In the first blog in this series, we looked at why the building society operating model is under pressure. The sector is strong, trusted and highly relevant, but building societies are dealing with rising member expectations, broker demands, regulatory pressure and legacy processes that make change hard. Modernisation is required.
The next question is: where should building societies start on this modernisation journey?
AI is on the agenda for most financial services organisations. So is automation. So is low-code. But for building societies, the opportunity is not to throw technology at every process and hope value appears. The real opportunity is to identify where AI, automation and low-code for building societies can remove friction, improve service, reduce risk and create measurable value.
Start where the friction is the highest
The best use cases are often easy to spot. They are the areas where colleagues are spending too much time chasing information, moving data between systems, checking documents, updating spreadsheets or responding to avoidable queries.
In a building society, that might look like:
· Mortgage cases being manually triaged
· Brokers chasing for status updates
· Members repeating information across channels
· Operational teams relying on email and spreadsheets
· Colleagues searching through policy documents for the right answer
· Finance, risk or compliance teams manually gathering evidence
These are not always the most exciting processes on paper but they are often where the biggest value sits.
High-value use cases: improving member and broker journeys
For many building societies, the most visible opportunities sit in the journeys that matter most to its members and brokers. Mortgage application intake is a good example. There is often significant manual effort involved in receiving information, checking completeness, routing cases and preparing them for underwriting. Automation can help capture information more consistently, triage cases earlier and reduce unnecessary handoffs.
Member onboarding is another strong use case. Whether someone is opening a savings account, becoming a new member or interacting with the society for the first time, the experience needs to feel simple and joined up. Low-code apps, guided digital forms and automated workflows can help reduce drop-off, speed up processing and improve the overall experience.
Then there is the broker journey. Brokers want transparency. They want to know where a case is, what is outstanding and when they can expect a response. A broker case tracking portal, supported by automation and AI behind the scenes, can reduce chase calls and emails while improving confidence in the building society’s service.
These use cases usually carry higher business value (and easier sign-off) because they link directly to growth, service quality and reputation.
Operational use cases: speed, control and consistency
But not all value sits at the front end. A lot of the opportunity for building societies with AI and automation sits in the operational layer around existing core systems.
Take document collection and validation. Many mortgage and savings processes rely on documents moving between members, brokers and internal teams. Automation can help request documents, check for completeness, flag exceptions and create a clearer audit trail.
Complaints management is another area where these technologies helps. AI can support summarisation, case preparation and knowledge search, while workflow automation can help manage deadlines, approvals and evidence.
There is also a strong case for improving vulnerable customer workflows. Societies need consistent ways to capture indicators, route cases, support colleagues and evidence good outcomes. This is exactly the type of process where low-code and automation can improve both service and control.
Quick wins still matter
Some of the most useful opportunities are not big transformation use cases. They can be smaller, repeatable improvements that free up time and reduce frustration.
For example, invoice reconciliation can often involve repetitive matching, checking and exception handling. Automating parts of that process can reduce manual finance effort and improve auditability.
An IT self-service helpdesk portal can help colleagues resolve common issues, raise requests and get routed to the right support without creating unnecessary tickets. Microsoft’s Copilot Studio can support this by creating guided support experiences for common questions and requests.
A policy and procedure assistant can help branch, contact centre and operations teams find approved internal guidance quicker. While this does not replace human judgement it makes colleagues faster and more consistent.
These use cases may be lower complexity, but they still yield meaningful value at scale.
The important and tricky part: prioritisation
A good AI, automation and low-code roadmap should not be along list of ideas. It should show where value, feasibility and governance readiness meet.
For each use case, building societies should ask:
· Does this support growth, service, efficiency or control?
· Is the process high volume or high pain?
· Is the data available and reliable?
· What level of risk or regulation is involved?
· Will colleagues adopt the new way of working?
· Can value be proven quickly?
· What governance is needed before scaling?
This is where an assessment comes in useful. An assessment helps move the conversation from “we should do something with AI” to “these are the use cases worth prioritising, and this is how we can deliver them safely.”
Using the Microsoft platform to move from idea to value
Most building societies already have Microsoft technology somewhere in their organisation. The opportunity is to make better use of it.
Power Platform supports apps, workflows and process automation. Copilot helps with productivity and knowledge work. Copilot Studio supports internal assistants and service experiences. Azure AI Foundry supports more advanced AI and agent scenarios.
But the technology is only part of the answer. The bigger question is how these tools are governed, adopted and connected to business value.
How to focus
The opportunity is not to automate everything. It is to focus on the areas where AI, automation and low-code can make work easier, improve member and broker experience, reduce operational friction and support better control. For building societies, that means starting with the processes that matter most, proving value quickly and building the right foundations for safe scale.
At Robiquity, we help organisations assess where AI, automation and low-code can create the most value, then support with the roadmap, governance and delivery needed to make it real.
If you are considering where to start, Robiquity can help you prioritise the right use cases, prove value quickly and put the foundations in place for safe scale. Contact us today to arrange a conversation.
In the final blog of this series, coming next week, we’ll explore how building societies can scale AI and automation safely, with the right governance, guardrails and operating model in place.
