Employees develop technology platform for CSR partner
Colleagues in four US cities took part in a multi-day hackathon to develop a financial literacy app for Working in Support of Education (W!se).
In one of the bank’s largest skills-based volunteering events of the season, 15 teams comprising 150 employees competed over three days to design the best mobile app for the financial-literacy nonprofit W!se. Deutsche Bank CSR has partnered with this organization for nearly 20 years as part of a multi-level approach to creating pathways to opportunity and economic advancement.
“We commend all the colleagues who contributed to the success of this Hackathon, which will deliver real value for W!se and the communities it serves,” said Alessandra DiGiusto, Head of CSR Americas, Deutsche Bank. “This event demonstrates the range of resources beyond grant funding that we employ in our corporate social responsibility work—most notably, the leadership and expertise of our people.”
Event participants included employees from the bank’s Chief Operating Office, Finance, Risk and Corporate & Investment Banking Operations groups. Working across New York, Jacksonville, Cary and McLean, they developed new technology skills as they produced more than 50,000 codes, 100 features, 120 model screens and 15 app prototypes over a combined 706 person-hours. Throughout the process they consulted with students and also representatives from W!se, who were on site to offer feedback as prospective end-users.
On the final day, teams, judges (including the students), and senior management sponsors Rich Shannon, Head of Technology and Operations, Americas; Eric Smith, Financial Officer, Americas; and Bob Neff, Chief Risk Officer, Americas gathered at the New York location of Deutsche Bank Innovation Labs for team presentations and awards.
“The teams moved quickly and efficiently and demonstrated strong project management, code development and presentation skills,” said Kresimir Marusic, a Managing Director in US Finance and longtime W!se volunteer, who led the Hackathon. “Each and every one of their proposals contained valuable elements that we will work with W!se to combine for the final app.”
The final product will serve individuals looking to refine their knowledge of personal finance; high school students prepping for the W!se Financial Literacy Certification; teachers interested in earning the W!se Certification in Personal Finance; and those who already earned their Certification and want to continue with their personal financial education efforts.
This was Deutsche Bank’s first US-only Hackathon and the first to use Microsoft’s Azure Cloud to host application development, test and run, with GitHub and Slack used as support. Participants received training in Agile and presentation skills, which they will take with them into the bank’s global Hackathon later this year.
Phyliss Frankfort Perillo, Founder, President and CEO of W!se, praised the level of creativity and collaboration. “This is our first Hackathon and it’s amazing to see such an enthusiastic group of volunteers,” she said. “It’s the biggest W!se volunteer event in our history and I look forward to phase two of development!” David Anderson, Executive Vice President of W!se added, “From the moment the Hackathon started until it ended, we felt inspired by the level of engagement, work and the teams’ keen interest to develop the best app to meet our needs. And indeed, the apps produced were all quite exceptional.”
Clockwise from top left: Jacksonville, Cary, New York, McLean
The Winners' Circle
Best Overall: Cary Team 6
Use of Agile: Cary Team 6, Jacksonville Team 2, New York Teams 3 & 5, McLean
Cloud Readiness: Cary Team 6, McLean
Best at Meeting W!SE Objectives: Cary Team 5
Best User Interface: Cary Team 2
Most Likeable: New York Team 2
To see a breakdown of all the teams, click here.