The Standard Bank Group has successfully launched its second annual Kuunda Disrupt Hackathon. The two-day virtual event looks to employees to find innovative solutions to consumer pain points, utilizing the latest technology with strategies that ladder up to Standard Bank’s digital strategies and value drivers.
“In a world where competitive lines are constantly redrawn, constant innovation and reinvention is imperative to succeed. At Standard Bank we believe that collaboration is crucial in solving the complex challenges brought to us by our clients. By making the call-to-action to our software developers, engineers, and product owners to cross-collaborate we give ourselves the agility needed to create real impact for consumers and drive change,” says Jörg Fischer, Head of Group Technology and Operations.
The Hackathon is premised on the fact that Standard Bank aims to understand its clients as deeply and empathetically as possible and then enable the human skills and digital capabilities to help meet their needs.
Standard Bank Group has an almost 160-year history of serving clients and supporting economic development across Africa. Leveraging this advantage, the organization continues to constantly create new solutions and engage new partnerships to serve consumers better.
For 2021, 186 ideas were submitted, and the Top 47 teams were invited to participate in the Hackathon that is scheduled to take place on 20th & 21st October.
At the preliminary judging, these teams will present their client-focused solution to a panel of judges, which will further whittle down the field to 15 teams. The Top 15 teams will enter the final judging where they will pitch their refined solutions to a panel of experts and defend their idea to these judges.
Each team has four requirements their ideas must meet to participate. The solution must use a cloud platform and feature the newest technologies. Secondly it must use one of the organization’s contracted hyper scalers to connect to clients by leveraging 360-degree customer insights and data solutions in real time, and really showcase the team’s curiosity, boldness, and knowledge. Thirdly encompass the Standard Bank Group Strategic Value Drivers which supports the Groups purpose, “Africa is our home, we drive her growth. And lastly the outcome must reduce costs, improve efficiency and/or improve client experience
Fischer added, “At Standard Bank, innovation has always been at the core of our business’ success. We are constantly looking to innovate internally and are using the Kuunda Disrupt Hackathon to support our people who want to build solutions that transform the client experience. We promise an exhilarating journey of insane energy, beautiful collaboration, passionate likeminded people, partnering for solutions for our customers, our communities, and our people.”
The Hackathon is open to all people both (permanent & contractors) in the Standard Bank Group, including South Africa, Africa Regions, International, Stanlib and Liberty.
Prizes will be awarded to the top three teams with the Winners announced on 21st October.
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