The University of New South Wales’ (UNSW) Sunswift Racing team, led by Professor Richard Hopkins, has been competing in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge since 1996. This race, which spans the Australian Outback from Darwin to Adelaide, showcases solar-powered, custom-built cars. The Sunswift Racing team, made up of 45 undergraduate students across multiple engineering disciplines, has designed and built 6 solar-powered hybrid vehicles. Their most recent vehicle, the VIolet, ranked 2nd in the 2019 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge and set a new Guinness World Record for Lowest Energy Consumption in 2018. However, the team faced a setback when the 2021 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Eventbrite had lost confidence in their security vulnerability scanner’s ability to identify malicious code or backdoors attackers could leverage and needed a comprehensive solution to protect their global sites and M&A properties.Additionally, Eventbrite was building its security strategy for securing acquired properties. They needed a vendor that could install it easily, provide security coverage quickly, and provide effective web layer security for any future merger or acquisition activity with a single solution.Eventbrite had never utilized a web application firewall (WAF) as part of their security stack: the team was hesitant about the performance, tuning, and maintenance issues that are common with legacy WAFs. But they reached a breaking point with vulnerability scanners and needed a vendor that would restore confidence in their security posture.

Lendi, an Australian mortgage broker with over $12 billion AUD in home loan settlements, was facing a significant challenge in its data management. The company's business model, which involves offering customers a choice of over 2,000 loan products from more than 40 lenders, relies heavily on delivering the right experience to the right person at the right time on the right digital platform. This requires accurate insights into borrowers' needs and preferences, which in turn requires tapping into behavioral data on third-party engagement platforms such as Facebook, Google, and Bing. However, the data from these platforms were siloed and did not integrate easily. Even when the data could be brought into the same repository, the data structure was often inconsistent, necessitating data cleaning before it could be used. The responsibility of ensuring that stakeholders across the company could analyze and create actionable insights from this third-party data fell to Lendi’s Data Architect, Daniel Deng.

Oestergaard, a Denmark-based manufacturing company specializing in processing equipment for the meat and fish by-products rendering industry, faced a significant challenge in improving the accuracy of its bills of materials (BoM). The company experienced a sharp increase in product demand and needed a solution to better communicate design changes from the engineering department to the factory floor. Manual transcriptions of CAD BoMs into the ERP system and inaccurate BoMs were costing the company thousands of dollars in lost productivity and incorrect part orders. Oestergaard used Autodesk Inventor for its CAD system and the Oracle NetSuite OneWorld ERP system, but lacked a seamless bridge between the two.

Winchester Cold Storage, a company providing food grade freezer and temperature-controlled storage solutions, was facing challenges in improving the accuracy and automation of their receiving operations. Despite having an impressive accuracy rate of 99.8%, the company was looking for ways to further enhance this. The inaccuracies primarily occurred during the shipping of smaller orders that were intended to be case-picked but ended up being shipped as full pallets. Winchester needed a system that could verify the contents remaining in the bin location as a second verification of the pick quantity accuracy. The company required a solution that could implement count back checks through the use of MobileLink tablet scanners, include a system to check using counts for Bin or Pallet ID, alert the picker if the count back quantity is incorrect, and send exception notifications via email to the supervisor.

NuCurrent, a company known for its patented wireless inductive technology, faced a significant challenge as it grew. The company's technology is found in a variety of everyday essentials, from PopSockets® to smart basketballs and kitchen countertops. However, as the company expanded, it became clear that they needed a professional solution for PCB component library management and version control. Their existing system, GitHub, was proving to be inadequate for their growing needs. The lack of synchronization in GitHub made it difficult to reuse parts across multiple projects and changes were not getting propagated. This often resulted in issues being caught later in the development cycle, causing delays and inefficiencies. Furthermore, the company was using Google Drive and emailing files to clients, which created serious version control issues.

Global Play Network, an entertainment platform, aimed to provide its members with a single platform to perform various physical and social activities. The platform was designed to promote physical activities for fun and entertainment for all ages. The client wished to build a robust, app-based entertainment platform for members. The platform was to allow users to check-in at a listed number of locations using a Unique Code or Ticket. Users could also get pricing benefits for selected locations after purchasing a membership. The platform was also to enable users or members to buy Gift Cards from local or online stores that help them earn Global Play Cash in the application. This Global Play Cash was to be shareable with friends using emails or phone numbers. The platform was to have four different interfaces - Mobile Application for End-users, Web-based Panel for Partner, Web-based Panel for Admin, and Web-based Self Checkout (Station). The challenges included managing payment flow using stripe, including crons for past failed payments, managing different payment methods, i.e stripe, ACH, Global Play cash, and creating a report module based on different conditions as per client expectation.

