Unifying data and strategy: Citizens Bank’s path to Agile enterprise management

Executive summary

Citizens Bank was grappling with a tangle of disconnected systems and opaque processes. Cprime Elabor8’s experts helped align IT with Finance and open a fresh perspective for data-driven decision-making by implementing and optimising their tooling and processes.

The challenge

Citizens Bank was navigating through some turbulent waters.

• A sea of siloed data across multiple systems led to discrepancies in resource utilisation and billing inconsistencies.
• The bank’s 90 value streams were adrift, lacking standardisation in budgeting and financial reporting.
• Strategic objectives were disconnected from the actual work being performed, like a ship without a compass.
• Resource allocation was based on subjective decisions rather than data-driven insights.
• Financial data was fragmented, requiring manual compilation from various source systems.
• The bank struggled to link team costs to value delivered, making it challenging to justify expenses or optimise resource allocation.

The solution

A beacon of hope

Cprime Elabor8 didn’t just throw Citizens Bank a lifeline; they provided a state-of-the-art navigation system. The cornerstone of their solution was the implementation and integration of Apptio Targetprocess as a central platform.

• This new system integrated with Jira for over 500 teams, creating a fleet of automated reporting across the entire portfolio.
• It connected to HR systems, ensuring employee information was always up-to-date and reducing manual maintenance.
• Standardised reporting templates for quarterly business reviews and planning sessions created a common language across value streams.
• OKR tracking was implemented and connected to portfolio epics and projects, providing a bird’s-eye view of enterprise-wide progress.
• Financial data was integrated to provide visibility into “cash cost per team” and linked to work execution, maintaining data sensitivity by rolling up user-level cost data to the team level.
• Data updates were automated on weekly or monthly cycles, minimising ongoing maintenance requirements.

The results

Sailing out of the storm

While the implementation was still ongoing, Citizens Bank was already experiencing smoother sailing.

• Saved an estimated 8-12 hours per quarter for each of the 80+ value stream owners in reporting preparation alone.
• Better allocation decisions could be made based on data-driven insights.
• Financial transparency improved as they gained the ability to assess cost per team and connect capital spend to work execution for a broader audience.
• Financial data accessibility increased from about 15 people to hundreds of leadership personnel.
• They gained greater strategic alignment by connecting strategy to execution through OKR tracking and work progress reporting.
• They boosted efficiency by reducing manual effort in data maintenance and reporting across multiple systems.
• Data became more consistent and reliable with the help of automated integrations and standardised reporting templates.

 

“We’re already seeing time savings around our Quarterly Business Reviews and the benefits of all this data being visible to so many more leaders across the org. Having the ability to make decisions based on data everyone has access to is a real game-changer.” — Sarah M. Ricardo, VP Enterprise Transformation

 

Final Thoughts

The journey of Citizens Bank offers valuable insights for other organisations embarking on their own digital transformation.

• Start small, think big: You can’t architect your way into being agile. Start somewhere and be prepared to adapt as you go.
• Embrace integration: Breaking down silos and connecting disparate systems can unlock tremendous value.
• Data-driven decision-making: Having the right data at your fingertips empowers leaders to make informed choices.
• Continuous improvement: Digital transformation is not a destination, but a journey of ongoing optimisation and refinement.

As Citizens Bank continues to navigate its digital transformation, the benefits are already clear. With Cprime Eabor8’s help, they’ve charted a course towards greater efficiency, transparency, and strategic alignment. The bank is now better equipped to weather any storm and sail confidently into the future of banking.

Explore Cprime Elabor8’s Enterprise Tooling solutions to see how we can help your organisation achieve similar success.

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Cprime, Unifying Data and Strategy: Citizens Bank’s Path to Agile Enterprise Management

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