About the Federal Association of German Cooperative Banks
The Federal Association of German Cooperative Banks (BVR) is the umbrella organisation of the cooperative banking sector in Germany and represents the interests of the cooperative financial group both nationally and internationally. It coordinates and develops the common strategy within the banking group, which includes not only the cooperative banks but also the PSD and Sparda banks, as well as other institutions. Furthermore, the BVR supports its members in legal, tax, and business management matters. It informs them about current economic, political, and banking developments and is responsible for deposit protection within the financial group.
The project
The BVR (German Cooperative and Raiffeisen Confederation) decided to implement the full Office 365 product suite starting in October 2020, improve collaboration based on the Modern Workplace, and thereby initiate a company-wide change process. To this end, the IT specialists at q.beyond developed a change roadmap outlining all the key steps and success factors. Microsoft Teams was to be used as the technical foundation for the change process. Microsoft SharePoint was installed as a crucial communication platform and the basis for the new intranet. Furthermore, BVR employees received training on how to independently organize meetings and book meeting rooms, among other things.
The experts from q.beyond provided support as cloud and modern workplace specialists in all project phases and in change management.
Customer requirements
- Technical testing for the replacement of Lotus Notes & • Support for the transition to an Office suite
- Migration of all emails from the past 15 years to the new Outlook with 140,000 addresses
- Intranet with SharePoint technology & employee training
- Integration of Microsoft 365 into Active Directory & implementation of Exchange hybridization
Project goals
- Introduction of Microsoft 365 with all collaboration tools (Outlook, SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive and Calendar)
- Setting up a new intranet and enabling employees to use it
- Improving internal communication through collaboration tools
- Progress in networking departments and employees; launch of a comprehensive change management program
Reference Customer Report
Are you planning a Microsoft 365 implementation or would you like to learn more about it? Gain further insights in this report.
From idea to implementation: Our project highlights
„The German Cooperative Banking Association (BVR) has implemented the complete Microsoft 365 Office suite and introduced the necessary processes for the cloud environment. The association benefited from q.beyond's experience with numerous other modern workplace implementation projects. The introduction of the modern workplace has made employee collaboration significantly more transparent, direct, and focused. As a result of the implementation, the BVR now also has further improved processes in the areas of data protection and cybersecurity.“
Thomas Herbarth, Chief Digital Officer, BVR
Sounds exciting?
Do you have any questions about Microsoft 365 or our reference? Please feel free to contact me. I look forward to hearing from you.
Dennis Bendixen