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With a heritage spanning more than 50 years, an expanding customer base and a continuous stream of innovation awards, Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) is driven by a desire to create “inclusive and sustainable prosperity” for all Filipinos.
A bold statement of intent perhaps, but for the publicly-listed business such aspirations are being realised through harnessing the power of technology.
Twice awarded Best Digital Bank Philippines by Asiamoney and Digital Bank of the Year Philippines by The Asset Triple A Awards, UnionBank continues to drive transformation initiatives through the deployment of innovative solutions.
But according to Donald Liwanag - head of Service Level Management at UnionBank - executing a successful innovation agenda is dependent on building a strong technological foundation.
Consequently, UnionBank partnered with Globe Business - the enterprise arm of Globe - in the “swift and efficient” migration of the bank’s "business-critical" data to the Globe Data Centre.
“UnionBank’s project team would not have been able to execute without the help of each and everyone from the Globe team who patiently granted and accommodated all our requests,” Liwanag said. “From preparation up to the execution, we experienced one-of-a-kind service and malasakit (concern).
“Everyone in the UnionBank team was overwhelmed with the Globe team’s effort and support, and we would like to thank everybody for their commitment and hard work.”
Globe’s enterprise arm offers a wide-range of technology solutions, spanning cloud, cyber security, connectivity and mobility, in addition to voice, business applications and data centre offerings.
“It is truly rewarding to receive positive feedback for the hard work and dedication that each Globe Business employee exhibits,” added Peter Maquera, senior vice president of Globe Business. “This validation will only further fuel us to provide a more efficient and consistent service to our clientele.”
Maquera said Globe's services aim to help companies such as UnionBank create an "end-to-end" digital transformation strategy, "one that starts from infancy to adoption, sustaining to henceforward".
Business credentials
As a leading technology provider in the Philippines, Globe Business is also making advancements within the Information Technology-Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry, billed as one of the top revenue earning and employment-generating sectors.
According to Maquera, strength in voice-based services and "continuous growth" in non-voice and knowledge process outsourcing highlights the “promise of the sector”.
“Globe Business is ushering in a mindset of going beyond business by enabling our IT-BPO clientele to do more of what they were meant for,” Maquera explained. “We support them with the right technology, infrastructure and the know-how to become the best in their field.
“One of the key components of building a digital nation is building a digital enterprise, and our goal at Globe Business is to leverage on digital capabilities to change the way enterprises operate to achieve greater business success.”
Maquera said the IT-BPO industry continues to display “solid growth” in revenue with an average of nine per cent increase yearly, accounting for roughly 13 per cent market share of the global outsourcing market. As of June 2018, the Philippines generated 1.19 million jobs, cementing the country's position as a leading outsourcing location in Southeast Asia.
Delving deeper, the average annual increase of jobs of the IT-BPO industry has steadily grown at six per cent, which according to Maquera, makes the Philippines one of the “most notable job generators globally”. In addition, it is now the Philippines’ second largest net foreign exchange earner, after remittances.
“We believe that our strong collaboration with the industry players and our commitment to make their businesses better made us their preferred ICT partner,” Maquera added.
