Everyone stays home, but intake goes forward 

Covid-19 has changed the way we work, but it hasn’t affected the quality of our work. With globe travel all but stopped, we still managed to move full speed ahead with our intake for Vantage Bank Texas. 

A few weeks ago, the bank was preparing to start their Backbase-led digital banking project for their new SME portal. As planned, a combined team from our Amsterdam and Atlanta offices were set to fly to Texas for the intake.

Then, everything shut down.

With the adaptability of our willing client, we quickly established that distance wouldn’t halt innovation, so we continued with the intake as planned. The kickoff call included more than 60 people with a vested interest in the project. As a company, Backbase is accustomed to working remotely, but delivering an entire engagement without any face-to-face contact has its difficulties.

Teamwork takes off

We at Backbase can hardly take credit for the success. Vantage Bank Texas went above and beyond to ensure that our teams were able to work together remotely, and as efficiently as possible. To that end, our partnership is focused on three very important things:

• Trusting each other
• Open communication
• Planning each detail ahead of time

Trust is key to a successful intake. It’s about building a personal relationship, one where there is mutual respect and confidence. Remote communication, although effective, doesn’t build relationships as effectively as in-person.

So we used several online tools to encourage interaction. To avoid Powerpoint fatigue, we also pushed for more video, real-life demos, and gamification. To name a few, there was Mentimeter for polls and quizzes; Jamboard for moodboards, idea boards and drawings; and Funretro for interactive retros.

 

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These may all sound like little things, but they go a long way when it comes to building new relationships. So we’d like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the team at Vantage Bank Texas. Their dedication, patience, resourcefulness and, frankly, light-heartedness, made this project such a success.

We’re all getting used to this new normal — but 100% remote was 100% successful.