South Florida Tech HubSouth Florida Tech Hub
25
Oct, 2023

By Nikki Cabus

Team Llamaa wins Tech Hub’s “Hack for Humanity” community hackathon 2023

Read Time 4 Minutes

The 2023 Tech Hub Hackathon aimed to “Hack for Humanity” building solutions for problems faced by two of South Florida’s local nonprofits, American Cancer Society and Habitat for Humanity Broward. 

A Hackathon is an overnight event where participants form teams, vet ideas, create a project, then present their work to an expert panel of judges. This year, teams were asked to solve a wide range of problems, including streamlining donations, coordinating pickups, improving data management for Habitat for Humanity Broward, and promoting American Cancer Society’s “Get Screened” campaign to individuals and corporations, with a focus on HR benefit integration and process monitoring.

This year’s first place winning team created a solution in support of Habitat for Humanity Broward – Team LLAMAA!

According to the Habitat for Humanity Broward website, Broward is one of the nation’s most cost burdened housing markets, making homeownership out of reach for 94% of families. Habitat for Humanity Broward is on a mission to change that.

Founded in 1976, Habitat for Humanity of Broward brings people together to build homes, communities and hope. Habitat Broward offers a “hand up” not a “hand out” to empower families who are willing to work hard to improve their family’s lives through affordable home ownership.

Together, Team LLAMAA which is an acronym for the first letters of each team members name; Leon, Lia, Ashley, Maria, Ashley, Aimee, created a software solution to aid the non-profit Habitat for Humanity of Broward which aimed to streamline the potential home owner application through digitization enabling tracking in a more convenient way for the employees, hard-skill volunteers and potential home owners.

“There is nothing like being in the presence of bright minds, tirelessly and enthusiastically working to increase the reach and impact for organizations like Habitat for Humanity of Broward and American Cancer Society who are tackling community and societal challenges,” said Nathan VanDeman, Habitat for Humanity Broward’s VP of Housing Development.

“I made many new friends, saw numerous great concepts and we’re excited to work over the coming weeks with the teams and organizers to see which can be developed and put to use.”

The Hackathon was held at the CITY Furniture headquarters in Tamarac where guests had the opportunity to tour the CITY facilities, meet with leadership and the technical team, and learn about the expansive and fast-growing tech department at CITY, all while enjoy the first-ever hackathon in CITY’s history working with two of their closest nonprofit partners.

With 16 teams presenting, over 100 hackers, and over 50 volunteers, coaches, and judges, there were many innovative ideas and projects created that could support both nonprofits.

Our judges panel included Mick Feller, Sr. Principal Software Engineer @ ODP Corp, Giovanni Punzo, Founder & CEO @ Streann Media, Michelle Bakels, Program Director @ G2i, Christy Poe, former Sr. VP of IT @ Garden of Life, Nathan VanDeman, Habitat for Humanity Broward’s VP of Housing Development, and Stephanie Watts, American Cancer Society’s Senior Director, Corporate Relations.

Thank you to all our major sponsors for the event. We would not have been able to make it happen without the support of CITY Furniture, The ODP Corporation (Office Depot), Florida Power & Light (FPL), OZ Digital, Streann Media, TechStrong Group, and Adam & Joe’s.

We also had the support of student sponsors this year from Cox Science center & Aquarium, CareerSource Palm Beach County, FAU’s College of Engineering & Computer Science, and the Tech Hub Foundation.

 

The top three projects chosen by our esteemed panel of judges were as follows:

1ST PLACE, $2,500 PRIZE: TEAM LLAMAA

  • Nonprofit: Habitat for Humanity Broward
  • Solution: On-boarding platform to support administrators in managing housing applications and their progress
  • Team Members: Ashley N Dennis, Asiangel Moua, Leon Kipkoech, Aimee Gonzalez-Cameron, Maria Bruno, Ashley Clayden Moss
  • See Presentation
  • See Github

2ND PLACE, $1,500 PRIZE: PIXEL POETS

  • Nonprofit: American Cancer Society
  • Solution: Custom Campaign Portal for “Get Screened” Campaign
  • Team Members: Shashank Mishra, Prakash Raghothamachar, Jasmine Kloub, Ryan Young
  • See Presentation
  • See Github

3RD PLACE, $1,000 PRIZE: ASK ME LATER

  • Nonprofit: Habitat for Humanity Broward
  • Solution: Donation quality inspection and intake process optimization
  • Team Members: Pinak Upadhyay, Angel Diaz, Daniel Muthama, Rabea Abdelwahab, Alexander Aranda, Adrian Perdomo
  • See Presentation
  • See Github

Click here to view ALL TEAM PROJECTS and here for PHOTOS FROM EVENT. 📸

 

Stay tuned for updates on project implementations. . .

