‘Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity — not a threat.’ – Steve Jobs
At Epsilon, we cultivate a culture where our people get to bring their best selves, and shine, at work. Innovation is the backbone of our cutting-edge technology solutions through which we drive growth for our clients and remain agile in an ever-evolving marketplace.
The EPIC Hack 2022, a hackathon competition held by our Epsilon India team this June, was a showcase of this ethos. Driven by Passion – one of our core values – the event saw close to 200 Epsilon employees and colleagues get together in our Bangalore, India office to develop disruptive ideas aligned to Epsilon's ad-tech product space and technology roadmaps.
What made this more special was that it was an in-person event, enabling teams to collaborate and connect over technology, food, and laughter, under the same roof.
The top five hackathon finalists were joined by the Epsilon leadership for the grand finale and an award ceremony. The first spot was awarded to Team 90: Chanakya’s, for their idea, CODECOP, an intelligent, automated code review tool that goes beyond traditional static code analysis. It empowers all levels of teams to develop faster, better, cleaner and more efficient code, while also offering continuous inspection of code security and quality.
“EPIC Hack 2022 provided an excellent opportunity to meet several new people and reconnect with old friends. For us, taking part in this event was a fantastic experience. It involved a lot of brainstorming, teamwork, and experimentation with new technologies. It assisted us in quickly learning new skills and putting them into practice. It also inspired us to work on our idea and see it through to completion. Winning this has been overwhelming. Our hard work, dedication and passion paid off,” the winning team said.
The winning team - Rajesh Bandakkanavar, Faraz Hussain, Satyabrata Sahoo, Shreyas Dhavali and Nataraj Patil.
Team 21: Skynet, came in a close second, with their idea Skynet Legion - a BOT service that can provide answers to the commonly sought questions by the Skynet development team members.
Additionally, two more teams in the top five were recognized. The ‘most popular idea’, which was selected through a voting contest, was awarded to Team 19: Falcons. Their idea i-Connect is a digital platform that can connect the Auto dealerships/OEMs to the customers, thus enriching customer experience, generating more revenue and positioning Epsilon as a leader in omni-channel marketing.
Team 78: Junction Diode, was adjudged the ‘most diverse team’.
Runners-up: Karthik H.C., Shivansh Kohli, Priyam Gupta, Vijay Salian and Anish Murthy
A hackathon of EPIC proportions!
Led by the Tech Project Management Team, EPIC Hack 2022 brought together the brightest minds in our technology teams, including Auto, Product Engineering, Shared Technology Services, Data and CJ. A whopping 82 teams submitted some incredible product ideas. They competed to come up with new and innovative solutions for our business, and, of course, stake their claim on the winning trophy.
Next, they had to develop a working prototype and present it to the judges – comprising 25 senior Epsilon leaders from across the globe. The top five finalists were selected on the basis of innovation and originality, engineering excellence, impact to Epsilon, quality of presentation, ease of implementation and teamwork.
The finalists presented their promising ideas to the Epsilon leadership (from left to right) - Myron Sojka, CTO, Brian Trevor, SVP-R&D, Jeff White, SVP-Technology Services, Thirumale Niranjan, SVP-Platform Delivery, and Ashish Sinha, MD-India, APAC and EMEA.
The EPIC Hack 2022 was a great platform for employees to bring their innovative selves to fore, challenge their problem-solving skills, connect with each other in-person and display our core values of Passion, Accountability and Inclusion through their work.
Epsilon India is now Great Place to Work certified! If you are on the lookout for exciting career opportunities, check out our open positions. We’d love to have you.