Students created mobile apps for SAP at the 24 Hours of Mobile Innovation Contest earlier this month in the Griffin Hall Digitorium in hopes that their app will make businesses’ lives more efficient.
One of the goals of this event was for students to understand where the mobility market is going and how it affects business. Hosted by Teuta Cata, associate professor of the Business Informatics Department, this event encompassed 75 participants divided into 10 groups that created and demonstrated their competing ideas for apps to a panel of judges: Cata; Rodney D’Souza, assistant professor of entrepreneurship at NKU; Tony Kelly, CEO of TechAllies consulting; Kim Obermair of SAP; Ben Martz, a fellow NKU student in the entrepreneurship program who received an internship through TechAllies; and Eric Crammer, lead developer of
mobility at MindCrate.
The majority of these participants were graduate and undergraduate students, but 12 Dixie High School students were able to participate as well. Among NKU students were nursing majors, law students like Greg Moser and information and media students.
Ellen Ash and Sandra Russell, nursing students, shared their thoughts about the 24 Hours of Mobile Innovation Contest and their expectations. They both agreed that a social networking app for patients would be good. Russell also talked about an app for permanent patients, where the physicians would invite the patients in so they could reference their diagnosis and find information.
“Chronic care. We are spending so much money on people coming back two, three times,” Ash said when talking about the possibility of an app cutting down on the paperwork patients have to fill out, for the diagnosis, to remember information related to maintaining their health. “It will reduce health care dollars.”
Kelly has big plans for the 24 Hours of Mobile Innovation Contest. “Our main goal is to bring technology into universities and high schools.”
Right now he said that students are not taught the skills to effectively do jobs and people that have this knowledge are brought in from other countries. “That is taking opportunities away from kids coming out of our universities.”
“Outsourcing is not the issue. Insourcing is the issue,” Kelly said to the students, “And that’s what’s taking your jobs.”
He sees graduates going into service industry jobs because they lack these skills, and he wants to change that and “change the way kids are learning.” He wants students to choose a degree and know where it’s going and what jobs it leads to.
Enthusiastic students filed in and listened to Kelly and his colleagues talk about apps they have created like “Material View,” an app that has data about products that you are buying or selling that allows purchasers to make sales remotely in real time.
The second demonstrated app was “Media Manager,” an app that shows lists of products and sample videos of how the product is used, and allows users to email a customer information on a product. Kelly’s team said this app could be not only for salesmen but also for professors that could post their syllabuses and lectures.
Apps have untethered the worker from their desk so that they can work wherever they are, according to Kelly. Workers are always on call because of the technology; it is changing how one works and the productivity they bring.
The competition proved to be a great success as the ten groups created apps that helped various businesses like health care, the police or grocery stores. There were also apps that helped consumers.
Group 1 created “Safety Sense,” an app that informs nurses of infant abduction, and tracks patients’ health and whereabouts.
Group 2 created “RTG: Ready Test Go,” an app that provided mobile NCLEX (National Council Licensure Examination, an exam for the licensing of nurses) preparation.
Group 3 created “Care Connect,” that improved patient care and their experience while in the hospital by having the patients give input on their care.
The presentations skipped to Group 5 as they showed “Feedback Now,” an app that gives an establishment feedback from the customer instantly instead of on the customers’ own time.
Group 6 showed “EFI: Effective Fast Identification” that allowed police and EMT’s to identify someone using their fingerprint and referencing it from the IAFIS (The Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System), allowing them to see a list of the person’s medications and allergies.
Group 7 created “SMAO: Study My App Off” that promotes learning by allowing students, middle school and up, to check grades, get help with research and citations, and view Q & A and test-taking strategies.
Group 8 created “Easy Shopper,” an app designed for the ease of shopping that allows you to add coupons and search for items; it also itemizes customer-created lists by location in the store to improve efficiency.
Group 9 designed “Grocer Ease” that made grocery shopping a better experience for customers by providing curbside delivery of groceries. This app had a tab that talked about what is new in the store. Furthermore, accounts can be added to existing accounts, so if a husband wants to add peanut butter to his wife’s list he can. Finally, Group 10 presented “Mobile RN” an app that helps patients avoid re-admittance into the hospital and gives nurses and doctors information such as weight and blood pressure of patients.
After the presentations the judges, Cata, Kelly, D’Souza, Crammer, Obermair and Martz, walked out to discuss their decision. The winner of the third place prize was Group 5 with “Feedback Now.” They each won a $25 gift card to Starbucks.
Group 7 came in second place with “SMAO: Study My App Off” receiving a $50 MasterCard gift card.
First place went to Group 2 with the “RTG: Ready Test Go” app that won over judges. This group consisted of Mark Rego, Faith Denigan, Jenna Weber, Cory Bridewell, Payal Patel and high school student, Cole Srofe, who received $100 each.