‘Hackathons’ boost collaborative work and innovation
The digital transformation of the Peruvian banking world has led to a significant increase in new forms of collaborative work within organizations. Aside from technological change, there is a cultural change afoot, as well as a new mindset capable of generating innovative results for the ultimate benefit of the customer. ‘Hackathons’ are a prime example of this trend.
As it happens, staging hackathons has become an increasingly common practice within the financial system. Notably, hackathons have been shown to bring significant value in achieving innovative and disruptive ideas for business, through collaborative, organized work that can be carried out in just a few days.
Hackathons also happen to be a great way of empowering human talent within organizations. The aim is not only to obtain some kind of software or hardware development, but also to share knowledge, expertise and strengths among the participating collaborators and, above all, to spot new talent.
BBVA Continental’s first ‘Ninja Hackathon’
In line with its ongoing cultural transformation, BBVA Continental has been staging, for some years now, a series of hackathons aimed at nurturing its internal talent and obtaining innovative ideas for future projects. It even staged the first hackathon for a selection process. However, not all hackathons are the same.
A year back, the BBVA Group launched a new concept of self-training and professional development in technology in several of the geographical areas in which it operates: ‘The Ninja Project.’ Under this program, the first Ninja Hackathon was held in Peru, with participants set the challenge of creating a fintech.
Over two and a half days, 15 teams of ‘ninjas’, each comprising four members, worked collaboratively to set up a fintech capable of improving upon an existing bank product or creating a new one based on a real customer need.
The grand hall of BBVA Continental's headquarters was the scene of the bank's first 'Ninja Hackathon' - BBVA
Lupita Pérez, head of Engineering at BBVA Continental, underscored the importance of the objective that had been set: “This organization is intended to bring together various areas of the bank. The fact that the business area is taking part as a sponsor of the hackathon lets us learn first-hand about the needs of our customers, while also allowing the engineering teams to work on an innovative and attractive fintech for them,” she explained.
Meanwhile, Milovan Dragañac, manager at Talent Solutions, remarked on how the event is linked to the bank’s digital transformation. “We talk a lot about transformation and about how we are changing, and this hackathon is a prime example. Here we highlight BBVA’s new ways of working and we are sure that this is the best path for achieving innovative and disruptive results within the financial system.”
Aside from those actually taking part in the challenge, the internal ‘Open Innovation’ team helped to organize the event by providing the teams with agile coaches, who guided the timing and agile dynamics of the experience.
The results
The members of the Bank’s Management Committee sat on the awards panel of the ‘Ninja Hackathon,’ which awarded prizes to the three teams that came up with the most innovative ideas.
Third place: Multi-channel contextual advertising by geolocation
Team ‘Imagine’ developed a module which, in a proactive and contextual way, shows customers the promotions available to them based on their location, without having to activate the GPS function.
Second place: Financing of products at partnered stores via QR tickets
Team ‘Millennium Falcon’ came up with product financing at partnered establishments using QR tickets. More precisely, the customer needs only scan the code with their smartphone, doing away with the need for cash or cards.
First place: Smart Pay
Team ‘Black Hack’ was the overall winner with their ‘Smart Pay’ solution. They succeeded in linking the Alexa app to BBVA Continental’s Internet banking so that when customers want to pay for a frequent transaction, they can place the order using their voice.
The 'Black Hack' team was the winner of the day thanks to the creation of 'Smart Pay'. Members: Manuel Ochoa, Josmil Tito, César Pacherres and Ronal Crisóstomo. - BBVA
The winning team of this first edition of the Ninja Hackathon Peru will now travel to Madrid to take part in the Global Ninja Hackathon, which will take place on November 21, 22 and 23. There, it will go head to head with the winning teams from the other geographies in which the BBVA Group operates.
All of this goes to show that hackathons can produce tangible results for the benefit of customers and improve the organizational culture of companies operating not only within the financial system, but also in other sectors and industries.