PNC Bank – Winner for Digital Workplace Operational Excellence
While much of this year’s field explored the newest AI features, PNC Bank earned recognition for something quietly harder: a digital workplace that simply works. Its “brilliantly boring” philosophy, a deliberate focus on reliability, predictability and scale, won the 2026 Digital Workplace Group Award for Digital Workplace Operational Excellence. Serving 55,000 employees and 16,500 contractors in a highly regulated banking environment, PNC Bank treats identity, onboarding, self-service, AI and workplace readiness as one connected employee experience.
Now in their ninth year, the awards are produced by DWG and celebrate organizations and teams that have excelled in creating well-executed, high-performing digital workplace environments. Find out about previous winners in the awards Hall of Fame.
Brilliantly boring, by design
“Brilliantly boring” is not a lack of ambition; it is a strategy tied directly to PNC Bank’s enterprise credo of brilliantly boring banking. The Digital Workplace team has engineered foundations before introducing new capabilities, from preparing enterprise content in OneDrive for Microsoft Copilot to simplifying device transitions and strengthening secure access. The philosophy is consistent: remove friction so people can focus on their real work with clear headspace.
“‘Brilliantly boring’ says it all. PNC has brought the company’s credo to life in the digital workplace, focusing relentlessly on removing friction so employees can simply get on with the task at hand.”
The judges
Inclusion, service and community
PNC Bank’s maturity shows in how it treats inclusion and support. Its accessibility commitment extends beyond supporting differently abled colleagues to ensuring people have what they need, when they need it, wherever they are. The team has also reframed support from help desk to service desk, aiming for employees to leave with a solution rather than a ticket. The Digital Workplace Resource Center averages 175,000 visits per month, while more than 900 Technology Ambassadors and Digital Workplace Day events sustain adoption and learning at scale.
“They’ve got scale, operating discipline and measurable outcomes. This isn’t a help desk mentality, it’s a service mindset: helping employees leave with a solution, not a hand-off. Change management and community are core digital workplace principles, and they’re truly living them.”
The judges
PNC Bank is proof that operational excellence is a strategy in its own right. By making the digital workplace secure, reliable and effortless, and by anchoring it directly to the enterprise’s own philosophy, PNC Bank has delivered a mature, human-centred foundation that lets every employee focus on the work that matters.
Categorised in: → Digital Workplace Group Awards
