Latin American finance group benefits from Sodexo’s integrated services

Colombia’s largest bank, Bancolombia, called upon Sodexo to help increase operating efficiency and meet their sustainable goals for the next century. With turnover of more than 1.8 billion euros, and 20,000 employees, Bancolombia is a major presence in Latin America, with the operational challenges that accompany a group of this size. Since 1997, Bancolombia has entrusted Sodexo with responsibilities ranging from cleaning services to technical maintenance. So when Bancolombia needed a more comprehensive service solution, Sodexo was there to provide it.

A twofold challenge for Sodexo

Historically, the high number of technical maintenance stakeholders over various sites made tracking costs and quality extremely difficult. Sodexo’s aim was to find a way of integrating processes across sites, increasing efficiency and the company’s ability to trace service issues back to source. Bancolombia was also looking for support with the opening of their new state-of-the-art headquarters. Their goal for this building was clear: use green building initiatives to create a unique workplace environment that enhances quality of life for the clients and employees, while creating the condition for performance within the company.

Integration of services:  service synergies

Sodexo’s first step was to take over technical operations and maintenance management for the bank’s Colombian sites. After integrating maintenance processes and implementing centralized reporting, the financial group saw improvements in both the quality and traceability of technical processes. As for the savings objectives - they were exceeded by an incredible 122%. Sodexo also assumed full responsibility for maintaining Bancolombia’s thousands of ATMs, simplifying the process to a single point of contact, and so vastly improving ATM uptimes and profitability.

Taking the LEED with a green workplace

For the new headquarters project, Sodexo provided extensive support to help Bancolombia achieve the coveted LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Gold Certification. This required development of an action plan, detailed documentation, and calculation of energy savings. As well as having a positive impact on quality of life for clients and employees, this green building initiative meant further savings for Bancolombia - 10% in energy and 12% in water consumption.

Ultimately, Sodexo’s integrated approach to providing services created positive synergies throughout the company. By allowing Sodexo to integrate many previously separate services, Bancolombia not only benefited from substantial cost savings, but was able to provide a better quality experience for both their customers and employees.