A 25% Efficiency Uplift and 40% Cost Optimization: A Leading Financial Services Provider Transforms Operations with Sutherland

Client Overview

The client is a well-established digital bank, consistently ranked among the top 25 U.S. financial holding companies, with a customer base of over 11 million across the United States and Canada. With service offerings spanning auto finance, retail banking, and corporate lending, the bank has a reputation for innovation but faced increasing pressure to modernize its operational backbone.

The Challenge

Legacy Workflows, Data Fragmentation, and Operational Inefficiencies

Despite its scale and digital presence, the bank grappled with several operational inefficiencies that impeded operational agility and scalability. Several legacy systems across key functions were still dependent on manual workflows, resulting in fragmented data management and delayed turnaround times.

Some of the most pressing challenges included:

• Manual indexing, sorting, and reconciliation processes lead to data inconsistencies and service delivery slowdown.
• A paper-heavy escheatment process, requiring manual intervention for nearly 240,000 checks annually, posing a significant burden on internal teams.
• Disparate platforms that lacked integration, resulting in redundant tasks, compliance risks, and higher operating costs.
• A lack of visibility into operational performance metrics, limiting the client’s ability to measure progress, spot inefficiencies, or respond to emerging regulatory requirements.

The client recognized the urgent need to digitize and integrate these processes and required a seasoned partner who could not only reimagine operations but also execute transformation at scale without disrupting ongoing business continuity.

Sutherland Solution

Intelligent Automation, Platform Modernization, and Real-Time Insight Enablement

Sutherland partnered with the client on a multi-year transformation journey, combining domain expertise, proprietary technology platforms, and a consultative approach to address root causes and unlock efficiencies across the value chain.

Key elements of the solution included:

1. Strategic Transformation Blueprint: We conducted a comprehensive maturity assessment to benchmark current-state capabilities and co-created a transformation roadmap. This spanned architecture redesign, data governance, talent planning, and change management frameworks, ensuring both strategic alignment and operational feasibility.
2. Platform Modernization with Prodigy and Robility®: We deployed Sutherland Prodigy, our intelligent document processing and workflow automation platform, to digitize and streamline document handling, queue management, and exception processing. Simultaneously, Robility®, our hyperautomation engine, was configured to automate highly manual processes such as escheatment handling and reconciliation activities – freeing up thousands of hours of employee effort annually.
3. Enhanced Data Governance and Control Frameworks: To reduce risk and ensure regulatory compliance, we implemented a robust quality control framework, redesigned for automation environments. This minimized human intervention and ensured data accuracy across critical touchpoints.
4. Real-Time Intelligence with a Digital Control Tower: A custom Digital Control Tower was implemented to provide leadership with actionable insights. The dashboard enabled continuous performance tracking of KPIs and ROI metrics tied to the data transformation initiative, driving transparency, accountability, and data-driven decision-making.

Through these coordinated interventions, Sutherland helped the client shift from a legacy-led operations model to an agile, insights-led digital enterprise.

The Outcome

Intelligent Automation Removes Repetitive Tasks for Holistic Transformation

As a result of Sutherland’s integrated digital transformation solution, the client achieved a 25% increase in operational productivity, driven by automation and streamlined workflows. Transactional operational expenditures were reduced by 40%, significantly improving cost-to-serve metrics. Moreover, automation of the online tax filing process alone led to a 75% reduction in time and effort, freeing internal resources to focus on higher-value activities. The partnership not only modernized the client’s back-office operations but also built a foundation for sustained agility, enhanced customer experience, and long-term regulatory resilience.

That’s digital outcomes delivered!