The Challenge

As a company deeply embedded in innovation, Lookout relied heavily on hackathons to foster creativity and collaboration. Pre-pandemic hackathons were predominantly in-person events, supported by spreadsheets and manual processes that quickly became untenable for virtual operations.

The new remote workforce logistics for Lookout presented new obstacles in maintaining their employee engagement and the criticality of allotting time for innovative thinking. A range of challenging themes emerged:

• Global Workforce: With teams distributed across the U.S., Europe, and India, Lookout required a solution capable of supporting asynchronous collaboration across many  timezones.
• Inefficient Processes: Managing Hackathon events through spreadsheets and various systems was a logistical nightmare. The teams were managing everything from submissions to facilitating cross-departmental collaboration in over 30 different systems of record.
• Innovation Dip: Without a streamlined approach, Lookout noticed a decline in innovative activities—a critical issue for a company that thrives on cutting-edge ideas, backed by patents.

The stakes were high. The company needed a robust platform to facilitate remote hackathons without sacrificing engagement or efficiency.

The Solution

Faced with the need for an efficient, scalable solution to support virtual hackathons, Lookout turned to Brightidea–a platform they initially used for managing their patent disclosures. It soon became clear that Brightidea’s capabilities extended far beyond patent management, offering  the versatility Lookout needed to transform their hackathon program.

With full backing from the CEO and active participation from the C-suite, employees were encouraged to dedicate three focused days to participate in their new hackathon event.

Brightidea addressed Lookout’s key challenges with:

• Streamlined Management: Brightidea automated hackathon processes, including idea submissions, tracking, and judging, significantly reducing the administrative workload.
• Enhanced Collaboration: Built-in features like commenting and team formation fostered robust cross-departmental collaboration, breaking down silos.
• Global Accessibility: Brightidea’s cloud-based framework enabled Lookout to seamlessly run hackathons with participants across multiple time zones, ensuring inclusivity for all teams.
• Adaptable Formats: Lookout leveraged Brightidea to innovate its hackathon structure, combining live presentations, recording demo videos, and with asynchronous judging for greater efficiency and prioritized ranking of compelling submissions.

By using Brightidea, Lookout could host multiple hackathons throughout their fiscal year. They witnessed increased engagement across their global teams, even with the challenges of the remote workforce looming over them.

The Results

Brightidea’s impact on Lookout had a profound impact, yielding both measurable outcomes and cultural shifts within the organization. When inquired about the impact Brightidea had on his team’s performance, Pritesh recalled, “Implementing Brightidea resulted in a two-fold increase in our productivity. I estimate that the administrators were able to save 80% of their time, while the end users saw at least a 50% improvement as compared to the alternative.” Other results include:

• Innovation Output: Hackathons hosted on Brightidea led to the development of a generative AI platform that simplified IT operations and directly contributed to Lookout’s product portfolio.
• Time Savings: By automating labor-intensive tasks, Brightidea freed up countless hours, allowing Lookout’s teams to focus on high-impact, strategic initiatives.
• Employee Engagement: Hackathons became a cultural cornerstone at Lookout, with employees proudly showcasing their hackathon event swag as a badge of honor.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Brightidea fostered trust and teamwork across departments, breaking down silos and sparking new ideas.
• Sustained Innovation: The ease of idea submission encouraged sustained innovation beyond the confines of Hackathon events, ensuring a steady flow of fresh concepts.

The Brightidea hackathon solution helped Lookout achieve their top-level goals of:

• Driving seamless and continuous innovation
• Enhancing engagement across all business functions
• Improving metrics-based documentation on the ROI of innovation activities
• Enabling and improving communication within the organization around all innovation activities

Brightidea didn’t just solve Lookout’s challenges; it became an integral part of the company’s innovation DNA. Lookout was particularly pleased with Brightidea’s platform for management of their deep idea backlog, streamlining team formation, facilitation of collaborative communication,  and time management and engagement with c-suite evaluators.

Ready to transform your internal hackathons like Lookout? Contact Brightidea today for a demo and see how our platform can drive innovation and collaboration in your organization.