Ultrahack teams in Tieto’s challenge can do small wonders for retail experience with TeliaSonera’s M2M in a Box

Tieto is one of the main partners of Ultrahack 2015 – the biggest hackathon in Europe. Tieto has challenged coders to create consumer-friendly and gamified future solutions for retail industry. The game is on!

Tieto’s Industrial Internet and Customer Experience Management start-ups have joined forces to seek fresh ideas for future retail industry by participating in Ultrahack 2015 – the biggest hackathon in Europe, taking place just before start-up event SLUSH hits Helsinki in November.

Tieto has challenged coders to innovate solutions that positively disrupt the retail industry. The solution to Tieto’s challenge can get its fuel from industrial internet applications, customer engagement features or gamification. During the first weeks of October, many teams have already joined in.

One of the suggested paths is to bring gamification to the brick-and-mortar shopping experience. Gamification is most used in online retail, and examples like eBay's competitive bidding system or Amazon's reviewer rankings flourish, while brick-and-mortar-stores have made less use of the idea.

“Almost nine of ten retailers (87 per cent) plan to use gamification to boost customer engagement between now and 2020, according to Boston Retail Partners. This yet relatively little explored and implemented area is a great opportunity for us and our clients in the future”, comments Mikko Leinonen, Head of Customer Experience Management start-up at Tieto.

To get innovations going, coders participating in Tieto’s Ultrahack challenge stream will get access to many APIs and data assets and will get a unique opportunity to use TeliaSonera's M2M in a Box device. The device can collect different data easily: e.g. motion, temperature, humidity, etc. and it has GPS connectivity. The data collected can be used as a starting point for new exciting shopping experiences.

“M2M in a Box is a multipurpose device and is therefore well-suited for the hackathon. With the device developers will get the needed hardware to test their wild and novel ideas. In addition to the sensors, the device includes TeliaSonera’s Global M2M SIM and thus does not need additional connectivity”, comments Kimmo Ahvenlampi, Business Development Manager at TeliaSonera.

Tieto believes that innovating together with customers and partners or in hackathons is a great new way to create products and services with superior customer experiences. By bringing in external hackers with international and interdisciplinary background Tieto hopes to come up with something new and untried that can be developed into actual new and cool services for Tieto’s customers’ customers in retail.

The Ultrahack teams will present their innovations for judging on November 6 - 8, 2015 at Helsinki, Finland. As part of Slush Hacks, the finalists will be able to demonstrate their works to top-tier international investors on stage at SLUSH on 11 - 12 November.

Interested in joining Tieto challenge?
Participate in Tieto’s challenge at hackathon and have a chance not only to win great prizes but also to get involved in the cutting-edge innovative work that Tieto does. Sign in:  bit.ly/IOThack2015

Follow Ultrahack: https://ultrahack.org/¨

For more information:

Mikko Leinonen, Head of Customer Experience Management: mikko.leinonen[at]tieto.com, +358 40 5967726
Kimmo Ahvenlampi, Business Development Manager, TeliaSonera: kimmo.z.ahvenlampi[at]teliasonera.com, +358 40 3024698

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Tieto is the largest Nordic IT services company providing full life-cycle services for both the private and public sectors and product development services in the field of communications and embedded technologies. The company has global presence through its product development business and global delivery centres. Tieto is committed to developing enterprises and society through IT by realizing new opportunities in customers’ business transformation. At Tieto, we believe in professional development and results.

Founded 1968, headquartered in Helsinki, Finland and with approximately over 13 000 experts, the company operates in over 20 countries with net sales of approximately EUR 1.6 billion. Tieto’s shares are listed on NASDAQ OMX in Helsinki and Stockholm. Please visit www.tieto.com for more information.