MKS Instruments, a leading provider of mass spectrometers and other essential laboratory equipment, was facing a significant challenge amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The company, which holds over 2,500 patents and employs over 500 degreed scientists and engineers, was under immense pressure to support the urgent need for the development of treatments for COVID-19. The situation was further complicated by stay-in-place orders, which made it difficult for MKS's engineering team to work around the clock from anywhere. The company needed a solution that would allow them to keep up with the frenetic pace of work, while also ensuring the availability of parts for their devices, which are used in labs worldwide.

GC International, a leading dental company with operations in over 100 countries, was facing challenges in managing its IT support across multiple locations. The lack of a centralized IT support system led to a lack of synergy between different regions, making it difficult to get a holistic view of the situation. Additionally, the company was in the process of rolling out SAP globally, which created additional demands for IT support. The company needed a solution that could capture data from the moment a ticket is created until the problem is solved, providing a clear view of the types of problems users report. This was vital for process management and data retention.

Ice Norway, the third-largest mobile telecom operator in Norway, was facing a challenge in managing its customer care operations. The company had outsourced parts of its customer contact activity to different external parties, each using their own software. This resulted in a fragmented view of their three key performance indicators (KPIs): average handling time for each task, the hit rate (sales from an identified group of prospects), and the customer satisfaction score (CSAT). The company was struggling to strike a balance between reducing handling time and increasing sales through cross-selling and up-selling. They also wanted to maintain a high CSAT, which they believed was crucial for long-term growth. To achieve their growth objective of expanding their market share from 10 percent to 25 percent, they realized the need to integrate their three most-used customer contact channels: telephone, chat, and email.

ShipTo Partners, a Canada-based Third-Party Logistics (3PL) provider, faced a significant challenge in managing and tracking their inventory. The company started without any software, leaving them with no technology to handle their diverse shipping needs. Their clients' sales came from various channels, including websites, marketplaces, and physical stores, making inventory management even more complex. For instance, one client had over 400 SKUs, while another sold products with 600 color variations across multiple sales channels. The lack of inventory visibility led to discrepancies in local sales quantities and warehouse inventory. Furthermore, clients struggled to view inventory quantities for each channel in one place, and ShipTo Partners had no way to provide this information. The absence of technology was causing a pileup of misinformation and inefficiencies.

The Binar team at Curtin University's Space Science and Technology Centre aimed to create a custom-designed CubeSat that was smaller and more effective than the existing miniature satellites. The challenge was to build a CubeSat from scratch, as most universities traditionally use kits made in the US or Europe. The team believed that designing their own CubeSat would provide a more enriching learning experience and inspire others to take a similar approach. They aimed to reduce the space inside a CubeSat to create a more lightweight and powerful device. The initial designs were between 2U and 3U, but the team wanted to reduce this to just 1U. The goal was to fit all the systems designed at Curtin University onto a single PCB that could fit in their 1U CubeSat.

Metro Retail Stores Group, a leading operator of department stores and hypermarkets in the Visayas region, in the Philippines, was facing several challenges with its existing Oracle Retail Applications and EBS. The applications, which were deployed on cloud services such as Oracle Linux, IBM, and AWS cloud, lacked high availability, affecting the operational performance. The system also struggled to scale and handle traffic spikes and loads. The client needed to complete the migration before the expiration of on-premises licenses. The on-premises infrastructure lacked robust security, and the management of cost and resources was ineffective. Additionally, the client needed to upgrade the OS, database, and server versions along with the migration.

The Argentine Red Cross, a non-profit and humanitarian volunteer organization, has been working for over 140 years to improve the lives of vulnerable people across the country. Their work involves equipping the health system and conducting health operations throughout the country, with 66 branches and 36 institutes of higher learning. However, the organization faced a significant challenge in handling the numerous queries they received daily. The four-person team in charge of communication found it increasingly difficult to provide timely responses to everyone in need, which was crucial for their mission. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated this issue, as the need for communication and support increased significantly.

