• Decreases total cost of ownership for enterprise productivity tools by migrating to Google Workspace from legacy solution

• Promotes open and collaborative culture through Google Workspace real-time document sharing

• Speeds up intranet search for employees with enterprise Cloud Search

Internal collaboration at BPER was often hampered by physical and temporal limitations. Having to email documents as attachments or physically transfer large files with pen drives slowed down projects. Having to compile feedback from multiple stakeholders across multiple documents impeded spontaneous idea sharing and decision-making. This state of affairs was contrary to the philosophy of Banca BPER, which has information sharing at its core.

"The Google Cloud philosophy of openness and collaboration inspires us," says Gianluca Formenton. "We needed to bring these exact qualities to BPER, and we chose Google Cloud because its only limit is our imagination."

Google Workspace, including Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, and Slides, was then launched to the first 200 BPER users. After just one hour of training, users were off and running, collaborating with colleagues and saving time. BPER quickly added another 1,600 users, then ramped up to 1,000 employees migrated per month; according to Gianluca Formenton, within a matter of weeks all the bank’s employees will be using Google Workspace.

"Google Workspace and Google Cloud Search have completely transformed how we work," says Gianluca Formenton. "To transfer files, we share links. We don’t have email storage limits, so we don’t archive. The results of our search are immediate."

Beyond the productivity and cultural changes that BPER is realizing with Google Cloud, the solution is bringing additional benefits to the bank. The native security features and automatic updates in Google Workspace mean that BPER will be able to drastically reduce the amount of time and resources it dedicates to maintenance and security measures. As a European bank subject to strict General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements, using Google Workspace will keep the bank compliant without extra effort or expense. It offers additional security features such as early phishing detection and sharing restrictions to help protect sensitive personal data.

But perhaps the biggest transformation at BPER has been cultural rather than technological or operational. Gianluca Formenton is a thoughtful COO with a humanities background and has reflected on the human aspects of digital transformation. He stresses that selecting and implementing new technologies is the easy part, but the work that comes before and after is the most important. BPER spent time considering the type of behavioral and cultural change it wanted to see and was convinced that increased openness and collaboration would have an outsized effect on the business. The bank selected Google Cloud because it aligned with this objective.

"We’ve greatly improved our work since Google Workspace, with more to come once we’re fully migrated and making the most of it," adds Gianluca Formenton. "Being able to work together anywhere, anytime turns simple collaboration into digital brainstorming."

The results are everything that Gianluca Formenton expected, with new ideas and new ways of working erupting spontaneously around the bank. "We expect an increase in productivity, but above all an improvement in the quality of work by our employees, which will result in better customer service and a better bottom line."