Greenlight Consulting and UiPath Host Virtual Hackathon to Solve a Canadian Healthcare Issue During COVID-19

Post-secondary students leveraged RPA technology to create innovative solutions for the in-person check-in process – improving social distancing measures at clinics

TORONTO, March 9, 2021 /CNW/ - Greenlight Consulting, a Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and IT services firm in Toronto concluded its first virtual Canadian hackathon with the support and sponsorship of UiPath, a leading enterprise automation software company.  

RPA is a technology that enables the rapid design and deployment of software robots, otherwise known as digital workers. The digital workers perfectly emulate and execute repetitive processes, boosting organizational productivity, ensuring compliance, and freeing up valuable time for staff so that they can focus on higher-value activities instead of mundane, time-consuming, repetitive processing tasks. At a time where every minute of staff capacity within our Healthcare system matters, RPA can be a powerful tool that enables medical and support staff to focus on critical tasks and front-line services.

"The goal of the hackathon was to bring together Healthcare institutions, industry-leading RPA technology and Canadian students to solve a real meaningful problem with speed, then to provide that solution at no cost to help ease the burden on the healthcare system. As society looks at how automation technology can fuel efficiency, productivity, and bolster capacity across the workforce, we continue to look for ways we can work together to utilize the technology for the public good," said Shameiz Hemani, CEO of Greenlight Consulting.

In light of the ongoing strain on the Healthcare system, Greenlight partnered with the University Health Network to develop a problem statement that focused on solving the real-world problem of social distancing and flow in clinics. "Designing efficient ways to provide care is more critical than it's ever been. We have so many opportunities in healthcare to automate and eliminate non-value-add steps and get administrative processes out of the way enabling the care providers to focus on what's most important – the patient," said Michael Caesar, Executive Director of Data & Implementation Science at the University Health Network.

Notwithstanding the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, innovation and its ability to transform today's challenges will prevail and continue to thrive among our developers.  Last year, it was reported by the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report that the landscape of work will continue to morph.  

According to a UiPath study of more than 500 C-level executives and senior managers at large organizations, it found – of those surveyed – they are increasingly requiring employees to have, and seeking new candidates who have, automation and artificial intelligence (AI) skills. When choosing between two similarly qualified job candidates, 73% of surveyed executives said they would pick the candidate with more experience with automation and AI tools, even if the role does not require those abilities.

Post-secondary institutions like George Brown College have specifically designed an RPA program to assist post-graduate students in honing their RPA skills while leveraging the UiPath RPA platform. 

"We are excited to introduce Robotic Process Automation to our learners and the wider community," said Tyler Krimmel, Professor in the Computer Science Department at George Brown College. "As an academic institution focused on applied, hands-on learning, George Brown College partnered with UiPath to allow learners to pursue this critically in-demand skill-set that bridges process automation and analysis and RPA development. In a very short period of time, we have seen that these skills have given our graduates a distinctive advantage when competing in the job market. We initially introduced RPA into existing programs, such as our Information System Business Analysis post-graduate certificate. Over the past two years, however, we have seen the industry demand for these skills grow exponentially, and have since launched an RPA Micro-Certificate program available through our college's Continuing Education Department."

There is a consensus between education and private organizations that the demand is there for technological skills. 

"We're hearing loud and clear that executives want all employees to have automation and AI skills, and that employees, in turn, demand training to be successful with these emerging technologies. As we continue to work in automation-led work environments, it's absolutely crucial for all employees to have access to automation and AI education," said Sean Hinton, Vice President and General Manager of UiPath Canada. "We're proud to partner with Greenlight on this initiative and congratulate the winning teams on their innovative submissions."

The winning teams are as follows:

• Top UHN Solution and Top Overall Solution 
  • Team "6ix Health" 
    • Maha Zeb 
    • Morgan Kaneshakumar 
    • Chanpreet Litt 
    • Sharanya Kanakaratnam
• Most Innovative Solution 
  • Team "JARS" 
    • Sagar Varia 
    • Amandeep Thakur 
    • Rebecca Crawford 
    • Jesvin Johnson
• Honourable Mention to Parth Girishkumar Dave

About Greenlight Consulting

Greenlight Consulting is a Robotic Process Automation and IT Services company based in Toronto, with a national footprint. Being a boutique IT Consulting and Staffing firm for over 13 years and working with some of North America's largest organizations, we have a proven track record for helping clients solve their Human and Digital resourcing needs. 

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For more information, please visit greenlightconsulting.com.

SOURCE Greenlight Consulting