ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.— With more than 20 teams officially knocked out of the competition, eight semi-finalists are still standing in PSCU's Fourth Annual KnockOut Innovation Summit.
In total, 30 teams, comprised of approximately 200 people in four locations, spent 24 hours brainstorming the next greatest technology solution. At day's end, eight semi-finalists were announced.
"This year we have the focus narrowed down to three categories: member experience, credit union experience and growth," said PSCU SVP Marketing Kristin Scharf. "Teams work throughout the day and night—24 hours. They have the ability to rest, and we have areas with cots set up for them.
"They are very well fed and we have various activities set for them for brain breaks such as virtual line dancing and an actual boxing organization to demonstrate demos so they can get on their feet and be active, too," she added.
Starting at 10 a.m. on September 10, participants were challenged over a 24-hour time frame to create a working prototype of a process or solution that solves a real credit union business need or challenge. The majority of teams competed at PSCU's St. Petersburg headquarters. The balance competed in Hawaii, Arizona and Michigan.
In total, 23 PSCU member credit unions participated in the event. Teams were comprised of vendors, PSCU employees and credit unions. "This is truly a collaborative event," said Scharf.
KnockOut judges include representatives from PSCU, First Data, Filene, Solstice, IBM, Projekt202, Oceanit, Blue Startups, Arizona State CU, Vantage CU, Consumers CU, Lake Trust CU and Hawaiian Airlines CU.
"This year we gave teams a little more time [seven minutes] to present their concept," said Scharf. She added that while there were six semi-finalist teams last year, this year the field increased by two.
Who Made the Cut?
The 2015 semi-finalists and their concepts are:
* Team Accrual Intentions developed a charitable contribution app
* Team Debit Dynamite developed a solution that provides cardholders with an alert to let them know their card has been shipped
* Team Hawaiian Punch developed an app that allows members to obtain real-time lending
* Team Lava Rush developed an app that allows crowdfunding for life events
* Team French Toasts developed a business-to-consumer marketing firm within PSCU to create media for individual credit unions to be deployed via social media and other traditional platforms
* Team Haymakers developed an app widget that enables credit card holders to create and track spending limits
* Team MoPRO Active developed pop-up features that eliminates collections calls in early delinquency stages, offers multiple payment options, and enhances member experience
* Team Phoenix that developed a feature that allows members who have their debit cards shut down due to fraud to create a new pin, enabling them to continue using the card for ATM transactions for up to seven days while waiting for a new card to arrive.
"There is a collaborative spirit [here]," said Accrual Intentions team member Melissa Thomas, vice president of Electronic Payments and Card Services at VyStar Credit Union. Her teammates include representatives from First South Financial, PenFed Credit Union and State Employees' Credit Union.
Thomas, a first timer at KnockOut, added that she intends to bring the "collaborative" approach to idea generation and problem solving back to her CU. "It's been wonderful."
As competing teams hashed out respective concepts, PSCU employees, vendors and judges offered guidance. Also on hand to provide oversight was Bonny Thomas, vice president of Payments for Consumers Credit Union. Last year her team, Tech Attack, had the KnockOut solution with its balance-transfer app solution.
"Going through the experience of KnockOut is extremely dynamic," said Thomas. "To see a concept go from a thought to white board to a porotype—it's fantastic as is sharing it with other teams, industry leaders and judges."
Up Next: Voting
For a period of approximately three weeks, these semi-finalists' solutions will be featured on PSCU website for open voting. There will be an additional round of judging added: the TKO round, which allows PSCU subject matter experts to weigh in on the semi-finalist ideas prior to selecting finalists to go to open voting, noted Scharf.
"Then it will go from eight to three finalists," said Scharf. The grand prize winner will be announced by Oct. 5, 2015. Each member of the first place team will receive a $1,500 travel voucher. Each member of the second place team receives a smart TV and third place teammates each receive a $250 Gift Card.
"PSCU's goal is to help bring new products and services to market, especially those that fill a gap ," said Scharf. "We are going to evaluate all the ideas that come out of KnockOut."
In 2012, the winning entry was a mobile app that allows cardholders to report a card lost or stolen or dispute a transaction. Scharf explained that PSCU adapted this idea and incorporated it into a larger credit card data and account servicing app that is offered on iTunes.
"We brought it to market and it is doing very well," said Scharf.