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04
Sep, 2023

By Nikki Cabus

Office Depot Stores Raise Nearly $1.7 Million to Help Teachers and Students

Read Time 4 Minutes

Office Depot just announced that nearly $1.7 million was raised leveraging its retail footprint to help more than 900 Title I public schools get brand new school supplies, classroom furniture, tech and more, just in time for the new school year.

The company partnered with Round It Up America® to enable every Office Depot and OfficeMax store to raise funds to support a Title I public elementary, middle or high school in the store’s local community. As result of this program, nearly $1.7 million was raised from April through June of this year. Stores will continue to support the same local schools through December to help them restock and refresh the supplies they need, well after the start of the new school year.

Some local beneficiary schools will have the chance to participate in free VIP school shopping events to pick up furniture, supplies and more, to help create more comfortable and productive learning environments for students. Others will create wish lists detailing the items they need most, which will then be delivered to them at the school or available for pick up at their local Office Depot or OfficeMax store.

“We’re proud to host this education donation drive in our Office Depot and OfficeMax stores to help connect teachers and staff at Title I schools with the additional resources they need,” said Kevin Moffitt, executive vice president of The ODP Corporation and president of Office Depot. “Thanks to our customers’ generous support of this program, extra supplies, new classroom furniture, tech and more will be directed to hundreds of schools to help encourage a successful new school year.”

The program is an integral part of Office Depot’s Imagine Success™ platform, created to help teachers, parents, students, home office workers and small business owners alike fuel their passions, power their potential and achieve their goals.

Through the new Imagine Success brand platform, the company will capture and share real stories of success, from the epic to the everyday. These stories, along with inspirational videos and articles, informative studies, and helpful strategies, will be amplified throughout Office Depot’s marketing campaigns, social media profiles, officedepot.com, mobile app, and on the company’s content hub, The Stepping Stone. In addition, small business owners, home office workers, teachers, parents and students can tap into experiences with solutions designed just for them – complete with helpful buying guides, pro tips and more to help them unlock their full potential.

“We’re excited to learn how our customers define success, whether it’s acquiring a customer with new marketing materials, creating a productive learning environment where students can thrive or in ways we haven’t yet thought of,” said Wesley Brinkhurst, vice president of marketing for Office Depot. “With the launch of our Imagine Success platform, we plan to engage with our customers differently, learning more about how we can provide innovative solutions, create meaningful connections and put them in the spotlight.”

Start Proud!® Program

The company also helps to support education through The ODP Corporation’s Start Proud!® program, and recently announced that over $2.5 million worth of school supplies and equipment would be provided to students and teachers at Title I public elementary schools across the country.

 

Give Back to Schools Program

And students, parents and teachers who shop online at officedepot.com or in Office Depot and OfficeMax stores can help to support the local school of their choice with any qualifying purchase. Shoppers can simply provide the name or Give Back To Schools ID number of their desired school at checkout (in store or online) and their designated school will receive 5% back in credits for free supplies, through the Give Back to Schools program.

Simply make a purchase of qualifying school supplies, provide your school’s ID at checkout (in store and online) and your designated school will receive 5% back in credits for FREE supplies! It’s a small act that can make a huge difference.

Office Depot, LLC, an operating company of The ODP Corporation, is a leading specialty retailer providing innovative products and services delivered through a fully integrated omnichannel platform of Office Depot and OfficeMax retail stores and an award-winning online presence, OfficeDepot.com, to support the productivity and organization of its small business, home office and education clients. Office Depot is committed to enabling its clients’ success, strengthening local communities and providing equal opportunities for all.

Visit officedepot.com or speak with a friendly store associate at a local Office Depot or OfficeMax store to learn more.

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09
May, 2023

By Nikki Cabus

ODP Corporation expands collaboration with Microsoft to leverage the power of AI technology from Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service

Read Time 3 Minutes

The ODP Corporation (“ODP”) (NASDAQ:ODP) announced that it is expanding its longstanding relationship with Microsoft to include Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service advanced artificial intelligence technology to enhance customer experience, drive operational efficiencies, and more effectively pursue growth opportunities.

Recognizing Azure’s immense potential, ODP has been working with Microsoft to migrate legacy systems and to build out its customer-facing platforms, including its Varis digital procurement ecosystem and Business Central integration, on Microsoft Azure. This collaboration has enabled ODP to leverage the power of Azure’s scalable cloud infrastructure, improving the speed, reliability, and security of its online services and applications.

ODP is now expanding this relationship to include Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service advanced artificial technology capabilities. Through this collaboration, ODP is harnessing the power of Microsoft Azure OpenAI, including ChatGPT hosted securely on Azure, to further improve customer experience, streamline internal operations, and position the Company to pursue growth opportunities more efficiently.

