Krungthai Bank
2026 Regional Winner | Maximizing Impact
Industry
Financial Services
Company HQ
Bangkok, Thailand
Number of Employees
16,000+
Office Locations
Thailand
How Krungthai Bank linked learning strategy to business strategy with Udemy
Business outcomes
Improvement
of speed to market
Increase
in value realization
Enhanced
delivery quality
Challenge
Increasing business demand for digital innovation accelerates the need to equip IT talent with skills to navigate new ways of working and changing technologies
Krungthai Bank PCL is a government-majority-owned commercial bank and a domestic systemically important bank in Thailand. The bank plays a critical role in supporting government policy, public-sector programs, and the country’s broader economic development. As a key bridge between government, businesses, and citizens, Krungthai Bank combines its public-sector mandate with a strong focus on digital transformation, financial inclusion, and modern banking services. The bank is committed to driving innovation to develop relevant financial products and services for all customer segments while enhancing the quality of life for Thai people and promoting sustainable economic growth. Its vision, “Growing Together for Sustainability,” reflects a commitment to empowering better life for all Thais.
In September 2023, Krungthai Bank embarked on a transformation program centered on key objectives to enhance the bank’s IT capabilities and technology workforce. This resulted in the SpaceBlue Program, where one of the key initiatives was redefining IT job roles to align with the bank’s new target operating model. The team at Krungthai Bank redesigned and aligned its learning and development strategy, which was one of the critical pillars, to support this transformation.
In May 2024, the bank conducted baseline technical assessments across all IT employees, identifying potential skills gaps when aligning to the new operating model and new ways of working.
“Krungthai Bank took a business outcome-focused approach in designing its Skills Transformation program. We clearly understood what our business needs and what is expected of the IT workforce, and that forms the foundation of our learning program and investments,” said Nuttavuth Punpugdee, Executive Vice President, Technology Group, Krungthai Bank.
“Krungthai Bank took a business outcome-focused approach in designing its Skills Transformation program. We clearly understood what our business needs and what is expected of the IT workforce, and that forms the foundation of our learning program and investments.”
Solution
Building skills as the golden thread across the employee lifecycle
Partnering with IBM and leveraging its robust and proven IT Skills Talent Framework, Krungthai Bank mapped competencies to its job roles, covering technical domains such as AI, platform engineering, development, IT operations, cybersecurity, enterprise architecture, and agile delivery. The Talent Transformation Team, technology subject-matter experts, and HR teams confirmed every competency against the bank’s long-term direction.
Krungthai Bank selected Udemy as the learning partner in November 2024 to develop a structured competency-based learning program. The bank established three business outcome measures—speed to market, return on investment, and delivery quality—as well as employee engagement, before building a single learning path. Role-specific learning development programs (LDPs) addressed competencies across all proficiency levels, each calibrated to an individual employee’s baseline assessment result.
The program centered on three foundational elements:
• Target operating model: defining required IT skills and job roles before any learning design began
• Competency mapping: mapping competencies and proficiency levels to the job roles, using the IBM IT Skills Talent Framework
• Role-specific LDPs: curating Udemy learning paths calibrated to each employee’s baseline assessment, addressing all proficiency levels
“As technology evolves, skills are the currency of the future. A strong skills foundation enables our workforce to adapt, grow, and thrive in a changing world,” Punpugdee said.
“As technology evolves, skills are the currency of the future. A strong skills foundation enables our workforce to adapt, grow, and thrive in a changing world.”
Results
Increased technical skills and measurable value realization
The team measured results by evaluating training effectiveness at 4 levels, with each level grounded in operational data.
• At Level 1, Krungthai Bank structured the SpaceBlue learning program as mandatory across all IT employees. The Udemy analytics platform tracked active usage rates, course completion quality, and monthly challenge participation to distinguish genuine learning from compliance. The result was high active usage and LDP completion.
• At Level 2, pre- and post-program technical assessments measured proficiency shifts at the competency level, role by role. The results were unambiguous: the workforce advanced into highly skilled classification.
• At Level 3, the Employee Engagement Survey measured behavioral and cultural change through the Say-Stay-Strive engagement model, with engagement scores improving across every dimension.
• At Level 4, the bank measured business outcomes against pre-program baselines. Speed to market improved, value realization increased, and delivery quality enhanced.
“This distinction is the reason the program delivered tangible business and workforce outcomes, building capability, accelerating execution, and generating lasting value rather than simply increasing course completion rates,” Punpugdee said.
“This distinction is the reason the program delivered tangible business and workforce outcomes, building capability, accelerating execution, and generating lasting value rather than simply increasing course completion rates.”
Looking Ahead
Linking learning strategy to business strategy
Krungthai Bank continues to extend the SpaceBlue learning program to build proficiency in new capability areas, using the same model of connecting learning investment to business outcomes. By building a structured, assessment-driven, career-linked development program, Krungthai Bank is sending a clear signal to its employees: their growth is a strategic priority, not a discretionary benefit.
“Krungthai Bank identified a precise gap, built a precise architecture to close it, deployed it through the trusted relationships of employees’ own managers and HR business partners, and measured the result against the business outcomes it was designed to produce. That is what linking learning strategy with business strategy looks like when it is done with intention,” Punpugdee said.
“Krungthai Bank identified a precise gap, built a precise architecture to close it, deployed it through the trusted relationships of employees’ own managers and HR business partners, and measured the result against the business outcomes it was designed to produce. That is what linking learning strategy with business strategy looks like when it is done with intention.”
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