Hack COVID-19: How small teams can come up with great solutions!

In the beginning of June TOPdesk hosted its very first hackathon called ‘Hack COVID-19’. This was one of the ambitious innovation experiments of TOPdesk that resulted with 2 promising concepts ready to be further developed and implemented to help ‘hack’ COVID-19.

The challenging times of the corona crises brought to the surface the worst and the best in us. Besides fear and despair, the need for contribution and helping others also appeared more than ever before. Same goes for people in the tech industry. At TOPdesk we wondered how we might use our skills, talents and resources to help?

The story of the Hackathon

In April one of our colleagues had a chance to become a mentor of a hackathon (Beat the pandemic) organized by MIT. At this event more than 2,000 participants were present along with over 200 mentors. It was a super international and diverse group who were working on impactful and rapidly implementable solutions for urging real life problems. The dedication and energy was so inspiring that it even radiated to other people. After sharing this experience with the healthcare team and the innovation team of TOPdesk, the organization of our own hackathon was decided immediately. We all agreed that this is an excellent experiment which fits us for 3 reasons:

1. ‘Helping people, enabling opportunities, lives elevated’ This is the TOPdesk 6-word story. It is our motto / our way of living. Organizing such an event gives us the opportunity to live and spread our 6 word story by helping the healthcare sector. We have the capabilities and resources to deliver solutions which are useful in- and post-corona times.
2. Innovation is one of our goals TOPdesk is full of people with good ideas. What we often lack is time to make them happen. Intense problem solving environments like a hackathon encourage the development of new ideas. Time restriction with increased adrenaline, working together with people who come from different fields, with different ideas and interest enabling productive, creative and highly focused work, where fast failing, frequent testing with user involvement and learning is expected and celebrated.
3. Increase agility At TOPdesk we believe in continuous improvement, therefore we are constantly looking for and experiment with different ways of working. Being able to adapt and quickly validate ideas is something we always want improve and hackathons are great to help with that.

What was the Hackathon?

The three-day long hackathon by TOPdesk was an innovation competition where dozens of colleagues from different disciplines and from all over the world came together in multiple teams to solve challenges related to the corona crisis in in novel, unique and clever ways. Moreover the participants were helped by various experts from several countries. This all happened by using only virtual communication tools. This multidisciplinary global hackathon was not exclusively a software event. Development of products, services, processes, and workflows were expected. The 2 problem areas teams could choose from were ‘Protecting vulnerable populations’ & ‘Helping health systems’.

What is the outcome?

2 concepts have been chosen by the jury, which consisted of innovation and healthcare experts from and outside of TOPdesk, for further development.

1. Team Happy Volunteering pitched a volunteer portal for care institutes which is not only for the duration of the lockdown, but also very applicable post- corona times. By using the portal,

• Volunteers can indicate their interest
• • Volunteers can provide their availability, and take on organizational responsibility that caregivers don’t have the time for
• Activities can be assigned to volunteers
• Family members can stay informed about activities
• Care homes can expect improved well-being outcomes

2. Team Enablers were thinking: how might we make sure that that people who do not speak the local language understand what measures apply in the given country? The team have developed a website, COVID19-signage.org, that allows retailers, catering owners and other entrepreneurs to print the new health and safety guidelines in multiple languages on one poster for free. It is best to visit the website from a desktop. You choose the measures that currently apply then the languages you need and you can print your signage right away.

About TOPdesk

TOPdesk cloud-based software helps companies offer better services to their customers. With easy-to-use helpdesk software and over 20 years experience our software helps IT, facility and HR teams to manage incidents, create workflows, and keep track of configurations. Further it makes end users more self-reliant thanks to the Self-Service Portal. More than 5,000 organisations worldwide already use TOPdesk to increase efficiency and improve customer satisfaction. Are you looking for service excellence? Let us be your guides. www.topdesk.com