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HOW BMO DRIVES VALUE WITH EPTURA

BMO’s journey to streamline worktech for enhanced productivity and reduced costs

By expanding their existing platform and standardizing drawings across locations, BMO seamlessly integrated occupancy data following the Bank of the West acquisition, enabling a unified worktech experience and ensuring consistency across 50 office locations.

Key wins
60 floorplans added from BOTW
1.3M square foot consolidated in Serraview
5,000 5,000 total workpoints

Customer profile

BMO: A leading North American bank

Industry

Finance

# employees

4,500+

Location

50

Tera Oswald is a visionary leader and the Head of Global Portfolio Strategy & Workplace Evolution at BMO, a leading North American bank. For over 200 years, BMO’s purpose-driven approach has informed their strategy and continually inspires a commitment to progress. Tera embodies this ethos as she and her team lead the bank’s efforts to transform their portfolio strategy and workplace practices. Her expertise and dedication align with BMO’s commitment to fostering a thriving economy, building a sustainable future, and promoting inclusivity within society. Through her leadership, Tera and her team play a pivotal role in putting BMO’s purpose into action and shaping the bank’s path towards continued growth and positive impact.

The challenge

Merging organizations with differing people, processes, and technologies revealed gaps in data consistency and space management

1

Inconsistent drawing standards

BOTW drawings didn’t align with BMO’s creating gaps in planning and analysis

2

Unaligned processes

Differing methodologies made it hard to standardize reporting and data accuracy

3

Limited strategic visibility

Inconsistent data slowed space planning, move management, and design decisions

As with any acquisition, the melding of two organizations, where people, processes, and technology vary, can be daunting. Following the Bank of the West (BOTW) acquisition, BMO recognized the inconsistencies in how BOTW’s portfolio drawings were managed compared to BMO’s.

 

These drawings are used to inform strategies, review occupancy and existing layouts, plan design changes, and move management enablement. There was also a challenge in aligning and updating the processes and methodologies between the two organizations. This alignment was needed to ensure data consistency for future reporting and usability.

The solution

Unifying portfolio data by standardizing and centralizing space drawings

To address this challenge, BMO leveraged their partnership with Eptura to consolidate drawings, bring them up to BMO’s standard, and integrate them into the existing Serraview platform. Key Serraview features used include occupancy and space planning, move management, and strategic portfolio planning.

Eptura solutions

Serraview by Eptura

Key Eptura features

  • Space planning, booking, and moves
  • Insights
  • Workspace consolidation
  • Occupancy planning
"

There are so many other aspects we can use the Eptura system for, which has been great to see as the team has been settling into all the changes from the integration.

"
Tera Oswald,Head of Global Portfolio Strategy & Workplace Evolution
Bank of Montreal (BMO)

The Results

BMO streamlines space planning with a unified system and trusted data insights

Unified worktech and standardized portfolio:

  • Standardized portfolio drawings and space data
  • Eliminated multiple disconnected systems
  • Enabled consistent processes across the portfolio

Data insights and operational clarity:

  • Created a single source of truth for data
  • Improved data accuracy and reporting
  • Enabled better, data-driven workplace decisions

By consolidating into one system for space and occupancy planning and data insights, they eliminated the need for multiple systems and manual processes, creating a single source of truth. Alignment on migration scope and parameters early in the process was critical, along with constant communication and continuous progression. Led by Eptura’s project management team, the project plan, weekly meetings, and status reporting kept a good pace and allowed for continuous progression. Knowledge of the system allowed us to focus on providing key data sets, which helped with the seamless migration (e.g., alignment and mapping of space types and organizational units). The asks were clear and allowed BMO to provide the right information/data to assist with the migration.

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Frequently asked questions

  • What challenges did BMO face following the Bank of the West acquisition?

    After acquiring Bank of the West, BMO faced the challenge of integrating over 4,500 employees and standardizing occupancy and portfolio drawings across 50 office locations. The inconsistency in managing portfolio drawings and processes between the two organizations complicated space planning, move management, and strategic decision-making.

  • How did Eptura help BMO unify their worktech and space planning?

    BMO partnered with Eptura to consolidate portfolio drawings, update them to BMO’s standards, and integrate the data into their existing Serraview platform. This expansion enabled seamless occupancy and space planning, moves management, and strategic workplace management across the combined portfolio.

  • What were the key benefits of consolidating multiple systems into one platform?

    By consolidating into a single system for space and occupancy planning, BMO eliminated manual processes and disparate tools, creating a single source of truth. This standardization improved data accuracy, enhanced reporting capabilities, and enabled consistent processes across the entire workspace portfolio.

  • How did Eptura’s project management support BMO’s migration process?

    Eptura’s project management team led the migration with clear scope alignment, weekly meetings, and status reporting. This structured approach ensured steady progress, effective communication, and smooth data mapping, critical for aligning space types and organization units.

  • What impact has Eptura’s solution had on BMO’s workplace strategy?

    The unified worktech platform has empowered BMO to make more informed decisions about space utilization and occupancy. The system supports ongoing measurement of key metrics, enabling continuous evolution of workplace strategies and better alignment across the global portfolio.

  • What are BMO’s future plans with Eptura’s worktech?

    BMO plans to continue leveraging Eptura’s platform to optimize workspace utilization and drive data-driven workplace evolution. The scalable solution positions BMO to adapt to future changes and maintain consistency as their portfolio grows.

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