At Berkadia, we believe in the power of innovation and the importance of learning through experimentation. Our recent hackathon, during our 2024 ICON event, themed “Fail Fast, Learn Fast,” showcased some remarkable ideas aimed at enhancing efficiency and driving business value. Today, we are excited to highlight the winners and their groundbreaking projects.
Most Business Value – Data Abstraction and Summarization for Special Requests
The “Most Business Value” award was presented to the project “Berkie – Data Abstraction and Summarization for Special Requests,” created by Smriti Goenka, Aman Agarwal, Dibyajyoti Panda, James Wilson, Manisha Sahoo, Phoolan Dagar, Siyu Zhang, and Vishal Singh. The team developed an innovative solution designed to revolutionize the way our Servicing platform handles data abstraction and summarization of loan and servicing documents through Berkie, Berkadia’s AI assistant. This project aims to significantly reduce manual intervention, improve turnaround time, and optimize tedious tasks. The primary beneficiary of this solution is the Servicing platform at Berkadia, and the goal of the automation is expected to boost efficiency by 30-40%.
The initiative aims to reduce tedious work and improve turnaround times when preparing case offering memorandums and narratives from loan and servicing documents, which can be up to 300 pages long. The solution ensures that only the user who uploaded the document can see the output and retrieves loan and property data from Berkadia’s proprietary systems. The next steps involve continuously training and refining the model based on feedback, and exploring the potential to expand to other special request types and business units.
The judges were impressed with the project’s broad applicability across all lines of business, from loan origination to underwriting, closing, and servicing. It represents a significant innovation that aligns perfectly with our “fail fast to learn fast” philosophy.
“We were thrilled when we tested the POC and validated our hypothesis that the idea had the potential to create organization-wide impact. Our excitement soared when we were announced as winners, followed by a flood of wishes from Berkadians. We are incredibly humbled and cannot wait to see our idea materialize and bring it to fruition soon,” Smriti Goenka.
Most Innovative – Automation of Daily Health Checks
The “Most Innovative” award was presented to the “Automation of Daily Health Checks,” initiative created by Mudassir Meer, Abdul Farooqui, Phani Vemula, Rajinish Kumar, and Divyansh Rathour. The team introduced a revolutionary approach to the daily engineering processes within our Enterprise Operations Center (EOC). Their initiative focuses on automating routine tasks that are crucial for maintaining system performance and ensuring smooth operations. This initiative was selected for its out-of-the-box thinking and innovative approach to transforming routine work processes. The solution automates the monitoring of system performance, checking for anomalies, and ensuring all services run smoothly. It reduces a three-hour manual task to just five minutes using Microsoft Copilot and Power Automate.
The approach is achieved by utilizing Copilot for system performance reports, downloading reports, and implementing changes. Copilot is configured with a knowledge base to look for information in various systems and integrated into Microsoft Teams for seamless operation. The impact of this solution includes workflow transformation, reducing operational costs, improving accuracy in monitoring and reporting, and reducing the number of issues reported by customers.
“Our initiative embodied the “fail fast to learn fast” philosophy by embracing experimentation and rapid iteration. When we first recognized the inefficiencies in our manual monitoring process, we quickly tested various automation tools and workflows. Instead of fearing failure, we saw it as an opportunity to learn and refine our approach. By using Co-pilot and Microsoft Power Automate, we swiftly identified what worked and what didn’t, allowing us to pivot and optimize our solution in real-time,” said Mudassir Meer.
The winning initiatives by Smriti Goenka and Mudassir Meer exemplify our commitment to embracing new technologies and methodologies to drive efficiency and business value. As we continue to foster a culture of experimentation and learning, we look forward to seeing these innovative solutions implemented and scaled across our organization.
Congratulations to the winners and all participants for their outstanding contributions!