DBS Ideathon 2016-17, Live More, Bank Less!

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"You bank to live, not live to bank."

Believe it or not, Money drives the world and we need it to fulfil almost all our needs and it is a huge bank balance that also brings us a feeling of security in the modern world. But the journey with money can be a rough one until and unless we are prudent enough to manage it well, and this is where the role of sensible banking comes into play and who can understand it better than DBS.

The Development Bank of Singapore Limited or DBS was set up by the Government of Singapore in July 1968 to take over the industrial financing activities from the Economic Development Board. Today, its branches numbering more than 100 can be found island-wide. DBS Bank is the largest bank in South East Asia by assets and among the larger banks in Asia, with total assets of S$482 billion as at 31 Dec 2016.

After being so many years in business DBS has served its level best to its clients, however, banking is no more simple these days with all the backend complexities involved due to the online revolution. The security and innovative services can be the perks that can attract more clients.

To fulfil this need DBS looked upon the new talents to be the spark that would drive them to create products and services which are simple, fast and smart which would enhance the customer experience, thus making banking joyful for all. This was realized in the form of ‘DBS Ideathon 2016-17’

Team Formation

DBS Ideathon 2016-17 was open to students of select business school only by invitation. The campuses invited were IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow XLRI Jamshedpur, SPJIMR Mumbai, IIFT Delhi FMS, SCMHRD Pune, JBIMS Mumbai & NMIMS Mumbai.

It was open to students from both 1st & 2nd year of the flagship Management Course. Students could form teams of 4 members from the same campus.

Stages

Ideathon 2016-17 had 4 different themes with certain challenge statements under each theme.

Themes for the challenge:

Big Data:

• Real-Time Risk Analytics
• Customer Data Analytics Tool
• Cashless Schools Payments

Social Intelligence:

• Lead Generation
• Financial Inclusion

Customer engagement:

• Personal Finance Management Tool
• Mobile Banking for Visually Impaired
• SME Service Customization

Artificial Intelligence:

• Robo-Advisors

Round 1

The participants had to pick any 1 Challenge Statement and build an idea around a potential solution and submit the executive summary online in 300 words & 3 min video pitch. View the complete details of the Ideathon 2016-17 here.

Round 2

The entries received were subject to evaluation. Teams shortlisted for this round were expected to build and concretize their idea and submit a detailed presentation supplemented by a video of up to 10 mins.

At the end of this round teams-Thinktank (IIFT), Berserkers (XLRI), Idea_Ignitors (JBIMS), Crusaders (IIM Ahmedabad) and SPearheads (SPJIMR) made it to the Grand Finale.

Round 3 – Grand Finale

Top 5 finalist teams who shared the Grand Finale platform were mentored by DBS Leaders. The Teams were required to build their ideas and concepts to align to DBS Bank India operations and strategy and explore ways in which DBS Bank in India could maximize the impact through the potential implementation of their idea.

The Must haves for submission-

Situation: What is the issue? Talk about the stakeholders. What is the problem to be solved? Market trends, secondary data. Anything that will help set the stage.

Approach: How do you propose to solve the issue? What resources did you draw from to get the job done? This could be a prototype, visual models of a process, an explanation of a methodology or research presenting how the problem can be solved.

Impact: What will be accomplished? Money earned, cost saved, earned income streams – Anything that provides a definitive measure.

Winners and Awards

Team SPearheads from SPJIMR was announced as the winner of DBS Ideathon at the Grand Finale and Team Berserkers from XLRI Jamshedpur were the runner-up.

The winning team was awarded INR 2,00,00 along with a Pre-placement Interview call from DBS and the runner-up team received INR 1,00,000 along with other goodies.

Read more:

• Complete information on Ideathon 2016-17
• All videos and articles on DBS
• Recruiter Diaries of Topmost Corporate House