Behind every successful company are skilled and dedicated employees. Here are three such employees explaining how quality and customer benefits are reflected in their day-to-day work.
How do you work to place Bankgirot on the map for a wider audience?
Louise: I would probably say that the banks' mobile service Swish provides a good starting point when I explain where I work. Aside from the financial sector, which is familiar with what we do, for most others we are a relative unknown.
Niclas: Swish has definitely given us an opening to normal consumers and the banks' plans for the coming business service will most certainly broaden that opening. But I also believe that the IT industry in general sees us in a new light.
It has become clear that the work that goes on inside these walls puts us at the cutting edge of technological development in innovative payment solutions, alongside running daily operations with essentially no downtime.
The awards have rolled in over the years. What effect has that had?
Eva: Without a doubt they make us all feel genuinely proud, regardless of where in the organisation we work. I believe that many of us stand a little taller when Payments in Real Time and Swish are mentioned. It is not just the innovative spirit in the company that becomes apparent, but also the direct benefits that a service such as Swish delivers. It also makes clear just what we can achieve when we work together, which provides extra impetus to remain a step ahead of rapid technology developments and continually changing customer needs.
Many employees stay at Bankgirot for a long time. What is it that makes people happy here?
Eva: I think it is a combination of a dynamic workplace and operations that continually evolve, together with high internal mobility. Company management has a clear line that encourages internal mobility. Even my own journey within the organisation is reflected in this, as over the years I have been able to seek out new challenges and roles internally. This means that you can regularly start a "new" job.
Another thing that I think unites everyone who works here is the clear ambition and desire to achieve things and to drive development forwards. Everyone contributes and assumes responsibility for delivering what we have agreed with the highest possible quality.
Louise: That description fits me well, too. During my time here I have already had the opportunity to specialise in my role and soon I will have the opportunity to together with the product managers and product specialists work with the development of real-time payments and Swish. I would also like to emphasise the flat organisation, which encourages a humble, open and quite simply very pleasant atmosphere between colleagues.
An open atmosphere is more important than you would imagine for knowledge transfer and the opportunity to learn from each other's experience.
Niclas: I would quite like to compare it to a family business where the atmosphere is concerned, as it is based on fellowship and a lack of hierarchies. I also think that there is awareness among management that a large share of the
expertise is held by the employees – expertise which doesn't grow on trees and which has been developed over many, many years. The company is keen to keep its employees quite simply.
Which success factors do think contribute to Bankgirot's deliveries being better than ever and the improved customer satisfaction?
Eva: A think a central reason is the clear set of values in which quality and security are prioritised over all else because delivery must always be made with quality, regardless of whether that means reaching availability of essentially 100 percent or our customer service. This is also the basis of the widespread confidence I see daily in my contact with customers. Bankgirot has a position as a guarantor of quality and security and that is something we should be very proud of – and safeguard!
Louise: That we understand the challenges faced by and needs of our customers and that we can adapt our services with the aim of creating benefits for the customer. Which is something I think is summarised well by our values and the function they fulfil in my day-to-day work. We can be quite a small part of the customer's business while also having a central role in keeping everything moving. Our customers show great confidence in us and that encourages us to work proactively and suggest initiatives that increase customer benefits.
Niclas: Basically, it is about long-term work in which the cornerstones for inspiring confidence comprise our values. The level of customer satisfaction we see now is partly a result of the long-term work to be a guarantor for a secure and redundant IT environment. The values are also challenging in that they clearly summarise what our mandate is all about – delivering quality, availability and security every second of the day, every day of the year. The changes taking place in the world place major demands on expertise and innovation in the organisation.
What do you think will be Bankgirot's foremost strengths in combining the old with the new?
Eva: Our ability and courage to think innovatively strengthens us in both the short and the long term by helping us to do the right things today as well as two years down the line. We complement this with a unique infrastructure that is an excellent basis for seeing how our real-time platform together with the development of mobile units can be better synchronised.
Our ambition is not only to retain our position at the technological forefront in innovative payment solutions but to stay at least two steps ahead at every level. n