Sicoob Reduces R$3 Million in Operational Costs with Meta’s Support
With a nationwide presence, Sicoob is the largest cooperative financial system in Brazil, comprising 14 central cooperatives and 300 singular cooperatives, serving over 7 million members. To ensure effective corporate performance, the institution has been investing in the growth and maturity of its Process Office in recent years. Since 2021, Meta has been one of the key partners in this initiative, driving digital transformation across processes to align them with Sicoob’s strategic business goals.
The Process Office operates based on three pillars: automation, redesign, and performance indicators. Meta’s partnership with Sicoob began when the process management team needed to quickly enhance the capacity and maturity of the office, which had already been evolving since 2019. As a result, the initial focus of the digital transformation efforts was robotic process automation (RPA).
“Meta came in at a crucial time when we were strengthening the Process Office. We had a small team, many challenges ahead, and the need to bring in skilled professionals with market experience who could guide us in this set of process transformation and automation initiatives,” says George Laporta, National Corporate Performance Manager at Sicoob.
“Meta’s expertise in automation was essential. Additionally, their experience working with large companies across different industries, their unique and highly collaborative approach, and their flexibility—including training our internal teams—made a huge impact. Early in the contract, we had a coaching program promoted by Meta for our professionals, which greatly helped in implementing best practices and advancing the maturity of the Process Office as a whole. These were the key factors that led us to choose Meta as a partner,” explains Marco Aurélio Mafra, Process Management Leader at Sicoob.
Scaling Process Automation and Business Transformation
Since the partnership began, the number of automated processes has grown from 4 to 30 using RPA (Robotic Process Automation).
“Today, we can see that our transformation journey is aligned with our timing and strategy. We have structured standards and clear methods to achieve results. Thanks to our partnership with Meta, we are now reaping the benefits, scaling to over 40 automation initiatives,” says Laporta.
The ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously has also significantly increased.
“Before Meta joined, we could handle only two processes at a time per initiative—and initiatives could take months, depending on complexity. With Meta’s support, we can now manage eight initiatives in parallel,” Mafra highlights.
Beyond automation, process transformation is a priority.
“Our main focus is process transformation, with automation as a tool. After addressing our initial automation demands, we shifted our emphasis to redesigning processes to ensure they generate more value across our business ecosystem. By integrating redesign with automation, we ensure that our solutions are not only more efficient but also better aligned with our strategic goals,” Laporta adds.
To meet the growing demands, the dedicated team in the partnership has expanded from two to five specialists in different areas, exclusively working on the Process Office initiatives.
“Meta’s broad experience across industries allows us to bring in robust methodologies and a complete business process analysis cycle. We work with large companies in retail and services, which gives us a broad perspective on best practices. This enables us to apply successful approaches from one industry to another,” explains Mariana Couto, BPM and GMO Leader at Meta.
Banking Transformation Award 2021
One of the Process Office’s most impactful initiatives combined redesign and automation to reduce response times for fraud-related credit card disputes, which had doubled during the pandemic due to the surge in online shopping.
This initiative transformed a massive backlog of fraud-related claims into a success story for the Process Office.
By integrating process redesign and automation, Sicoob reduced the response time from 130 days to just 50 days, earning the Banking Transformation Award in the Operational Efficiency category, competing against 120 other financial institutions.
“The partnership with Meta was crucial in transforming our dispute resolution process. Their dedicated and highly skilled professionals played a vital role in this initiative,” recalls Mafra.
Greater Visibility and Strategic Impact
The transformation efforts have elevated the visibility of the Process Office within Sicoob, expanding its role to strategic business processes, including credit cards, lending, and consortia. This transformation has enhanced value delivery not only to Sicoob’s cooperatives but also to its members.
By integrating strategies, projects, and real-time, high-quality data, the Process Office now plays a central role in sustaining daily operations, ensuring optimal decision-making, effectiveness, and efficiency.
Ultimately, the Process Office provides leaders, managers, and technical teams with critical insights and decision-making tools, ensuring that Sicoob operates at peak efficiency and continues to deliver maximum value to its members.
