A digital banking app redesigned starting from customer feedback and the new needs that the current situation linked to the pandemic has generated. This is the winning idea of the fourth and fifth year students of the Ettore Majorana Higher Institute in Palermo who presented their idea during the last act of the MPS school-work project.
The jury, made up of heads of different Bank structures, liked the analytical spirit of the students, the ability to rationalize the information collected and convert these inputs into an organic project, integrated with the current MPS app that manages to combine simplicity and needs of customers.
Their idea of an easy and intuitive appointment booking tool directly from the smartphone, which generates a detailed reminder to be kept on the mobile phone via a QR-CODE, also amazed by the effectiveness of the display and the degree of detail provided.
The Bank, as a reward for all the young people who contributed to the project, sent a personalized backpack containing books and material for the development of skills and the in-depth study of issues such as diversity & inclusion and financial education.
The challenge between the different schools participating in the MPS school-work project was the latest act of an initiative which, since February, has involved over 160 students in 6 high schools in 5 Italian regions: in addition to the Ettore Majorana Higher Institute of Palermo, in fact, was also attended by the Grazia Deledda State Technical Institute of Lecce, the Melissa Bassi State Institute of Higher Education in Naples, the Agnolo Poliziano Higher Education Institute of Montepulciano (Siena), the Alviso Cornaro State High School of Padua and the Giacinto Girardi Technical-Economic-Technological Institute of Cittadella (Padua).
Banca MPS has joined the school-work alternation project (today “paths for transversal skills and orientation”). The project began its journey in 2016. Over the years, collaborations have also been extended to institutes outside the Sienese area, involving an increasing number of students from all over Italy. The health emergency due to Covid-19 allowed the Bank to rethink the project from a digital perspective for a wider audience, organizing virtual meetings with young people in a series of appointments that alternated training moments with others of a more practical and interactive nature. .
The path, for all the children of the schools involved, began in February with the Talent Days, days dedicated to job orientation, the analysis of soft skills and the preparation of a curriculum vitae before facing a job interview. Great emphasis was also placed on the importance of social media in the world of work, with particular attention to social media reputation. The training module then focused on current issues and how Covid-19 has influenced the economy and the world of work by correlating the flow of investments and employment levels in the sector to understand how the labor market will evolve in the near future. In the second phase of the project, Banca MPS proposed a challenge to all participating schools in which to imagine which service they would like to find in the bank of the future. The challenge allowed them to give ample space to their imagination with the possibility of presenting a project concerning a wide range of solutions: from banking products to the use of innovative channels, passing through new ways of understanding apps and websites, conventions, sponsorships, training moments, etc.
Professionals from the Bank were made available to students during brainstorming moments to refine the ideas proposed, structure and integrate them in order to arrive at the final moment, that is the challenge with the other participating institutions, and present a structured idea to the jury , made up of heads of various structures of Banca MPS, which was asked to choose the winning project.
The final, which took place via zoom, gave each institution ten minutes to present their pitch and enhance their idea in front of the jury. The most popular topic was that of financial education for young people in different ways: from the Tik-Tok profile of Banca MPS to talk to young people about finance, to real trade fairs focused on economic and social issues. There was no lack of proposals to set up economic and financial courses held by bank specialists in high schools, or even the possibility for the most deserving students to have concrete help from the bank, including economic ones, throughout their studies up to entry into the world of work.
A tendency towards attention to sustainability issues that goes hand in hand with the propensity of the new generations to use new technologies. With this new method spread throughout the country, Banca Monte dei Paschi wants to confirm and strengthen its role as a point of reference for the orientation and training of young people. The Bank seeks a continuous dialogue with young people with all the initiatives that fall within “MPS Orienta”, the program that includes the activities that Banca Mps dedicates to career guidance, structured on a national scale and divided into specific activities ( internships, advanced training and research apprenticeships, talent days, collaborations with schools and universities …), to be carried out both within
of corporate structures and through participation in dedicated events and meetings.
A proposal created to bridge the gap between the world of work and that of school, with the aim of transmitting not only purely specialized knowledge, but also transversal skills, essential for personal growth and development.