BNP Paribas is a European leader in banking and financial services with nearly 185,000 employees across 75 countries. Until 2008, BNP Paribas used two ERP systems to provide talent management to nearly 60 percent of the organisation’s employees. In 2008, BNP Paribas acquired Fortis, increasing the number of employees significantly and intensifying the internationalisation of the business. The company sought to create consistency across all levels of its business, including within its human resource information system (HRIS). Theimplementation of flexible performance and learning solutions that were able to meet local and international challenges was essential. It also wanted to implement solutions capable of meeting cost-based requirements.

Why Cornerstone

To meet these challenges, BNP Paribas chose Cornerstone OnDemand. Because Cornerstone solutions are delivered as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), they met BNP Paribas’ financial requirements as no additional hardware needed to be purchased or installed. This also meant that the deployment was fast; with no equipment installation to handle, Cornerstone could move quickly.

Cornerstone also regularly provides insight on upgrades, giving BNP Paribas a clear roadmap of the functionalities of the technology and highlighting which elements can be used to support the business.

“We’re really pleased with the speed of deployment that has been achieved with Cornerstone’s SaaS model. Faced with the challenges around integration and security concerns, we can count on the responsiveness, listening skills and consulting strength of the Cornerstone teams.” – Jean-Louis Pire, Head of Steering Centre HR Tools, BNP Paribas.

Mr Pire concludes, “We had the ambitious goal of replacing two ERP systems within a limited time frame and within a company that is not very centralised. Today, we have achieved that objective. The new tools, being a lot more flexible, compare favourably with the previous ones, offering potential that has not yet been fully exploited and a native scalability; both of these are valuable assets for the execution of our HR strategy (digital, social learning, mobile, etc.). We have certainly demonstrated that a best-of-breed solution can be implemented in an organisation as large and complex as BNP Paribas.”

The Results

• Ensured consistent and structured global learning. Following the deployment of global e-learning, BNP Paribas implemented a project to roll-out comprehensive Cornerstone Learning features, now available to 150,000 people. This solution ensures that learning is consistent and structured across the globe, but locally sensitive. Nicolas Martin, program manager LMS, career & performance at BNP Paribas, says it has been a success: “All the company’s employees gained access to the e-learning module within just three and a half months. The added value is undeniable and the return on investment immediate.”

• Optimised performance reviews. BNP Paribas is using Cornerstone Performance to focus on people, not objectives. The idea is to facilitate and optimise interactions between managers and employees; specifically, tracking high performing employees. “For the first time, HR managers are able to monitor the performance management process in real-time. The added value is clear. It is, however, a significant change that requires close support to be provided to users and the solution needs tailoring to local conditions and culture,” says Mr Martin.

• Enabled career development for 85,000 employees. BNP Paribas has used Cornerstone Succession since 2013. The solution enables career development and talent review processes, allowing HR teams to manage the careers of 85,000 people with the direct involvement of managers.