“We’re excited to expand our collaboration with Microsoft to harness the power of Azure OpenAI Services, including ChatGPT,” said Gerry Smith, Chief Executive Officer of The ODP Corporation. “This technology will enable continued transformation in our business, driving additional operational efficiencies consistent with our low-cost business model, and positioning us to deliver greater value to customers while more effectively pursuing growth opportunities. Our relationship with Microsoft positions ODP to be at the forefront of innovation, enhancing our digital capabilities and creating a sustainable competitive advantage for the future.”

The ODP Corporation (NASDAQ:ODP) is a leading provider of products and services through an integrated business-to-business (B2B) distribution platform and omnichannel presence, which includes world-class supply chain and distribution operations, dedicated sales professionals, a B2B digital procurement solution, online presence and a network of Office Depot and OfficeMax retail stores. Through its operating companies Office Depot, LLC; ODP Business Solutions, LLC; Veyer, LLC; and Varis, Inc., The ODP Corporation empowers every business, professional, and consumer to achieve more every day.

“We are delighted that ODP has chosen Microsoft Azure OpenAI service as its solution for integrating transformational AI capabilities into critical business processes and systems,” said Eric Boyd, Corporate Vice President of Azure AI Platform at Microsoft Corp. “Through our deepened relationship, we will partner more closely with ODP to take advantage of generative AI, to drive innovation, increase productivity and enhance the experience of ODP’s customers.”

ODP can now take advantage of large-scale, generative AI models with deep understandings of language and code to enable new reasoning and comprehension capabilities for building cutting-edge applications. Apply these coding and language models to a variety of use cases, such as writing assistance, code generation, and reasoning over data. Detect and mitigate harmful use with built-in responsible AI and access enterprise-grade Azure security.’

ODP and ODP Business Solutions are trademarks of ODP Business Solutions, LLC. Office Depot is a trademark of The Office Club, Inc. Any other product or company names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

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09
May, 2023

By Nikki Cabus

For the second year in a row, South Florida will once again welcome the Mark Cuban AI Bootcamp for high schoolers

Read Time 6 Minutes

For the second year in a row, South Florida will once again welcome the Mark Cuban AI Bootcamp for high schoolers to our region in the Fall. BUT, this year will be even better!

South Florida Tech Hub was able to connect the Mark Cuban Foundation with the wonderful folks at Florida Power & Light and with offices in both Palm Beach and Miami, FPL immediately saw potential to bring this program to the entire region.  Having a great relationship with Miami Dade College, FPL reached out to the MDC team who quickly hopped on board to be the first Miami location. The program launched in October 2022 in both Miami and Palm Beach counties.

We are proud to announce that this year, not two, but four Tech Hub member organizations have committed to bringing this program to South Florida ensuring that students all across all three counties (Miami, Broward and Palm Beach) can apply!

The AI Bootcamp will be targeted at underserved high school students (9th -12th grade) especially those from underrepresented groups and will introduce these high school students to basic AI concepts and skills.

“The future global competitiveness of our country depends on having as many AI literate people as possible. I think there is an untapped wealth of knowledge and innovation in underserved communities,” stated Mark Cuban, entrepreneur and founder, Mark Cuban Foundation.

The Bootcamp sessions will be held over four consecutive Saturdays starting on Oct. 14 and ending on Nov. 4. The bootcamp will run each Saturday from 2-6 PM and if accepted, high school students must commit to attending all four sessions. Aimed to increase AI literacy and understanding in students from underserved communities, the high schools students don’t need any prior experience with computer science, programming, or robotics to apply and attend. Students interested should apply by Friday, Sept. 8. (Apply at bottom of article.)

With AI being a relevant topic on many news sources, students will learn what artificial intelligence is and is not, where they already interact with AI in their own lives, and the ethical implications of AI systems—including but not limited to TikTok recommendations, smart home assistants, facial recognition, and self-driving cars, to name a few. Participants will also learn how Large Language Models like ChatGPT are changing life as we know it by answering questions, telling original stories, and even writing computer code.   

Students will benefit from volunteer corporate mentor instructors who are knowledgeable about AI, ML and data science and able to help students quickly understand material normally taught at a collegiate level. As part of the 4-hour curriculum, students will work with open source tools each day to build their own AI applications related to Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing and Generative AI.  

In 2022, Grace Kurian, Executive Director of Information Technology-Nuclear at NextEra Energy Inc, led the launch of the AI Bootcamp in Palm Beach County. She told South Florida Tech Hub that months of planning, hundreds of hours, and over 22 volunteers brought the program to life. From entry-level developers to tech executives such as Grace and Michael Fowler, VP of IT and Business Unit CIO at FPL the students got to interact with tech professionals of all levels.

