Philippine financial institutions are being urged to fully transform their business operations into digital processes to leverage the power of artificial intelligence (AI), according to global software company Kissflow.
“Every organization now has to be 100% digital in the next three to five years to take full advantage of AI in terms of data collection,” Rakesh Nandakumar, vice president of Asia Pacific at Kissflow, said in an interview.
“So, the pressure to modernize data or modernize operations is real. If you don’t, you lose your competitive edge,” he added.
Mr. Nandakumar identified a critical gap in the digital landscape of traditional Filipino banks, which he described as “the dirty middle.”
While these institutions have prioritized automated front-end customer interactions and back-end financial systems, the broad spectrum of business operations between these two pillars is still largely manual.
This middle layer often relies on non-standard applications such as Excel spreadsheets, paper documents, and email chains.
Because these disparate systems don’t communicate with each other, they fail to provide the structured digital data that AI needs to analyze and generate insights, he said.
Mr. Nandakumar noted that AI needs this digital foundation to perform complex data analysis and generate insights that human analysts were previously unable to access.
To help organizations transform, Kissflow provides a platform that automates these processes into trackable processes.
Mr. Nandakumar described the company’s role as providing the necessary layer beyond static records.
He noted that today’s organizations need more than just a recording system. “What they need today is not just a recording system, but an orchestration system as well. And that orchestration system is what Kissflow offers,” he said.
The company helps organizations modernize through a three-pronged approach. This includes equipping Information Technology (IT) departments with low-code capabilities to centralize applications and build satellite applications for remote locations that do not integrate core systems.
Finally, this approach enables business units to automate workflows through citizen development. This allows non-technical staff to build the tools they need when central IT resources are stretched thin.
Kissflow serves as an AI-powered low-code platform designed to orchestrate complex business interactions.
“If you have an Excel sheet, you upload it to Kissflow, and it will turn it into a process in 30 seconds. Any interaction with that process will be tracked and stored in Kissflow,” said Mr Nandakumar.
This efficiency ensures that all performance data is captured for compliance and in-depth AI-driven analysis.
The platform is specifically aimed at large enterprises, where the size and complexity of operations require digital development to remain competitive.
Regarding cybersecurity concerns, Mr. Nandakumar said governance is essential to risk management, noting that without it, organizations will remain vulnerable.
He added that Kissflow addresses these concerns by providing a unified platform where security coverage and maintenance of thousands of applications are managed at the platform level.
Mr. Nandakumar also said that the company meets the highest international regulatory standards and complies with System and Organization Controls (SOC) 1, SOC 2, and SOC 3, among others.
Going forward, Kissflow aims to build on its long-standing presence in the Philippines, where it has operated since 2012.
Mr. Nandakumar said the company has been doubling its operations every year and already has a home base and a local team. – Edg Adrian A. Eva