Grupo Petersen, one of Argentina's most significant economic groups, faced the challenge of adapting to the digital age and meeting the evolving needs of its over 2 million customers. The modern consumer's behavior, characterized by curiosity, comparison, and decision-making, made the process of purchasing a product or hiring a service increasingly complex. The company's goal was to become regional leaders in digital banking, which required a comprehensive digital transformation. The arrival of the pandemic further accelerated this need, emphasizing the importance of effective, empathetic, and efficient digital experiences. The company's previous chatbot was limited in resolving customer intents, leading to incorrect answers, negative feedback, and avoidance of the channel by customers.

Nimbi, a Brazilian supply chain technology platform, was facing a challenge in automating their customer service processes to adapt to the evolving needs of the modern consumer. Operating in over 50 countries and serving more than 200 customers, they needed a single technology that could handle a high volume of inquiries in multiple languages across their Latin American and North American markets. The goal was to improve the overall customer experience and reduce costs. The main challenge was to develop a language across their digital channels that could cater to the needs of different consumers without losing the human touch in customer service.

Ellie & Mac, a digital sewing pattern company, was looking for ways to improve their onsite customer experience. The company's mission is to help customers customize and personalize their clothing, and they wanted to extend this personalization to their customers' online shopping experience. The challenge was to find a way to engage customers, understand their preferences, and provide them with personalized product recommendations. The idea of using a quiz to achieve this was inspired by the owner's positive experience as a customer on another platform.

Miracle Mink Hair, a provider of all-natural and organic hair and skincare products, was facing a challenge in helping their customers find the right products for their specific hair and skin conditions. The company was inundated with daily queries from customers asking for advice on the best products for their hair conditions and the right type of serum, shampoo, and conditioner to use. The company's goal was to improve the shopping experience for their customers, but they were unaware that this would eventually become a significant revenue driver. In January, Octane AI, the solution they implemented, accounted for 27% of Miracle Mink Hair's overall revenue.

NatureWise, an ecommerce supplement company, was facing a significant challenge in personalizing the customer experience and building trust around their brand. This was a critical issue, especially in the supplement industry where there are numerous offerings, making it overwhelming for consumers to choose the right product for their health goals. NatureWise wanted to eliminate the guesswork involved in supplement shopping and sought the help of CJC Marketing, an agency specializing in growing ecommerce brands in the natural products industry.

Skinny Mixes, a major player in the healthy beverage industry, faced a challenge common to many ecommerce brands: the changes in data privacy and advertising. With most users opting out of data tracking and the impending disappearance of tracking cookies in 2023, the brand needed to find new sources of data to power their campaigns and reduce their reliance on third-party data. The brand's primary goal was to understand their customers better and increase engagement. They wanted to learn more about what drives their customers and improve their overall experience.

Contemporary Personnel Staffing, Inc. (CPS), a leading staffing and recruitment firm, was grappling with time-consuming manual back office processes. In 2012, despite recent success, CPS was still manually sending invoices to 25 different companies, a process that involved printing each invoice, checking lists for each company, scanning documents, and emailing a copy of the invoice to each client. Their existing software, AST, could not be updated, forcing them to continuously patch the system to maintain their Front Office, Back Office, and Payroll. This resulted in lengthy app and load times, leading to data integrity issues as most of the team would not add notes. Additionally, CPS wanted to keep payroll internal, but their QuickBooks application could not handle the growing number of temporary placements. With approximately 1,000 W2s processed per year, their growth potential was seriously hampered by the outdated technology.

Execusource, a leading staffing and consulting firm, was facing challenges with their onboarding process due to rapid business growth and market changes. They had been using Bullhorn Onboarding, which had been successful for their team, candidates, and clients. However, the lack of mobile optimization and increased complexity of the onboarding process due to the firm's growth led to decreased candidate engagement and increased manual errors. The Execusource team found themselves spending an estimated 65-80% of their week on onboarding tasks, including E-Verify, insurance, and document revision. As the firm expanded its portfolio and opened up locations across the country, the onboarding workload became unsustainable. The existing challenges were amplified, and Execusource needed an onboarding solution that could scale with their business.

LandrumHR, a full-service Human Capital firm, was struggling with an outdated and inflexible system that was hindering their growth and productivity. The system lacked an open API infrastructure, preventing seamless integration with third-party solutions. This lack of flexibility was stunting innovation and preventing LandrumHR from differentiating themselves in the market. Additionally, the system did not provide visibility into key performance indicators (KPIs), leaving the recruiting and sales teams in the dark about their data and work priorities. This lack of visibility resulted in recruiters spending more time searching for data than interacting with candidates. The system was also not intuitive, making it difficult to train new hires and slowing down the company's growth. Overall, the system required too much manual intervention, slowing down workflows and preventing LandrumHR from achieving a single source of truth for their data.

