Great Southern Bank launched a program in April 2022 that encourages employees to submit automation ideas for implementation as part of its Process Matters initiative.

The $5.6 billion bank has already implemented multiple employee-generated ideas for time-saving processes, Eric Johnson, vice president and chief information officer at Springfield, Mo.-based Great Southern Bank, told Bank Automation News.

One example Johnson gave is the automation of the bank’s returned mail by a machine that scans an envelope or package, runs it through a flowchart, and sorts it into a spreadsheet according to why the piece might have been returned. The recent automation saves the bank 20 hours per week, or more than 1,000 hours per year.

“[T]hese processes — once you get them implemented and you look at the efficiency or the savings on a monthly basis — a lot of times are not an astronomical or tremendous amount of time it is saved,” Johnson said. “But when you’re getting 150 to 200 submissions per round, and you’re implementing multiple submissions, it starts to add up.”

Crowdsourcing ideas for savings

The bank’s initiative stems from its commitment to automating processes, including customer interactions, evidenced by its partnership with core provider Fiserv announced earlier this month Great Southern will use the platform to streamline teller interactions, allow mobile app deposits and use open APIs to integrate the bank’s internal processes.

The bank’s automation idea for crowdsourcing launched in April and is expected to continue through the third quarter of 2023, giving employees several opportunities to submit their ideas. The first round garnered 155 employee submissions, 11 of which were implemented into the bank’s systems, according to Johnson.

In total, more than 2,000 hours have been saved due to employee-driven automation suggestions at the bank — and feedback from staff has been positive, Johnson said.

“It’s allowed us to come together, and as a group or team effort to look at all these old processes that probably could have been looked at prior to our conversion initiative,” he told BAN.

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