a wide choice of digital design and development and a differentiated end-client experience through the application of AI and data.
If you’d like to learn more about Orchestrator, Bravura’s leading workflow orchestration technology, please don’t forget to join this webinar.
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