Photo: Bantrab, Agile Transformation 360º. Credit: Pexels
Over the last four years, it has strengthened its corporate governance by adopting the best international practices. As a result, Fitch Ratings and Moody´s have steadily improved their credit risk ratings. It is currently ranked 9th out of 151 banks in Central America and the Dominican Republic.
Adaptation processes are an imperative for any company wishing to maintain its position in the market an innovative vision and the ability to respond to change quickly. As part of a strictly regulated system, this is a real challenge for banking. However, if the purpose is clearly established, it is possible to gain new experiences and ways of doing things with creativity and determination.
It was precisely this vision that motivated Michel Caputi, CEO of Banco de los trabajadores, to drive the Agile transformation and hold multiple conversations with Opinno executives in Latin America and Europe.
In August 2020, the beginning of the collaboration with Opinno was established to design the new work model and governance of Bantrab´s processes and projects. A 360º cultural and methodological transformation aimed at its transition to an agile company.
“Agility is not the goal, it is the way to achieve the organization´s strategic objectives. Michel Caputi was aware of this reality. From the beginning, he set out to ask the right questions, rather than trying to follow other people´s models,” says Cristina Moreno, Project Manager at Opinno. “Some 70% of organizations fail in their transformation processes. Once the need has been identified, a lot of persuasion work must be done.
Resistance to change always emerges in every organization that is involved in a cultural transformation like Agile implementation. Therefore, the leadership team must be confident and aligned with the objectives and processes of this change. This is achieved with extensive support. It is necessary to organize personal sessions and bi-weekly meetings to identify the different levels of conviction and commitment to the transformation. The first promoter of the change must be the CEO of the company.
The project consisted of a 360º agile transformation for Bantrab through 5 areas: Structure, Training, Communication, Coaching and Action Plan.
The work began with the mapping of the different disciplines and services of the entity, its organization chart and the operational and development value streams. For the team to be able to carry out the change, it is necessary to educate and train, so 72 training courses were provided over 2 months. These were attended by 20 trainers of CoE, Agile Coaching, Scrum Master, Product Owner and Agile leadership.
It is important to highlight the synergy of jointly aligned efforts and the existence of a Corporate University, in which a series of programs were permanently involved. The aim was to create a methodologica I framework that would serve as the basis for the deployment and sustainability of the project.
Once the team received training, communication was conducted through monthly new sletters and by participating in Bantrab´s annual conference. One of the most effective ways of conveying the value of change were through inspiring talks with executives from other banks and companies that had already undergone Agile transformation.
In very Agile transformation, success stories are key, so we defined 8 pilot projects (sprints) to be carried out over 16 weeks the support of 3 Agile coaches. This activity allowed us to achieve visible results every two weeks, in addition to collecting live lessons and encouraging the teams to identify areas for improvement throughout the process.
One of the most interesting parts of the work was constructing the Roadmap, wich can only be achieved through thorough knowledge of the organization. Its purpose is to ensure that the company can follow its path without a consultant´s intervention. This autonomy is precisely one of the measures of the success of our work at Opinno.
Finally, the Agile Maturity guide incorporates a map with the most relevant practices to be adopted by the different teams, according to their levels of agility and with clearly established objectives.
At Opinno we are proud to have had the opportunity to collaborate in defining the path towards Bantrab´s agile transformation, and to support the mindser change that this implies.
