Millennium bcp reimagines communications in the Portuguese financial sector
Millennium bcp, the largest private bank in Portugal, has a reputation for using technology to provide a better customer experience and streamline internal operations. So, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced employees to work remotely, the bank began to look for innovative ways to maintain business continuity. The bank created a studio inside its headquarters and deployed Microsoft Teams Live Events so it could host a range of events from conferences to webinars. Millennium bcp managed to bring its customers, employees and other relevant stakeholders closer to the bank and has opened the doors to a whole new world of digital communication for the Portuguese financial sector.
“We’ve built our business on technological innovation with a focus on improving customer experience and delivering what customers are looking for. This has driven us to find ways to stay connected with those who bank with us, despite the global crisis.”
EriK Burns, Head of Corporate Communications at Millennium bcp, is talking about the motivations behind the bank’s push to digitalize operations. Millennium bcp, the only listed bank in Portugal, is known for its innovative ways of working and over the past few years, has gradually rolled out a range of digital communication and collaboration tools.
So, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, turning to technology to keep events and meetings running efficiently was the natural step to take. “We used Microsoft Teams Live Events to redesign internal and external communications for resilient and high-quality events to ensure the rhythm of business,” says Burns.
“Deploying this technology during the pandemic has proven so valuable that our aim is to continue using it for years to come.”
A Portuguese bank leads the way in innovation
Millennium bcp is Portugal’s largest privately owned bank with 2.5 million customers in the country, and six million worldwide. Founded in 1985, the organization has around 16,000 employees, of which around 6,500 are based in Portugal. Over the past five years, the bank has been pioneering digitalization not just internally, but within the industry itself.
“We’re only at the very beginning of a massive digital transformation in the financial sector that’s moving operations away from branches to online,” says Burns. “Unlike other banks in Portugal that have more traditional operations, at Millennium bcp, we’re known for our willingness to try out new ways of working such as using AI and cloud technology.”
Around two years ago, the bank turned to Microsoft to begin digitalizing its operations. As with all organizations in the financial sector, security and compliance are imperative not only from an operational perspective, but also for public credibility; people tend to bank with those they can trust.
“Having rolled out Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams, we were familiar with using digital communication and collaboration tools and had even used Teams to host the occasional internal meeting,” says Burns.
“So, when the COVID-19 pandemic happened, we used this technology as the basis for developing a strategy to maintain business continuity.”
A world crisis accelerates digitalization
When the pandemic struck, many of Millennium bcp’s employees were forced to work remotely, while physical events like financial updates and conferences could no longer take place. So, Millennium bcp’s communications department and IT department teamed up to develop a solution that would replicate much of the onsite activity, keep employees informed and connected, and maintain external communications with customers and shareholders.
“We needed a quick and seamless solution,” says Eduardo Ferreira, Communications Manager at Millennium bcp, “so over one weekend, we deployed Microsoft Teams Live Events. Luckily, from a tech perspective, it was a smooth process and as the team had already been using Microsoft technologies, there wasn’t any need to upskill.”
The team set up a studio inside the bank’s headquarters from which to broadcast internal and external meetings. Customers, employees or shareholders would simply receive an invite, giving them easy, secure access to the events and webinars published online. They’ve hosted various types of events in this way, from earnings press conferences to webinars, led by employees at the bank.
“The largest event we’ve hosted was a Team Live Event for the whole organization called Millennium Talks,” shares Ferreira. “Around 4,000 attendees watched the CEO speak – it was a huge success. We also provided customer success training using Microsoft Teams Live Events for over 1,000 employees. This meant that we could keep everyone up-to-date and fully trained despite not being able to meet in person.”
A high-quality service ensures business continuity
Using Microsoft Teams Live Events on a large scale required a guaranteed stable connection, so Millennium bcp turned to Microsoft partner, Kollective, to help prevent overwhelming the network and provide a cost-effective solution for ensuring the quality of the connection. Kollective’s intuitive dashboard helps Millennium bcp to monitor the quality of service, connection locations and other technical aspects to ensure events run smoothly
“Microsoft Power BI’s dashboard has also been instrumental visualizing and understanding vital data about our online events,” says Ferreira, “These insights show how many people attend the events, when and where they join from, and when they leave, so the bank can monitor the level of engagement. This has helped us to understand both our customers and employees more and improve the events we host.”
Millennium bcp’s live events have proved such a success that it has already broadcast hundreds of them since deploying the solution. The benefits have been felt both internally and externally. “Microsoft Teams Live Events has helped to bring both our customers and employees closer to the bank during a time when this was not physically possible,” says Burns.
“Using this technology has really impacted the bank on an organizational level too,” he adds. “Microsoft Teams has allowed the different departments to have meetings with each other, regardless of where they’re working from. We’ve also noticed a reduction in the cost of hosting an event as we no longer need to hire a venue.”
The future of communication in the financial sector
Such has been the success of the solution that Millennium bcp is now looking to integrate the technology within its broader communications strategy. “Having spoken to our customers, we know that they’d like to use video banking,” says Burns.
"So, we are using the technology we now have to build a solution for customer calls or meetings with agents. We’re also looking to use AI to make our operations more efficient and provide 24/7-availability to those who bank with us. The past year has shown us that this is possible and it’s great to know that we now have the opportunity and capability to give customers the services they want.”
Despite Microsoft Teams being deployed quickly to mitigate the limitations caused by COVID-19, for Millennium bcp, these tools now form part of a long-term solution that will continue post-pandemic. Although the organization intends to host physical events where possible, they now have the option of a second method of communication that’s useful, valid and effective.
“This hasn’t just been a period of transformation for the bank, it’s also been transformative for the financial sector,” explains Burns. “The pandemic forced everyone to look for new ways of working and connecting. There has been a major shift and tools such as Microsoft Teams have opened up a new market for communication.
“We’re really pleased that we’ve been at the forefront of this much needed digitalization in Portugal, and we’re excited to see what capabilities it will bring in the future.”
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