Like many small banks, the Exchange Bank in Santa Rose, California, found itself managing lots of projects without an official project manager in sight. They were also drowning in email, meetings, and spreadsheets—all of which meant project data was difficult to access when it came time to show compliance to bank examiners.
Choosing to end the email madness, the $2.2 billion bank decided to invest in a new project management and collaboration system. The bank initially rolled out Planview ProjectPlace to 20 users as a pilot program. Today, they have expanded to 110 users, more than a quarter of the bank’s employees.
In a recent article in American Banker, they explain why ProjectPlace has been such a great fit for their company. The system is easy for everyone to navigate—from those end-users already familiar with project management software to the pencil and notebook crew.
“We needed something that would be intuitive for anyone to use, but also allowed those that wanted to really drill down to the nitty-gritty,” said Jane Daniel, an assistant vice president at Exchange.
The bank had to change a few minds along the way to encourage employees to adopt the new system, but once on board, they determined about half of their projects could be streamlined. This has reduced the number of hours spent weekly reviewing status report to about 45 minutes.
An additional bonus they discovered was that they could use ProjectPlace as a recruiting tool for millennials. This generation is eager to work with employers who already have project management and collaboration tools.
Are you thinking of adding your own project management and collaboration system? Stop drowning in spreadsheets and emails. Explore how one community bank took the plunge. Read the article.
