Banco FIE powers its digital culture with Microsoft's modern work tools

Banco FIE is a bank operating for more than 30 years in the Bolivian market. With over one million customers, its mission is to seek economic and social benefits, provide access to inclusive financial services with fairness, quality, and transparency, and support micro and small businesses.

Due to the global health emergency due to COVID-19, the bank's digital transformation and innovation processes were accelerated with the primary objective of keeping its operations active.

The path to digitization  

Banco FIE needed a modern workspace that allowed it to integrate email, collaboration solutions, and remote work into one tool. Up to that point, they had used different platforms that did not connect with each other and that made the company's day-to-day operations difficult.

In January 2020, along with Microsoft partner CIBERIT, the bank began its migration process to Microsoft 365, a productivity tool that boosts creativity and enables secure collaboration through the inclusion of identity and access management, control and information protection solutions against threats and security, and internal risk and compliance management.

The first step for FIE was to start a pilot trial license program to gain an in-depth understanding of the modern working ecosystem. However, when the rigid quarantine was decreed as a result of the pandemic, the Bolivian bank was forced to accelerate its plans.

"Microsoft provided us with exploratory licenses to support us during the health crisis," says Fernando Maceda, Technology Manager at Banco FIE. "That's when Microsoft 365 began to be used in the bank, and we realized that we needed more licenses for our employees." 

Microsoft 365: A tool that drives productivity

As of April 2020, most of the bank was already using Microsoft 365 tools, allowing communication with internal bank personnel and, consequently, the continuity of administrative processes. It was also possible to offer digital services to external clients, bringing the attention of the physical agency's platform officers to the digital world. 

Mauricio Blacutt, National Operations Manager of Banco FIE, says that the tool has completely changed the way the bank is managed: "Before, with nine regional offices in different cities, the management was done by taking trips to each office twice a year. Today these meetings are held every two months virtually through Teams, allowing for the timely transmission of concerns and needs. Now business managers can start solving problems with one click." Since then, Banco FIE has done something that once seemed impossible: bringing more than 3,000 employees together in a single meeting. 

A change in culture

With the adoption of Microsoft 365, Banco FIE's day-to-day operations have evolved completely—changing the way they communicate, meet, coordinate, and even plan. For Macera, discovering that Teams was a great tool in terms of business and learning about its benefits led the bank to take bigger steps. 

Within the Human Talent area, a manifesto of productivity, agility, and collaboration was developed in order to strongly promote the digital culture after understanding the benefits of the tool and how to optimize its use. Silvia Oquendo Cortez, National Human Talent Manager at Banco FIE, says they have found a path on which they are sure to continue moving forward. "We have completed over 3,000 hours of online training, 2,000 hours of virtual courses, and 150 hours of managerial training. We're building a good foundation to keep growing on this journey." 

Digital transformation is here to stay at the Bolivian bank. Today they are taking their first steps in agile application development and automation with Power Platform and Microsoft 365. "This is just the beginning," Cortez concludes.