Virtual Bayanihan: The people behind a breakthrough project during a pandemic
When uncertainties happen, will an organization put its people first and
their clients second, or will customers still be king?
During the first virtual episode of EDTalks, one question left a mark to our leaders, especially our President,
"How do we help the Management keep the company afloat?"
This formed part of the President Edwin R. Bautista’s opening and closing messages to the employees, and assured everyone that we are far from ‘sinking’ and that the Management will ensure that everyone, including the Outsourced Service Providers (OSPs), get to keep their jobs.
On the other hand, customers will always be king, and one particular project created a buzz around the local financial scene for providing more ways to access cash for our current and future customers, especially the unbanked.
The ‘Send to Remittance Centers’ feature was in the spotlight in the recent episode of UnionBank Talks Digital (Facebook and Youtube). Ron Puno, who was instrumental in the execution of this project talked about the motivation to of the company – the stories of medical front liners, our very own employees, and clients who assist their kasambahays in sending money to their families, to launch this service in the middle of a crisis. The episode also featured Nurse Joy, a medical front liner who had to send money to her father for a medical emergency while she was in the line of duty.
Phenom had an opportunity to sit down and virtually meet with the team who made the ‘Send to Remittance’ feature a timely add-on to the multi-awarded UnionBank Online app.
Best Customer Experience at the Worst Time
It was in February when the team working on additional cash-in options by expanding the Bank’s deposit network received a mandate from the Management to look into cash-out options for our clients. That was when priorities shifted, and the challenge to deliver faster is tougher.
With the challenges to go around posed by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), such as the absence of public transportation and the limited number of branches open, offering our clients more cash out options became the top priority.
AJ Atienza, who leads the UnionBank Online App team, shared with Phenom, “I think what’s unique with the remittance services is that we didn’t have this before ECQ. But that did that didn’t stop us from doing it, that motivated us. We get feedback from social media, from friends and families, from senior management that there is a need from our customers or our personal needs. We need to send money to relatives, to household help. Some relatives are stuck in places that don’t have our branches, or don’t have the facility or ATMs to withdraw money, so the Remittance Services, which was built during the ECQ one of the most useful services in the app today.”
The project was already on the roadmap, getting to it just accelerated during the ECQ. Mac Macapagal, who heads the Debit and Prepaid Cards team of the groups sees the feature as a complement to what we already have in the app and a product of good partnerships and collaborations with internal and external teams.
“There’s hardly any movement now; it’s hard to send money especially at this time. Some people, it’s “no work, no pay”, and they need assistance or emergency funds for relatives from other parts of the country. We saw the demand of the customers and the management’s push who asked us to look into what we can do. It’s very important that we have good relationships with our FinTech group, the Delivery Team, and other groups in the Bank. Likewise, our existing partnerships with the cash agents, Coins.ph and DragonPay, who linked us to our current remittance partners.”
Idea Execution
A deep dive into the project, from ideation to execution, revealed to Phenom that the whole team pedaled to the metal, hitting a record time delivery of three weeks, including planning, testing, seeking approval, internally and with the BSP. The team described working days and night on three main tracks. First is the technical track. Second is aligning all the processes of internal teams. And third was getting the Board and BSP approvals.
This resulted in four (4) remittance partners – Perahub, Cebuana Lhuillier, Palawan Express, and LBC, on board. It gives access to almost 12,000 remittance outlets and more cash out options for our customers. UnionBank is the first and only bank with the most number of cash-out partners, and the network is expanding.
“For the unbanked market, the remittance centers are very relevant to this sector, especially in the provinces. They are more comfortable going to remittance centers, than banks or ATM. And this is our hybrid approach,” Mac added.
Virtual Bayanihan
“It’s so nice to be working with an agile team and a dedicated and committed team at makikita mo ‘yong commitment ng bawat isa to do it, in a short span of time, at talagang tulungan. Nag-bayanihan tayo to come up with this service in the app. That’s how UnionBank and the teams work eh – ubuntu. That’s the actualization of our values.” – Mac Macapagal
The global pandemic and the shift to the new ways of working was a stress test of our agile and digital transformation. But in the middle of the crisis are stories that show how prepared and equipped we are as an organization as we tap our people’s greatest potential and leverage on our reliable technology.
Personal Realizations