Signature Consultants, a subsidiary of DISYS and one of the top 10 largest IT staffing companies in the US, was looking to automate its sales processes in 2020. However, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the company to shift its priorities. The need to quickly and efficiently deploy COVID-related communications became paramount, pushing the automation of sales processes to the backburner. The challenge was to find a solution that could not only automate their sales processes but also adapt to the changing priorities brought about by the pandemic.

Strategic Staffing Solutions (S3), a global staffing firm, was facing a significant challenge in managing its candidate sourcing process. The team was using Resume-Library for sourcing candidates and Bullhorn as its Applicant Tracking System (ATS). However, the lack of integration between the two platforms was causing inefficiencies. The team had to log into Resume-Library daily to search the active resume database, find suitable candidates, download their resumes, and then manually upload them to their Bullhorn account. This process was not only time-consuming but also impractical as it involved navigating back and forth between the two platforms. The challenge was further compounded by the fact that S3 recruits across multiple industries in various locations across the U.S., making the extensive database of Resume-Library crucial for their hiring needs.

The Jacobson Group, a leading provider of talent to the insurance industry, had traditionally preferred working with high-touch, highly-consultative clients, and Vendor Management System (VMS) relationships did not allow for this. Prior to 2019, the company actively avoided VMS-style business and did not seek new opportunities in this area. However, they noticed a shift in the industry, with organizations as small as $5 million in spend outsourcing the management of their contingent labor program or centralizing the procurement of their contingent labor through in-house Managed Service Providers (MSPs). As MSP and VMS solutions began to increase rapidly in their space, The Jacobson Group realized they were missing out on potential revenue.

Heartbeat Health, a fast-growing HealthTech company, was facing a talent shortage as it sought to accelerate its product research and development. The company's product and engineering teams work closely with medical board-certified cardiologists, making candidates with healthcare domain-focused skills a necessity. However, their Talent Acquisition team lacked the internal capacity to source enough qualified candidates. The company initially turned to recruiting agencies for support, but the candidates presented to them rarely had the qualifications necessary to succeed at Heartbeat. The challenge was to find a solution that could provide a strong candidate pipeline with skill, product domain, and team match, while also reducing the time and cost to hire.

AdSocial, a creative social media and digital marketing agency based in Western Australia, was tasked with the challenge of modernizing and digitizing the paper-trail map for a family rally event for the Swan Valley Visitor Center, a popular tourism region. The goal was to create an engaging and interactive experience for tourists, while also collecting their email addresses for future promotions. The challenge was to create a solution that would not only enhance the visitor experience but also provide a platform for the Swan Valley Visitor Center to connect with tourists and promote future events. The solution needed to be innovative, user-friendly, and capable of capturing the interest of a wide range of tourists.

Eddy’s Cantina, a restaurant chain based in Taipei City, Taiwan, was seeking an effective marketing system to convert new diners into long-term customers. The owner, Ed Gonzalez, had tried using ManyChat, Active Campaign, and Facebook Ads to attract more first-time diners. However, despite building a substantial subscriber list for both email and Messenger, he found that a crucial component was missing to encourage diners to return: a mobile customer loyalty program. Prior to using Walletly, Ed had been managing an email-only loyalty program through Active Campaign. While this campaign was successful in attracting new customers, the click-through rates and open rates were declining. Ed saw the potential to improve the program and drive more sales using Facebook Messenger, which boasts over 2.5 billion monthly active users.

Frazer Brookes, a second-generation network marketer and a significant influencer in the industry, was facing a challenge with his rapidly growing Instagram profile. His follower count had almost doubled in less than a year, growing from 60,000 to 117,000. As an influencer, Brookes valued meaningful conversations with his followers, but the increasing follower count made it difficult for him to personally respond to every Story Mention, comment, or direct message. The challenge was to maintain the quality of engagement with his followers while managing the growing volume of interactions. Brookes was also looking for ways to better connect with his followers, especially using Facebook Messenger, which can be connected to Instagram accounts. The goal was to quickly engage with followers from Story mentions and live streams to test if Instagram Automation by ManyChat could improve engagement in an authentic way.