IBM-Westpac Payments Hackathon
Driving FinTech Innovation at the Intersection of Banking, Government, and Emerging Payments Technology
Event Overview
Championed, created, and facilitated the Westpac Payments Hackathon - a two-day innovation event bringing together 100+ participants across 16 teams. Managed all aspects from initial concept and stakeholder buy-in through to event logistics, technical infrastructure, and on-the-day facilitation.
The hackathon brought together developers, designers, product managers, and business stakeholders from both IBM and Westpac to build solutions addressing real Global Transactional Services business challenges at The Hive, Kogarah (Westpac Innovation Centre).
What Made This Hackathon Different
Real Business Problems
Challenges sourced directly from Westpac business units - not hypothetical scenarios. Problems that executives genuinely wanted solved, with solutions having a pathway to production.
Blended Business & Technical Teams
Each team included developers, designers, AND business stakeholders. Business participants weren't observers - they were active team members creating technically feasible and commercially viable solutions.
Business Mentoring Groups
Senior business leaders available throughout to guide teams. Direct access to subject matter experts who understood the problems, with real-time feedback on business viability.
Post-Hackathon Executive Presentations
Winning ideas presented to senior executives after the event. Not just a "hack and forget" - genuine pathway to take solutions forward into the business.
My first experience with a corp-run hackathon... being able to utilise an extensive array of APIs supported by Bluemix PaaS was one of a few major factors that turned the event into a smashing success for all stakeholders! The fact that the event was run to attack 'real-world' problems faced by the corp had also pushed the participants to become even more driven and accountable.
— Product Manager (now at Toyota)
Key Responsibilities
Event Creation & Championing
- Conceived and pitched the hackathon concept to IBM and Westpac leadership
- Secured executive sponsorship from both organisations
- Built the business case and secured funding
Event Organisation
- End-to-end hackathon planning including venue selection, scheduling, and resource allocation
- Stakeholder management across IBM and Westpac executive leadership
- Designed the Prepare → Ideate → Design → Build → Pitch methodology
- Created detailed personas representing each business challenge
- Developed evaluation rubrics and judging criteria
Technical Infrastructure
- Setting up IBM Bluemix development environments, APIs, and technical resources
- Created starter code, documentation, and sample datasets
- Enabled ecosystem partner platforms and integrations
Participant Management & Facilitation
- Coordinated blended teams of front-end devs, backend devs, mobile devs, designers, product managers, and business people
- Organised pre-enablement training sessions
- Facilitated the entire two-day event including exercises, persona walk-throughs, and ideation sessions
- Managed pitches and judging process
Business Challenges Addressed
The hackathon focused on 8 business problems across three strategic areas (2 teams per problem = 16 teams):
Global Transactional Services
- • Real-time Account Balance across corporate accounts
- • Smart Payment Scheduling with event and business rule-driven triggers
- • Corporate Card Rebates automation
New Payments Platform (NPP)
- • Payments with Mobile Number/Alias
- • Bill Splitter with social integrations
Government Opportunities
- • Grants Management System
- • Small Intra-Government Payments
- • Financial Management Portal
Innovation Approach
Event Methodology
Evaluation Criteria
Key Outcomes
- Successfully delivered first IBM-facilitated hackathon at Westpac's innovation hub
- 100+ participants engaged across 16 teams
- Generated innovative solutions for real banking and government payment challenges
- Established template for future enterprise hackathons
- Strengthened IBM-Westpac partnership through collaborative innovation
- Drove cultural change around agile innovation methodologies
- Post-event presentations took winning ideas forward to executive leadership
Scale of Executive Involvement
Westpac
CTO, CIO, General Managers, Directors, and Senior Managers across Global Transactional Services, GroupTech, and WIB Technology
IBM
Managing Director, Vice Presidents, Client Executives, and technical specialists
20+ senior stakeholders from both organisations involved in judging, sponsorship, and support