ATB Financial (ATB) is a crown corporation of the province of Alberta that operates in a highly competitive financial services space, with competitors ranging from big banks to financial technology startups, ready to grab a slice of the provincial market share. To retain its competitive advantage in an industry primed for disruption, ATB took an active role in its evolution by intentionally transforming the way banking products and services could be delivered. Through this bold transformation, paired with customer-obsession, ATB is primed to make good on its commitment to deliver happiness to Albertans by being more than a bank.

“Our vision is to transform banking and lead the industry in innovation in order to make banking work better for people,” says Wellington Holbrook, Chief Transformation Officer at ATB Financial. “In order for us to achieve this type of exponential change, how we collaborate as a team of 5,300 people is key.”

To address its goals, ATB launched a new initiative called “Work Reimagined” powered by Google Workspace, with the goal of helping employees save time, make decisions faster, and spend more time with customers to drive happiness. However, to succeed, ATB needed to equip its distributed, mobile workforce with modern productivity tools that would simplify employee communication and collaboration.

A pioneer in financial services

With Google Workspace tools such as Gmail, Google Drive, Sheets, Docs, and Calendar, ATB is breaking out of the traditional, legacy-driven model still in place at many financial institutions. Instead of being held back by a locked-down, inflexible working environment, employees can use cloud-based tools to freely contribute to the ATB journey of reimagining banking and bringing happiness to Albertans. Team members feel more connected because work is now something they do when and where they need to.

“Google is revolutionizing collaboration and individual productivity through AI, making it easier for our team members to streamline their workflows using features such as the Explore button in Google Docs,” says Barry Hensch, Vice President, Technology Enablement at ATB Financial. “Employees can focus more on creating value for our customers and less on mundane tasks.”

Pioneering is not new at ATB. It became one of the first financial institutions to send a real-time international payment using blockchain technology, and was the first full-service financial institution in North America to successfully facilitate payments using chatbot technology on Facebook Messenger. In the near future, it will use Google Jamboard** in its meeting rooms to help with brainstorming and new product development.

Faster processes, enhanced security

Business processes are also optimized with Google Workspace. For example, the ATB banking operations team struggled with workflows and lost files in public folders—a challenge that many businesses face with legacy office applications. With shared accounts on Gmail, the team was able to redesign its workflow in a single day, with confidence that needed data is available in a more secure and compliant environment.

“As a financial institution, we have a lot of security requirements and with Google expertise, we’ve created a more secure environment for productivity and collaboration,” adds Barry.

Strategic planning, consolidation, and reporting are now approximately twice as fast using Google Workspace for collaboration. ATB quarterly board reporting time is reduced by nearly 60%, and its People & Culture team now uses Google Sheets to reduce the consolidation time associated with its semiannual talent review process by 50%. “We are now able to co-author content and update it in real time, helping ensure consistency and eliminating the frustration of trying to determine what the current version is or who added content,” says Barry.

When ATB does provide employees with company-owned devices, it issues Android-based smartphones or Google Chromebooks, giving team members a consistently high-quality experience. The bank also uses Google Chromebox with Google Meet for anytime, anywhere meetings, eliminating the need for team members to spend the first 10 minutes of each meeting getting the technology to work. Now, meetings are connected in one click, and the team can get to work faster.

“The power of Google Workspace drives innovation for our entire company,” adds Barry. “For example, we’re using Google Meet to transform how employees interact with IT so they get faster responses, maximizing productivity on both sides. Everything is so simple now—we realized we were overthinking a lot before.”

Transforming work, leading by example

Working closely with Onix, a Google Cloud Premier Partner, ATB was able to easily migrate its entire history—35 terabytes of data, including 340 million email messages, calendar items, and contacts—to Google Workspace. Using the CloudMigrator Google Workspace Migration Tool, the migration was seamless, with no disruption of work.

To drive the transformation, ATB created a “G Team” to lead the project. Business leaders led by example with engagement from the top: the Chief Customer Officer, Chief Transformation Officer, and Chief Evangelist quickly adopted Google Workspace tools.

“It’s not just about the tools—it’s about getting people excited about what they can do,” says Calvin Seaman, Director of Communications, ATB Reputation & Brand Team. “We took a unique approach to change management, and it paid off because employees were excited about adopting Google Workspace and viewed the transition positively. We didn’t force it on them.”

Adds Wellington: “With Google and Google Workspace, we found a like-minded partner and solution that will help us push boundaries to reimagine how we work and ultimately increase momentum along our transformational journey.”