One iota’s 2017 Hackathon showcases the future of retail
This year’s Hackathon proved yet again to be a huge success, both with the One iota team and the guest judges we invited along to select the 2017 Judges’ Award.
The 30 hours seemed to fly by in a heartbeat, and for all the teams the last few hours on Day 2 were pretty manic…to say the least!
As the klaxon sounded at 3pm, it was tools down and time for a quick breather before the presentations of the future of retail kicked off. This year we were delighted to have guest judges from Hugo Boss and and JD Sports on the Judging Panel, along with our MD Chris Brooks — all of whom came armed with a notepad and pen ready to scribble down their feedback on the projects.
Each team had 15mins to present and demo their prototype, and it was down to Team Takeover to kick off proceedings…with one team member presenting from The Sharp Project, another based at our Rossendale office and another joining the team remotely from Spain — the wonders of technology!
The calibre of projects was extremely high this year, with each team presenting prototypes that all solved the original challenge of ‘Improving or creating a sales channel for our clients’. It was also great to see that many of the teams had focused on the store experience in particular — finding ways in which our clients can further digitally transform their in-store experience, to improve service and increase sales.
Paul Aspden, Operations Director, “The teams invested a huge amount of creativity and skill into this year’s Hackathon and it was a delight to see so many ideas that became prototypes in just 30 hours. With the right resource in place, I can see many of the projects moving towards production, and benefitting our clients very quickly.”
As the presentations came to a close, it was time to vote for the coveted People’s Choice Award and the Judges’ Award. Discussions were had behind closed doors, and votes cast by all parties, before we headed into Manchester for the evening’s celebrations. Once everyone had arrived at the venue it was time to announce the winners of the 2017 Hackathon awards…
And this year, for the first time ever, we had a DOUBLE winner, as Cli-Mates were awarded both the People’s Choice Award AND the Judges’ Award for their weather-responsive digital signage! A huge well done to Cli-Mates, and all the teams who took part in this year’s event. As one of the judges commented “I was amazed by the whole event, and to see all the great ideas. I really enjoyed the sneak peek into the future of shopping.”
Over the next few weeks we’ll be sharing more details about each of the projects, but if in the meantime you’d like a preview of what the One iota team believe is the future of retail, then simply get in touch by emailing info@itsoneiota.com or calling us on 0843 216 1010.
