A three-member SilverBridge development team, who participated at the Microsoft Artificial Intelligence Hackathon, was awarded the runners-up prize in the Financial Services Industry (FSI) category.
The team consisted of JC Oberholzer, Henlo Ueckermann, and Yunus Scheepers. The event took place over two days at the Microsoft South Africa headquarters.
The hackathon was designed to facilitate the creation of innovative prototypes that leverage AI and machine-learning services in the Microsoft Azure cloud. It was used as a platform for developers to showcase their talents and build something innovative by highlighting how Azure AI services can improve people’s lives and experiences in the FSI and Health services industries.
Six teams competed against one another by creating prototypes and presentations using Microsoft Azure AI services.
“The SilverBridge developers used the cognitive Services Vision API (application programming interface) with a specific focus on facial recognition to build an app focussed on client services within the FSI sector,” says Yunus Scheepers, chief technology officer of SilverBridge Holdings.
The facial recognition would identify customers walking into a service centre and provide the support personnel with information on that individual.
“AI and machine-learning have the potential to fundamentally change customer service in the digital age.The SilverBridge app highlighted just how far-reaching this impact would be by empowering FSI employees with all relevant customer information once a person walks into a service centre such as a bank branch. We are incredibly proud of our team for the recognition they received at the event,” concludes Scheepers.