Union Bank of the Philippines (Unionbank) conducted its 10th virtual event E-TalkTales last April 21.
The media event specifically emphasized ‘People Tech’ advocacy, more so, a people-centric digital transformation and how it serves a better vision to its employees and other stakeholders that cover UnionBank’s mission of providing non-exclusive growth in the country.
The program started with the UnionBank Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resource Officer Michelle Rubio discussing the bank’s successful digital transformation journey, which she dedicated to its people. According to her, organizations must focus more on equipping and investing in workforce possessing the right skills and helping them become more agile, rather than simply focusing on investing in the latest software and equipment.
“Contrary to popular belief, digital transformation is less about technology and more about people. You can pretty much buy any technology, but our ability to adapt to an even more digital future depends on developing the next generation of skills, closing the gap between talent supply and demand, and future-proofing your own and others’ potential,” Rubio said.
Rubio then furthered the importance of continuously upskilling employees for the possibility of skill sets becoming obsolete due to the ever continuous advancement of technologies.
“UnionBank continuously upskills employees true to its commitment of growing and developing its talents and the talent community,” Rubio said. “Holding on to its purpose of co-creating innovations for a better world, UnionBank was able to forge a strategy that could accelerate talent at any point of interaction with the bank. This is called People Tech: people at the core, technology at the fore. Aligned to the bank’s purpose of co-creating innovations for a better world, UnionBank focused on People to make the transformation happen.” “People Tech advocates digital delivery to build capabilities and bring it to hyperspeed, allowing accelerated talent development and capability building inside and outside the organization,” Rubio added.
With the People Tech advocacy, UnionBank has successfully conducted various programs and campaigns to equip people with the necessary skills to thrive in the new digital workplace. One of the series is the Xcellerator, a program that is centralized on helping thousands of learners become more knowledgeable in media and digital-related content like digitization, blockchain, application programming interface, and project management, digital marketing, data privacy, coding, and fintech.
“Through Xcellerator, we advocate digital delivery through capability building, so that innovations may happen ensuring no one gets left behind. We ‘tech-up’ the Philippines by educating and mentoring our community members in emerging technologies, contributing to the higher purpose of co-creating innovations for a better world, possibly opening up opportunities for Filipino tech talents,” said Special Projects Head for UnionBank’s Fintech Group and Xcellerator Program Lead, Nix Syjuco.
In addition to UnionBank’s narrative on their digital transformation journey, their initiatives extend the People Tech advocacy to its stakeholders, especially now with the COVID-19 circumstances. Among these are the GoBeyond Communities initiative, encouraging UnionBank employees to participate in community-centric programs that align with their values; the HEROES 2021 initiative, together with Thames International School that aims to train educators on how to facilitate classes virtually, and the Climathon Online Ideaton initiative which encourages people to contribute In the creation of solutions that address the most pressing issues today.
In line with the bank’s mission to create non-exclusive growth in the country, UnionBank Vice President for Sustainability Dave Devilles states that the goal is to change people’s perception of technology continuously. More so, help their people recognize and fully maximize its potential of technology in creating a lasting positive impact. “It is really about changing the mindset and moving the behavior, and we have witnessed how UnionBank has evolved from our desire to build capabilities internally, to share these, and to help communities and ultimately our country,” Devilles said.
