Innovation Unleashed: The Businessolver Hackathon Experience
Hacking our way to innovation
Innovation is one of our core values at Businessolver. We strive to build a roadmap that is not only innovative but also achievable and executable. At the core of our commitment to innovation is our annual hackathon event that brings together development teams to pitch and develop new ways to drive efficiencies and innovation throughout our technology.
Before we go any further, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page regarding the term “hackathon”. What exactly is a hackathon? One definition we like, is:
“A hackathon is an event, typically lasting several days, where people come together to collaborate in order to solve a problem or identify new opportunities. The word hackathon is a combination of “hack” and “marathon,” i.e., a marathon for hackers. The goal of a hackathon is often to build a working prototype, or proof-of-concept, of a product or feature in a short amount of time, and to have fun, improve skill sets, and network while doing it.”
Our hackathon brings together all kinds of different internal roles—from engineers to data scientists to product and business partners and more—to collaborate on creating solutions to a current problem or issue. This year’s hackathon focused on how we can incorporate generative AI into our solutions.
To learn more about the hackathon and our Solvers’ passion for it, we interviewed a few participants to hear how this event fosters innovation and camaraderie.
The value of a hackathon
When asked why our hackathon is such a critical part of our innovation at Businessolver, Janice Minn, Director of Product Management, spoke to the collaboration and empowerment it offers the solvers participating.
“The hackathon is super important for a company like Businessolver or any tech organization because it really fosters innovation,” she said. “It provides a safe environment for individuals to experiment, learn, be creative, and just collaborate. We work with so many amazingly smart and creative people, and it gives them the opportunity to come together.
“I think it also empowers them to have their own voices and ideas heard and presented in front of larger audiences that they may not be able to get on some day-to-day projects.”
When asked the same question, Alex Saenz, Director of Engineering, spoke of the power of collaboration and highlighted the value of putting time aside for creativity and exploration.
“We usually just focus on what the client needs,” he said. “But, by doing a hackathon, we allow our engineers to use their creativity and explore things that they’re passionate about. We don’t have one person doing the research and telling people what to do or what to look into. It’s a lot better for the company if everybody is doing their own research and finding out what new, innovative ways we can use newer technology like generative AI.”
Teamwork makes the innovation dream work
The passion for our hackathon is apparent when talking to the Solvers involved. As Janice and Alex said, it’s a special time of year that the participants really value. Marshall Mease, a product manager, has been involved in many hackathons and enjoys the teamwork and overall process.
“My favorite part of participating in hackathons has been the ingenuity and teamwork,” he said. “You know, what I call whiteboard sessions. I love getting into the nitty-gritty, working with our engineers, and coming up with some fascinating ideas. It’s just thrilling.”
Cody Heslep, a software engineer, said that he, like Marshall, cherishes the chance to work across teams and the opportunities it presents.
“I love being able to work across teams,” he said. “I think the perspectives that a group of developers, product managers, customer service reps, and all these varying job titles bring to the mix is super important.” And I think what often happens in these hackathons is that you come up with an initial idea, and then because you have all these differing perspectives that generally wouldn’t be put together, you end up iterating on this idea really quickly with the help of these differing viewpoints.”
Hackathon in action
Everyone who’s had the chance to participate in hackathons over the years has their favorite project. Many of them relate to Sofia, our AI-powered personal benefits assistant, who was born out of a hackathon nearly a decade ago. Alex remembers that critical hackathon so many years ago.
“My favorite project without a question would be Sofia,” he said. “Sofia was nothing like she is today. At the time, it was just a moonshot of a question, like—‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we had a little chat bar that could answer some employee questions?’—but we ended up getting her out in time for open enrollment that year.”
“It was super fun. I think that was the first time I saw a project we had put together that panned out. And now, it’s one of our bigger features on the system, and we’ve grown a lot since then.”
Hacking the future
Hearing from the Solvers who make our hackathons happen, it’s easy to understand the value of these events. For us, there is no idea that’s too “pie in the sky.” By bringing together diverse minds from across the organization, we not only foster a culture of creativity and collaboration, but also ensure our solutions continually evolve to meet and exceed our clients’ needs. We look forward to sharing more innovations from hackathons in the future.
