Hokkoku Bank enhances customer service and transforms its business with the Microsoft Cloud

Hokkoku Bank has served communities within the Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan for eight decades establishing a reputation of trust and superior customer care. But with its critical systems and tools on-premises, the organization wanted to move its operations to the Microsoft Cloud. Working with Microsoft, Hokkoku Bank embarked on a digital transformation journey that included embracing innovations powered by Azure, Microsoft 365, and Teams across the organization. The changes are helping the bank open lines of communication across previously rigid roles, freeing employees to provide better customer experiences by making formerly siloed information more accessible.

“We chose to move forward with Microsoft not just because of the individual tools, but because we recognized Microsoft is a business that could provide a total solution and that also shared our corporate philosophy and values.”

Tomohiko Kikuzawa, Managing Executive Officer, General Manager of General Planning Department, The Hokkoku Bank, Ltd.

With a corporate philosophy of “Trust—a bridge to a fruitful regional future,” Hokkoku Bank has faithfully served the people and businesses of the Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan for eight decades. The organization’s focus on superior customer service has helped it build close ties with the region’s communities and establish a reputation for helping customers stay financially sound through changing times, while remaining competitive.

When Hokkoku Bank wanted to give even more personalized care to its customers, it knew the place to start was with its on-premises systems and tools. By moving these to the cloud, the organization could modernize even more—technologically and culturally—which would help its customer service teams give faster, more personalized service.

“Many banks in Japan are still what they were 20 years ago, very closed,” says Aki Yokogoshi, Managing Executive Officer, General Manager of Human Resources Development Department of The Hokkoku Bank, Ltd. "There’s a distinct hierarchical relationship and there is not much disclosure of information. For us, it was limited to a certain level of position that could access information and send messages to others in the company.”

These internal limitations sometimes made it challenging for customer service employees to gain access to the right customer data. This had an impact on their ability to answer questions and provide the best service. It also meant that within different position levels there could be duplication of tasks, wasting time. In addition to democratizing access to needed data, the bank also wanted to improve communication channels between employees, managers, and executives to create a more communicative and collaborative environment.

Yokogoshi says the bank knew that moving to the cloud was the answer. It would also help future proof its technology infrastructure and position the organization as a digital first financial institution.

The path to digital transformation

Hokkoku Bank had already migrated its datacenters to the Windows Server operating system in 2015. But with concerns about disaster preparedness and maintaining regional connections to new facilities in Tokyo and Osaka, a desire to give employees easier access to information-when they need it, and help customers with more self-service options the organization chose to move to the Microsoft Cloud and power its internet banking with Azure financial services.

“We chose to move forward with Microsoft not just because of the individual tools, but because we recognized Microsoft is a business that could provide a total solution and that also shared our corporate philosophy and values,” says Tomohiko Kikuzawa, Managing Executive Officer, General Manager of General Planning Department of The Hokkoku Bank, Ltd.

Shuji Tsuemura, President & Chief Executive Officer, Representative Director of The Hokkoku Bank, Ltd. agrees. “We are trying to modernize our systems to help us be more customer-centric, be more empathetic, and support customer success. With Azure and the Microsoft Cloud we can achieve those goals.”

Hokkoku Bank is also using Power BI to support data analysis across the company and Azure Machine Learning to develop its own custom tools to address specific challenges including money laundering and financial fraud. Kikuzawa adds that security measures like threat intelligence through Microsoft Sentinel and protection with Microsoft Defender for Cloud provide the bank with confidence and compliance assurance. With these optimizations, costs have decreased, capabilities have increased, and the organization’s time to market has become more efficient with Azure.

To learn more about Hokkoku Bank’s Azure migration, please read this customer story.

Creating customer and employee connections

“This transition to the Microsoft Cloud immediately reduced maintenance costs by 10 percent and we’ve realized increased productivity and reduced delivery time. Because we can procure our servers much faster in the cloud, we can innovate more quickly to deliver the best experiences to our customers,” says Kikuzawa.

In addition, to help empower cross-role teamwork and reduce time-consuming internal processes, Hokkoku Bank introduced Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams to its employees. “Digital transformation is not just about changing systems and technology. It’s about changing the way we think about banking. Changing how we communicate, changing mindsets,” says Yokogoshi. With Teams as its main communication tool, the bank has virtually eliminated email by creating an environment where all internal operations information can be accessed regardless of role or department.

Tsuemura says this is a big shift. "We asked ourselves, how can we use Teams based on projects—that's how we started. Now there are more than 500 teams, and 80 percent of them are project based, so anyone can access them, with some exceptions for privacy.” With communication silos eliminated, employees are saving time while becoming more connected. “That’s helping reset the employees’ as well as executives’ mindset. That's the type of culture that we are developing,” says Tsuemura.

Built-in security features like multifactor authentication through Microsoft Entra ID have eliminated the need for lengthy approvals and streamlined the bank’s ability to share information. This has opened communication in what was a very layered structure to create opportunities for engagement across departments. In fact, the bank now provides a real-time broadcast of Management Strategy Meetings, where all employees can participate and are welcome to speak. “Whether it’s the bank president or an executive manager, we can easily bring people into a discussion that is happening in Teams,” says Yokogoshi.

To learn more about Hokkoku Bank’s use of Microsoft 365 and Teams, please read this customer story.

Building a bridge to the future

In a sector that is often slow to change, Hokkoku Bank’s move to the cloud is furthering its reputation of enhanced customer care and an institution people can trust as it makes positive shifts in company culture—and makes its mark as a leader in innovation. “We could see what the future looked like, and we chose to lead the way,” says Tsuemura. “We’re transforming our systems with Microsoft to center on the customer, introduce new conveniences without sacrificing security, and in doing so, finding new efficiencies.”

And with the bank’s lead in empowering employees with more equitable access to information and to each other regardless of role, it is attracting and retaining new talent, while also encouraging self-directed career development and networking among employees. “We have big plans for future implementations. For example, we will be digitizing loans and applications.” The bank is also considering future Azure OpenAI Service advancements to develop intelligent chat services and further enhance customer support. “We feel this will contribute to our community, increasing the productivity of our customers as well as the bank as we all move forward,” says Kikuzawa.

”There is no limit to digitalization and there are certain things that only a human can do, adds Tsuemura. “With Microsoft we can bridge high- and low-touch—we can work more efficiently and have the high-touch, person to person consultations that make the difference.”

Find out more about Hokkoku Bank on LinkedIn and YouTube.

“We have big plans for future implementations. For example, we will be digitizing loans and applications. We hope this will contribute to our community, increasing the productivity of our customers as well as the bank as we all move forward.”

Tomohiko Kikuzawa, Managing Executive Officer, General Manager of General Planning Department, The Hokkoku Bank, Ltd.