By Kathy Gibson
This week’s FNB Codefest saw 48 teams from various group companies battle it out in a 48-hour hackathon, to be one of the 10 to face a “Dragons’ Den” of business and technology judges.
The Codefest event gives the banking group’s IT staff members an opportunity to present their own ideas and innovations, along with a platform to prove their feasibility.
Dozens of ideas were presented for the event, with 48 making the final cut and getting the chance to participate in Codefest. These teams presented their ideas and the scope of their projects before starting the 48-hour coding marathon that concluded this morning (7 October).
A wealth of new ideas and innovations have come to life during the event, and many will eventually make their way into production, to form part of the group’s IT offering.
FNB’s mission to make itself more customer-centric was an almost-constant theme through the week, with new systems and apps designed mainly around improving how customers deal with the organisation; and making their interactions simpler and more rewarding.
Other solutions seek to improve communication and document flow within the bank itself, and ease workflow for employees.
A major focus for all the teams was in reducing paperwork, increasing the time required for decision-making, and tailoring services to the specific customer or employee, integrating many of the bank’s back-end systems, surfacing insights from various sources, and applying artificial intelligence.
FNB is encouraging innovation in new technologies and processes, including blockchain. Cross-functional teams were encouraged, to make Agile and DevOps principles come to life.
Pictured: The end of a 48-hour coding marathon this morning.