By Isaac Galang

The Aboitiz Culture Tribe continues to reimagine ways of working to become more open, faster, and smarter. 2024 marks our transformation phase of "Becoming" and one ideal way to see the progress is through squads’ presentations of their milestones and accomplishments.

Last July 5, agile squads from AboitizPower, UnionBank, UBX, Food Group, Aboitiz InfraCapital, and Aboitiz Construction,shared their innovative projects through the fast-paced PechaKucha format - 20 slides, 20 seconds each. The event was held at the UnionBank Innovation Campus in San Pedro, Laguna.

The goal of the initiative was to recognize squads who have completed their missions, celebrate their accomplishments, and share ideas and solutions that are contributing to the great transformation.

Jaysel Bernardino, Talent Demand Head of UnionBank and one of the product owners of the Culture Tribe, shared that despite the challenging journey, there are solid outcomes that the teams would benefit from.

To embrace the agile ways of working is not an easy transition to make. You have to let go of your existing mindset, be comfortable with trying something new, even try out something that you might not understand. I could imagine at the start, these squads are hearing sprint, sprint backlog, sprint review, daily scrum, and sprint retrospective for the first time, scratching their heads probably, and wondering what are these jargons. Despite that, these squads practiced courage to try out something new.

- Jaysel Bernardino, Talent Demand Head of UnionBank

“We are witnessing the ‘becoming’ phase of the great transformation. In this phase, with our new mindsets, behaviors, and capabilities, we work on solving problems and generating impact. The work of the squads is vital in this phase and that’s what will push us to the tipping point of our transformation, to the next phase which is being or reaching the techglomerate state,” Bernardino added.

Aside from the support from the team leaders and members across the group, three panelists were also invited to provide insights and feedback for the squads. The event was attended by Noe Africa, Customer Success Director of Globe Business, Mark Sarmiento, Cloud Customer Solutions Consultant from Google Philippines, and Ana Margarita “Ginggay” Hontiveros, AEV Chief Reputation and Sustainability Officer and Aboitiz Foundation President.

The PechaKucha Innovation pitch event was a showcase of creative problem-solving. I was particularly impressed by the teams' use of Agile methodology to quickly identify pain points and develop innovative solutions. This approach not only fostered efficiency but also ensured that the projects remained focused on addressing real-world challenges of the organization. The event highlighted the importance of Agile in driving innovation, and I believe the projects showcased will contribute significantly to the GT2025 journey of the group. Kudos to the organizers and the participating teams of the event.

- Noel Africa, Customer Success Director, Globe Business

The seven different squads who have presented in the event are:

Project Trust Score from UBX

UBX's innovative credit scoring system meticulously evaluates alternative data points to provide lenders with a comprehensive snapshot of borrower reliability, enabling secure investments in top-tier prospects. This empowers smarter lending decisions powered by advanced machine learning and AI.

Brgy. Kamustahan from AboitizPower

This initiative is intended for APRI and its host communities to have a venue or platform for updating and feedbacking. This strengthened community partnership, ensured social acceptability and addressed grievances within APRI's scope or control.

BaSCo from Food Group

This initiative aims to transform Basco's cash remittance process to minimize risk and maximize talent's skills and potential.

S.T.R.A.T (LWC Tracking Form) from AIC

This initiative intended to create a digital work order tracking platform usable across the business unit.

Overhauling (OH) Days Revisited from AboitizPower

This project aims to reduce overhauling days by one day or more from the agreed and approved schedule. This will help to maximize EAF and net generation.

Project Justice from UBP

Project Justice built the Judiciary e-Payment System (JePS) for the Supreme Court that digitized the Philippine Judiciary’s Collections such as the bar examination fees, bar admission fees, and case docket fees, among others. The UB Collection Products-enabled JePS Platform currently serves 1000+ court stations, its court officers, and litigants across the country following the SC Office of the Court Administrator’s issuance of a memorandum directing the mandatory use of JePS.

Project Equimax from ACI

This initiative created innovative solutions on Heavy Equipment Management and Optimization.

Being able to represent Aboitiz Power at the recently concluded 2024 Squad Pecha Kucha Showcase was such an honor and privilege. To be honest, I was worried that I could not pull it off due to time constraints, but that's when I discovered how extensive APRI's support system truly is. I was thrilled that I finally got the opportunity to showcase my skills. All the extra time and effort spent to finish the presentation materials and scripts was well worth it.

- Jarren De Guzman, Rotating and Equipment Engineer, APRI

It started out as a mission for Squad 3 at the early part of second quarter. It was a first for almost everyone so we were really just banking on each other to deliver. True to our theme of TransforMISSION: A Journey to BECOMING!, we wanted to paint a picture to the organization of what the squads have accomplished as early adopters of the Agile Ways of Working in a more creative way like PechaKucha style. Through them, we have a wider reach in spreading the new operating rhythm fit for our ultimate goal of being the first Philippines’ techglomerate. The seven (7) agile squads delivered an amazing job in telling their milestones in no more than 7 minutes. We are continuously looking for other ways on how to narrate our rapidly growing Agile squads’ journey.”

- Vera Crizzelle delos Santos, Culture Tribe Member, AboitizPower

This event highlighted the transformative power of agile methodologies and the exciting possibilities of Aboitiz's ongoing transformation towards becoming the Philippines' first techglomerate.