Romanian bank upgrades employee experience with Microsoft Teams

Libra Internet Bank offers its customers one of Romania's most modern internet and mobile banking services. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the bank’s clients could already manage accounts without leaving their homes. However, at the beginning of the pandemic, Libra had yet to adjust effective remote working, aiming to expand communication between employees and to reach the next level of internal collaboration. To do this, the bank made online teamwork fully possible, by using Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365. Within a month, nearly 1,000 employees had transitioned to the cloud. Now, they can all collaborate on the go, work on their mobiles, and have reduced email load.

Before anything, in Romania, Libra Internet Bank means banking innovation and agility. A pioneer of digital banking, it relies on online apps, automation, and other digital technologies to enable next level banking. “We offer customers the opportunity to remotely access all the banking services they need, without having to visit our branches,” says Alexandru Dionian, IT Director at Libra.

Creating positive employee experience

In 2011, Libra accelerated on its digital path in order to expedite processing customer requests and operations, relying on increasing its internal capacity to develop products and services. With the advent of the pandemic, the level of direct interaction significantly decreased within the organization, and email communication became insufficient. “The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we worked,” Dionian explains. “Physical presence at our headquarters was no longer an option. We needed a new and efficient way to communicate.”

Following suggestions from Microsoft and Crayon—the implementation partner—Libra was able to easily adopt Microsoft cloud solutions. Thus, Microsoft Teams became the core of a new collaboration environment, connected with Microsoft 365. “The adoption of cloud-based platforms was very swift and smooth for us, Libra already being at a very high digital level, with very strong and agile in-house capabilities to develop and implement IT solutions,” Dionian comments. “Within a single month, nearly 1,000 employees had shifted to the new ecosystem.” To facilitate the transition, Crayon provided user support and adoption training throughout the entire process.

Microsoft Teams is also integrated with Crayon’s corporate learning platform Empower-iQ. “Empower-iQ opened the door for Libra teams to access 5000+ self-paced learning materials, tailored individual learning pathways, online training with Microsoft365 experts, gamification, and management reporting, which facilitated a fast and seamless adoption,” comments Daniela Scarlat, Sales Director at Crayon Romania.

“Ensuring easy access to cloud tools from any place and device really makes our teams more flexible and connected.”

Alexandru Dionian, IT Director, Libra Internet Bank

Following the implementation, cloud collaboration took off. “Employees can now access all tools and functions such as email, document sharing, and e-communication through Microsoft Teams,” says Dionian. “My colleagues use SharePoint for approving and sharing documents, which is both convenient and quick. Plus, with more generous inbox space, they don’t need to archive messages so often.”

During the lockdown, Libra also kept people connected on Teams outside of work through various virtual events organized for all those interested. “Libra Cultural was a program where employees went on a virtual museum tour together with a facilitator,” details Dionian.

Mobilizing teams, connecting people

Currently, 100 percent of Libra’s employees use Microsoft 365. The new collaborative environment based on Teams further supports the bank in attaining its constant mission of providing customers with accessible, impeccable services. “It’s in our DNA to communicate with customers and to offer banking solutions with no papers, nor trips to the bank. We were the first Romanian bank to launch the online account and the online loan. Given the context, the cloud adoption allowed us to naturally continue on our digital path which is absolutely defining for Libra Internet Bank,” explains Dionian.

In addition, all employee operations and communication are extremely secure, which is critical in the banking industry. “The use of mobile phones and bring-your-own devices are increasing,” Dionian states. “Microsoft Enterprise Mobility and Security (EMS) has made it much easier to safeguard documents and confidential information, allowing us to expand mobile use among our teams.”

Currently, about 400 employees use EMS, with plans to extend it to everyone. In addition, the bank is exploring new ways to optimize cloud solutions for even better internal collaboration and customer service. “Ensuring easy access to cloud tools from any place and device, really makes our teams more flexible and connected. These features are key to our employees’ satisfaction” Dionian says. “We build the company’s culture around our employees, while having the Client as our defining value. This is also the reason why we were recognized as the best employer in Romania, in the banks and financial institutions category, for two years in a row: 2020 and 2021. And we want this to continue,” he concludes.