Transforming Rabobank into a High-performance Organization 

Rabobank

Transforming Rabobank into a High-performance Organization 

Implementing DevOps and agile working methods to shorten development time-to-market and lower the total cost of ownership

The Challenge

Rabobank’s ambition was to be the most customer-oriented bank in the Netherlands. However, the company had a number of challenges getting in its way. It wanted to have excellent IT delivery, be twice as fast at enabling shorter development times, ensure no downtime for customers, and be continuously improving with teams using performance metrics. Eraneos, therefore, joined the company to help it achieve its goal: to transform into a high-performance organization.  

“More focus and collaboration in the value chain shortens time-to-market.” 

The approach

To become a high-performance organization, Rabobank combined development and operations in specialized teams (DevOps) alongside an agile working method. Our assignment was to implement this agile transformation in the payments domain of the company as the DevOps teams had to become cross-functional and autonomous through the use of the right leadership. 
 
We put together a leadership team (management), formed two vision teams (leading product manager plus product owners from two sub-domains), and performed an agile maturity scan (preparation phase) on all DevOps teams. This resulted in a current state and desired future state for the payments domain. Next, we implemented a cascade between all team levels including leadership, vision, and DevOps by introducing weekly stand-ups for all teams, supported by visual management. This was the transformation phase. The leadership then decided on its role in supporting the transformation by delegating responsibilities to the DevOps teams. The teams then performed stand-up and coaching sessions at all levels independently. Eraneos was present in guiding them to become autonomous during their journey (the support phase). 

Rabobank’s ambition is to be the most customer-oriented bank in the Netherlands as well as the leading food and agri bank in the world. As a cooperative bank, Rabobank puts the interests and aspirations of its customers and members first. In the Netherlands, Rabobank focuses on financing and banking for the activities of the agricultural and food sector outside the Netherlands. The company’s products should be as simple as possible and meet a clear need. The company’s IT arm develops and manages these products in support of this mission.

The result

The leadership team now speaks with one voice, inspires all teams in the domain by organizing a demo (including a fun event), and responds to obstacles at all levels within days. Meanwhile, the vision teams have clear domain and product visions and prioritize all aspects of the domain on a central portfolio board. Lastly, all DevOps teams are now working in an agile working method.  
 
As a result, several hurdles to delivery have been removed for Rabobank, including shorter cycle times and continuous improvement. The work of operations is now largely standardized as well as being prioritized in the product backlog – with fewer incidents and downtime. 
 

Let’s create sustainable change together.