Facilisgroup’s Hackathon Turns Ideas Into Action
Hackathon brings collaboration and innovation center stage
Facilisgroup prides itself on pushing industry boundaries in the area of innovation. We know that often the best ideas come from within, which is why we just concluded our very first Facilisgroup Hackathon. The Hackathon served as an exciting opportunity for cross-functional teams of Facilisgroup employees to come together to conceptualize, ideate, develop, and present innovative ideas – all with the possibility of future implementation of their idea…and an opportunity at some great prizes for the top two teams.
Approximately half of our Facilisgroup workforce elected to participate in the Hackathon, which combined elements of empowerment, teamwork, innovation, speed, experimentation, and curiosity into a spirited two-day time sprint towards a final presentation.
Nine teams, comprised of three to five members took two days of dedicated Hackathon time to focus on solving a problem, creating value, building a prototype, and ultimately presenting the concept to a panel of judges. Ideas, presented to the judges, covered a broad range of concepts including data utilization, industry training, marketing, machine learning, and much more.
Matthew Lamb, Executive Vice President of Research and Development
“Innovation is one of our core values at Facilisgroup, and as a SaaS organization, it is the lifeblood of who we are. But if innovation was the responsibility of just one person, we’d surely fail.
“The Hackathon is designed to bring cross-functional teams together to implement what we talk about – to serve as a catalyst to turn ideas and discussions into action. There’s a lot of magic in getting a small group into a room and just letting them go to work, without restriction. It takes dedicated time and commitment – and with the Hackathon we’re trying to bring that together in one event, said Lamb.”
The final round
From the original group of nine, four teams progressed to a final round, presenting to the Facilisgroup
Executive Leadership team. Based on the criteria of creativity, business value, feasibility and presentation a final winner and runner-ups were named. Each team earned a cash prize and the winning idea will be pursued in the months ahead…the real victory of the event was the magic that occurred in the process.
“The opportunity to designate time for the sole purpose of creativity and innovation was what was most attractive to me,” said Jim Manno, Director of Communications, and member of the winning team. “It afforded our team the opportunity to devote time and energy to an idea that we believed strongly in, but that otherwise wouldn’t fall within our daily responsibilities. To see that level of teamwork and ideation happening company-wide was truly inspiring.”
There are plans for the Facilisgroup Hackathon to become a regular event, continuing the spirit of innovation and empowerment that was fostered over the two-day period, but the ultimate goal is how those qualities can carry over in the day-to-day culture at Facilisgroup. “Half of Facilisgroup is on the tech side, with the other half on the business side,” explained Lamb. “They all possess great skillsets, but often operate in a vacuum, which can be stifling. So, the sheer fact that the Hackathon has brought business and tech together, empowered to drive change, has truly been a great win in my book.”
