BBVA in Switzerland introduces agile methodology to accelerate its transformation

Meeting the current challenges of the financial industry by innovating and transforming existing business lines is key for any organisation that wants to lead the future. At BBVA we are clear about our purpose and our strategic priorities. As a team, we are already headed in that direction, assisted by the new ways of working and systems that we are introducing. In 2014 BBVA decided to change the way the organisation approached projects and adopted the agile method, very common in the technology sector, to speed up the transformation of the BBVA Group worldwide. This new way of working is characterised by fast and continuous deliveries to the customer, achieved by breaking projects down into small packages that can be executed in a matter of weeks. As a result, projects are continually fed by users' opinions about each functionality and development as they are delivered. The creation of multidisciplinary project teams and scrums (frameworks), made up of people with different profiles and from different areas, is a key aspect of agile methodologies. The first scrums at BBVA were formed in 2014 and today more than 3,500 employees worldwide, and still counting, work in this way. In fact, the number is likely to reach 5,000 employees by mid-2018. Nowadays, agile represents a formula for success. As BBVA CEO Carlos Torres says, "The agile methodology is out-performing every other methodology because we can deliver higher quality much faster and with greater commitment from everyone who works at the Bank." At BBVA Switzerland we have introduced this new way of working and are using the agile methodology to accelerate our transformation into an more agile and dynamic bank with a solid, innovative and competitive value proposition. Over the next few weeks, a group of employees will start planning work on the bank's agenda of strategic projects.