Don’t get boxed in: How these tech leaders encourage creative thinking

by Cailin Crowe
May 31, 2019

The word “innovation” gets used a lot in Boston’s tech industry, but it holds a unique meaning for each leader and company.

We asked local industry leaders to explain what innovation means to them and how they incorporate that definition into their own exciting tech projects.

 

localities boston
photo via localytics

Mobile engagement platform Localytics uses data and marketing channels to help customers like Bose, Comcast and the San Francisco 49ers boost their marketing performance and reach.

Engineering Manager David Ruiz and Senior Product Manager Shanna Chambers told us about one of the largest tech projects they’re working on right now.

 

What are the biggest tech projects that your team is working on this year?

The core of our business has been providing marketers with the insights and tools to drive effective marketing campaigns through audience segmentation and personalization. Achieving that was easier when mobile marketers were responsible for understanding customer interactions on only one mobile application. But today, brand marketers build relationships with customers based on their engagement across platforms including mobile, web, in-store and television. As customer data becomes more accessible, so does the need for integration, security and predictive analytics, which is now at the root of our product roadmap.

One of our largest upcoming tech projects focuses on optimizing campaign delivery based on customer engagement across platforms. Our new push notification product allows marketers to reach their customers across mobile and web platforms based on where they last engaged. We also bring to market the ability to optimize send-time-calculated by an ensembled set of algorithms leveraging session and preference data. Both of these initiatives are supported by a package of integration tools that allow our customers to enrich data from different platforms (mobile, web) and ecosystems (physical, digital).

 

Working with web and mobile technologies requires a keen attention to a fast-moving industry."

How do you encourage your team to think outside the box when it comes to new projects? Are there any new technologies you're eyeing for the future?

Working with web and mobile technologies requires a keen attention to a fast-moving industry. At Localytics, we foster and encourage continued learning across the product, engineering and design organization. Our teams are always represented at Google IOs and Apple’s WWDCs, instrumenting advancements in technologies from React Hooks and Kotlin to Akka, Kubernetes and Docker.

Our favorite all-hands are when new technology is shared, critiqued and tested. This kind of learning and collaboration is really what drives our creative thinking and culturally supports our team’s ability to solve problems in new ways. To support some of our larger tech projects, we’re looking into technologies like Amazon SageMaker, Amazon Lex and Snorkel.

 

salary finance boston
photo via salary finance

Salary Finance partners with employers to implement financial wellness programs that get employees out of debt, increasing employee productivity, happiness and wallet size.

CEO Daniel Macklin told us about the biggest projects they’re working on and why he’s excited about the company’s future.

 

What are the biggest tech projects that your team is working on this year?

This year, the Salary Finance team is building a “save” product, allowing employees to create a savings account linked to their salary. Each pay period, money will go directly from their salary into savings — think auto-deductions from salary towards a 401(k). Automation makes it easier for employees to save, removing the hassle and the potential to forget. 

The “save” product will be a valued addition to our financial wellness hub. We currently offer salary-linked loans to help employees get out of debt and our newest product will help them get into savings. About 34 percent of U.S. employees do not have any savings and live paycheck to paycheck. Our new product, with encouragement from employers, is much needed and deeply appreciated by employees.

 

Our goal is to offer more products that will help employees achieve their financial goals."

How do you encourage your team to think outside the box when it comes to new projects? Are there any new technologies you're eyeing for the future?

When it comes to thinking outside the box, it helps to have brainstorming sessions. Everyone is encouraged to bring ideas to the table without fear of judgment. Each team member brings their own unique set of ideas and support for each other.

We have a few new projects in mind for the future as we're looking to expand our financial wellness hub. Our goal is to offer more products that will help employees achieve their financial goals. For now, we're focused on launching the “save” product to pair with our loan product, but you can expect to see more from Salary Finance in the near future.

 

 

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