Not too long ago, whenever I heard the word ‘hackathon,’ I thought of Wreck-It Ralph from the Disney movies. Ralph was a video game character tasked with wrecking buildings, while Fix-It Felix would repair them.
In Wreck-It Ralph 2, Ralph broke the internet. I used to think hackathons were only meant to break things or show weaknesses in your systems or defenses so you can fix them before bad actors find them.
I have since learned that while hackathons may be used to break systems and defenses, they are more likely to be used to further or enhance products and solutions. For anyone else who did not know, a hackathon is an event where individuals or teams collaborate intensively over a set period of time to create solutions to specific problems or develop innovative projects. Hackathons are popular in the tech industry and academia – which may be why I never heard much about them in my previous banking career.
Curious minds collaborate at the SAS Hackathon
Hackathons foster innovation and creative problem-solving in a high-energy, collaborative environment. That’s why SAS, along with longtime SAS partners Microsoft and Intel, has been coordinating the SAS Hackathon for the last few years. It is a fabulous way for individuals to get access to the tools and software that only SAS can offer, such as SAS® Viya®, SAS® Viya® Workbench, SAS® Data Maker, and various AI-powered solutions.
During the SAS Hackathon, teams of data scientists, business analysts, technology enthusiasts from all types of companies and students come together – often virtually across continents – to network, learn from each other and from an SAS mentor, and experiment with new technologies that spark innovation and improve lives.
This year’s SAS Hackathon boasted 1,731 registrants from more than 70 countries. This led to an all-time high of 145 approved teams that participated in the month-long hack, supported by 110 SAS mentors.
Twelve banking-focused entries made it through the SAS Hackathon. In this blog post, I’ll review a few of these entries and summarize the key themes the banking industry hackers presented.
A bundle of banking hacks
Teams chose their respective hacks, and there were some common themes. The most popular was optimizing financial inclusion for the unbanked and underbanked. Teams from developing countries and developed countries addressed access to traditional banking services and credit. These are very altruistic hacks, indeed, as getting and keeping more people in the banking system helps increase economic prosperity.
The second most popular theme among the banking teams focused on banks’ marketing and sales organizations, particularly identifying the next best product to offer. Many banks struggle in this area, aspiring to match the expertise of leading digital e-commerce companies.
There were two hacks related to spending. One focused on optimizing credit card loyalty programs by tailoring incentives for each customer. Another aimed to educate consumers on how their spending supports local businesses, encouraging them to prioritize local purchases and boost the local economy.
Other hacks involved predicting closing stock prices, using AI to analyze procurement documents for fraud or errors and addressing common challenges in branch design and staffing.
And the banking winner is …
SAS celebrates the hackathon with winners in 25 regional, industry, technology, specialty and student categories. The winning teams represent businesses, government agencies, nonprofits, universities, and SAS partners.
This year’s banking winner, Raffles Vietnam, created a generative AI-based solution that manages policy documents, identifies conflicts and streamlines business rule configuration.
Regtech is a growing area in financial services, and Raffles Vietnam tapped into this pain point. Due to the wide range and large number of policies, many banks face policy complexity that can lead to misunderstandings and misalignment.
SAS partner Raffles Data & Analytics created RAGI, a GenAI solution built on SAS Viya. With RAGI, banks can automate the extraction of business rules and data fields from policy documents and resolve conflicts or gaps in credit policies.
RAGI also can translate policy and product documents into business requirements for business rules for decision engine configurations. By seamlessly integrating with SAS® Intelligent Decisioning, RAGI drastically reduces the time to market for new policies and products by minimizing deployment time and errors.
By reducing the time to analyze policy and product documentation, RAGI cuts IT and decision engine implementation time by 50 percent.
Bringing the pitch to life
As part of the SAS Hackathon, all teams must record final presentation videos to demonstrate and promote their solution. Teams take different approaches to these videos; some are funny, while others are very professional, and still others use AI voiceovers.
While Critical Thinking Crew didn’t win an award, I want to recognize their very creative video. Like me with my Wreck-It Ralph visions, the team had wrecking or fighting in mind as well. Their Godzilla monster-like theme stood out, and their topic, Finance Fighters 2, certainly meshed well with that theme.
Critical Thinking Crew developed a retro-inspired game that uses AI to visualize corporate financial and non-financial data as fighters. The game enables users to simulate battles and gain insights into company strengths and weaknesses.
Get your hack on
In the end, Wreck-It Ralph really didn’t want to break things. He dreamed of becoming a hero.
Maybe you do, too. Do you have what it takes to hack a challenging issue and develop a creative solution that could make a difference in the world?