“I’m accountable for defining the multi-year strategic roadmap for the Techcombank (TCB) group. And then driving the execution of that roadmap. My role is to ensure the investments we make across IT, data, digital and people are actually linked to our strategy. And that execution is aligned with the outcomes we want for the business.”
Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer, PC Chakravarti, explains this combination of defining strategy, and ensuring execution via planning discipline is unusual. Over the past three years, Techcombank has executed roughly 25 large projects totalling ~$400M. Touching every legal entity in the group and all three business lines of the bank, mobilising around 2,500 full-time equivalents. “The challenge was to ensure these large projects were delivered on time, on budget and met their investment case. Roughly 20% of our overall headcount were involved,” he notes. The result? Projects completed to the original timeline with “good business outcomes” and a “decent” overall return on investment.
The Art of Transformation at Techcombank: Building a Bank that Never Stops Changing
If there is a unifying philosophy, it is that transformation never ends. “Business leaders need to think about transformation as a business-as-usual (BAU) skill. Running the business and continuously transforming it at the same time,” PC argues. In a volatile world of new technologies and shifting macro dynamics, the alternative is falling behind. “Sticking to your normal business without transformation runs the risk of losing share.”
This mindset has been operationalised with enterprise-wide agile adoption. “We shifted a large part of the bank – 2,500 resources mainly in Digital, Data, IT, Segment, Marketing, Product & Solution teams – to an agile way of working”, explains PC. Quarterly reviews (QBRs) now ensure investment is focused to meet changing market realities. “We consolidated the whole backlog of the group into one prioritised list. Furthermore, we can quickly make changes to priorities and investment areas based on the changing market situation.”
The productivity impact is measurable. “We have roughly doubled the size of the bank over the last five years. Meanwhile, while keeping the number of employees pretty much flat,” says PC. “Our revenue per employee and output per $ invested has significantly improved.”
Becoming the Benchmark for AI-enabled Financial Services in Asia
Techcombank’s ambition is expansive. “We aspire to be the best in the use of digital, data and AI to drive innovative business models and solutions for customers,” PC says. The bank doesn’t need to be the biggest to lead; it aspires to be the benchmark others study.
Crucially, technology is cast as enabler, not constraint. “Tech is not the limiting factor, it’s about supporting people and talent to leverage the capabilities,” he stresses. The nature of transformation is evolving. “Everything is digital by definition. Now it’s about data and all forms of AI and how we can use these new capabilities to enhance business models.”