At CloudMoyo, innovation and creativity are at the heart of all we do. We believe they go hand in hand and one cannot exist without the other. Everyone is born with the innate quality to create something unique, bring fresh ideas/perspectives to the table, and provide solutions that can change the world. Staying true to these values, we held our first Techfest on July 21 and 22, 2022 at our Pune office!

Why Techfest?

The idea of Techfest was born to rekindle that spark in our employees and allow them to think outside the box. It’s a platform where CloudMoyo employees (aka the MoyoFam) is free to explore new ways technology can transform CloudMoyo’s offerings and services, then present this idea to a panel of our best and brightest for feedback, growth, and the opportunity to see this idea to fruition.

Techfest Season 1

The theme for CloudMoyo’s first-ever Techfest was aptly named Innovation, thinking out of the box, and geek-ing out. Yes, you read that right – the MoyoFam embraces being “geeky” as some of the best minds out there have been complete geeks (in the best way possible)! Also, let’s not forget that our most loved superheroes who always save the day have been geeks as well (read: Superman, Batman, Iron Man, and even Spiderman!).

Some of the participants took the theme quite literally and donned their most geeky avatars.

The first season of the Techfest was spread over two challenging days filled with individual and group activities. The activities pushed participants to test their problem-solving skills, showcase unique ideas, and in the process, learn and grow alongside team members. To encourage maximum participation, employees could join the event virtually or in person from the Pune office.

The organizers went all out and set the stage for the participants to present their solutions, kicking off with a message from the CloudMoyo leadership. Come the day of the event, imagine the set of Shark Tank, but replace the intimidating sharks with supportive and excited colleagues.

The Techfest committee members selected three challenges for the participants based on the current industry problems. An esteemed group of jury members was put together to evaluate the participants’ ideas and solutions:

• Hrishkesh Khasnis – VP, Engineering & Digital Services
• Prasad Kulkarni – Director, Application Engineering & Integration
• Sanket Saraph – Director, Analytics & Data Science
• Umesh Kulkarni – Associate Director, ICM-CoE Functional
• Kaustubh Vaze – Associate Director, Application Engineering & Integration
• Sujeet Karnik – Sr. Director, Solutions Architecture

Manish Kedia, co-founder and CEO of CloudMoyo, started the festivities with a motivating message for all participants! The panel encouraged participant creativity as that would be a key factor in determining their victory. But it wasn’t just their creativity that would clinch the deal. The following aspects also played an important role:

• Business value or innovation
• Viability or feasibility of idea or product
• Impact the idea can make
• Did the team factor in all available resources and time to pitch the idea/product?
• Presentation and soft skills

The Challenges

Whitepaper

One CloudMoyan (Alisha Memon) chose E-commerce and Augmented Reality as her Whitepaper topic. With a very creative approach, she presented how AR could change E-commerce for the better in the future. Virtual assistants, smart mirrors, and in-store navigation were just some of the ideas that can not only solve a range of problems for e-commerce platforms but also provide a new, easy, and seamless experience to consumers. Imagine trying on clothing pieces right from your home (even your couch!) – wouldn’t that be a dream come true? Bringing her lively vibes and superb presentation skills to the stage, Alisha kept the audience and panelists hooked to her presentation.

Business Problem Solving

Have you ever thought that maybe your team should be doing things differently? Or had an idea that could really help your team? Well, this challenge was all about bringing those ideas to the forefront. In this challenge, participants worked in groups to identify the problem statement from their domain or any other domain at CloudMoyo, and come up with better solutions. It could be coding, process improvements, system upgrade, new application, product, or services, etc.

Prasad Pansare came up with a solution for his team that would solve a problem for at least 150 CloudMoyans. His presentation regarding the automation of processes of ICI configuration was outstanding, to say the least. This solution would be beneficial for everyone in the ICI-CoE team as this would automate the configuration of contract types that ultimately saves time and avoids multiple manual errors.

Some of the ideas were so practical and feasible that the leaders are already considering combining a few of them to solve our current problems.

Prasad Kulkarni, Panelist and Director – Application Engineering and Integration said “Tech-It-Out gave the employees a platform to apply their creativity, knowledge and innovate without any constraints and go beyond the daily routine of 9-5 tasks. It was really good to see the non-technical folks and the younger talent taking the initiative to learn about different technologies and thinking about the future.”

Customer Challenge

Our challenges weren’t just restricted to the ones faced by CloudMoyo. In this challenge, participants worked in collaboration to identify real-time problems and come up with creative ideas or ways to be able to cater to customers and crack the deal.

The topics for all the challenges varied from a range of subject areas around data warehousing, data lakehouse, data migration, AI, AR, product visualization, Power BI, Azure Data Platforms, and many others. The fest saw substantial participation with 24 members of the MoyoFam battling it out to see who would emerge as the best techie!

What We Learned

We live screened the whole event and recorded in real-time so CloudMoyans from anywhere in the world could participate and watch.

What was in it for the participants you ask? Apart from the amazing opportunity to go crazy with their ideas and work on exciting solutions with their fellow team members, the winners of the fest will receive two additional paid days off, an unbelievable cash prize, and coffee with their Line of Business head. But this isn’t even the best part – every promising idea will be incubated by the heads at CloudMoyo to check its feasibility as a future business model!

When asked about summing up the Techfest, our MoyoFam described it as: Innovation, Learning, Growth, and Fun!

“It was a very thrilling experience. It was great to work in a team after so long for an extracurricular activity that wasn’t a part of the daily 9-5 tasks. Everyone was looking forward to something with this event – the extra two days’ leave, gaining new knowledge, or just having fun. I, for one, created a chatbot that I would not have created under any other circumstance. We had the chance to learn from members we have never interacted with and all in all and it was a great experience despite the busy schedule” says Alisha Memon, when asked about their experience at the Techfest.

To no one’s surprise, the Techfest brought out the best in our employees and it was fulfilling to see the Pune headquarters brimming with creativity and enthusiasm. The whole point was to bring back creativity to our work and reinvigorate employees in their work – we’re proud to say we did that and more. Some of what came from Techfest is applicable to CloudMoyo’s business and it has allowed more of our employees to make a more visible and direct impact on the work we do every single day!

Is there a Techfest Season 2?

Techfest is an annual event and we can expect the next season to come out next year! With more challenging and enticing rounds, Techfest 2.0 promises to be a launchpad for innovation and creativity that solve real-world problems.

Before you leave, a short message for the MoyoFam – if you’ve got an idea, don’t hold back! You can always reach out to your line of business head, your manager, your co-worker, or anyone else in the organization. Your ideas are waiting to turn into reality, all you’ve got to do is take that first step. And as you know, you always have the MoyoFam to help you at every step of the way. Here’s to innovating and creating!

Want to learn more about CloudMoyo? Visit our new website here or contact us!