In it’s fifth year, the Mark Cuban AI Bootcamp is still a fairly new initiative that was founded in 2019 by the Mark Cuban Foundation. With just about 30 locations across the entire United States chosen for this program, we are so proud to have three of them right here in our backyard. The Mark Cuban Foundation has impacted 900+ students to date and has a goal to increase that number year over year.

“FPL is pleased to be the host company for Mark Cuban’s AI Boot Camp (Palm Beach) for the second consecutive year. As a company, we believe success begins with people, and this program helps introduce STEM and computer science to students that grew up with limited technology exposure,” said Jason Price, Agile Leader – EP Technologies & Innovation @ NextEra Energy Inc. (FPL parent company). “We are excited to help inspire bright young talent right in our backyard about how technology can elevate the world around them.”

Normally taught at the collegiate level, students had the opportunity to interact in hands-on workshops about chatbots, AI, Machine learning and Natural Language processing – topics many had never encountered before.

FPL is excited to welcome this year’s students into the new PGA Office Center.

 

“Office Depot is excited to support such a wonderful program this year. Exposing our students and future talent to new technologies will help the talent pool down the road by sparking their interest in AI and showcasing how it’s being used in the real world,” said Andy Parry, VP of Application Development & Support at Office Depot.

Being able to add Broward county to the programming this year and support students in the underserved community fits right in line with Office Depot’s giving efforts.

Office Depot will be sponsoring the Broward bootcamp and partnering with Nova Southeastern University’s  Levan Center of Innovation as the host venue.

“We believe that this program will help to cultivate the next generation of AI leaders, who will shape the future of technology and create a more equitable world,” said John Wensveen, Ph.D., NSU’s Chief Innovation Officer and Executive Director of the Levan Center of Innovation.

 

“Miami Dade College‘s Mark Cuban Foundation AI Bootcamp was a huge success. After only 4 weeks the high school students that attended created impressive projects around AI in Music, AI in Healthcare and AI in Safety and Security,” wrote Antonio Delgado, VP of Innovation and Technology Partnerships at Miami Dade College, in a social media post.

“Kudos to everyone involved to bring this opportunity for free to Miami students. They represent a diversity that it’s not widely seen in tech companies today. They are the next generation that will be creating meaningful AI products and applications.”

Antonio told South Florida Tech Hub that this year Miami-Dade College will be sponsoring the Miami bootcamp and hosting two camps in Miami, one at each of their AI Centers (North Campus and Downtown Wolfson) allowing them to impact even more student within the county.

The Mark Cuban Foundation is a 501(c)(3) private non-profit led by Dallas Mavericks proprietor Mark Cuban. The AI Bootcamps Program at MCF seeks to inspire young people with emerging technology so that they can create more equitable futures for themselves and their communities. The Mark Cuban Foundation provides the Bootcamp’s curriculum materials, trains corporate volunteer mentors, and recruits and scores applications for local student selected to attend camp. In addition, the corporate sponsors, work to provide food, transportation, and access to laptops for students at no cost throughout the duration of Bootcamp.

Over the course of the four four-hour-long sessions, students will:

  • identify AI in the real world
  • build their own application
  • discuss AI ethics and bias in data
  • meet and learn from AI experts

The AI Bootcamp is open to students who:

  • live and attend high school (9th–12th grade) in Miami, Broward or Palm Beach county
  • have an interest in technology and machine learning
  • can attend in-person at one of the locations outlined below

Application deadline: Friday, September 8, 2023. For answers to some of your questions, please visit markcubanai.org/faq

👉🏽 Click here to apply today!

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07
Aug, 2022

By Nikki Cabus

Office Depot’s back-to-school Start Proud initiative kicks off

Read Time 4 Minutes

It’s official, Start Proud!, the national back-2-school philanthropy campaign of ODP (parent of Office Depot) kicked-off on August 6th, 2022.

In Summer 2018, Office Depot launched Start Proud! to help foster brighter beginnings for schools in low-income communities, nationwide, and to give students, parents and teachers the supplies they need to start the year confident, prepared and proud.

Start Proud! is hosted at elementary schools in underserved communities in the 15 largest markets across the country: Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle, Southern California, and right here in South Florida, where the Office Depot headquarters are located. 

Through its banner brands Office Depot®, OfficeMax®, ODP Business Solutions™, Varis™ , and others, the company offers its customers the tools and resources they need to focus on their passion of starting, growing and running their business. . . or classroom.

The program kicks-off in July with Backpack Bundling Bashes, where associates, friends and family members come together to assemble backpacks full of school supplies for the deserving students of the select Start Proud! schools. 

August through September, Start Proud! comes to life at Celebratory Assemblies across the nation. These inspiring campus celebrations include an exciting program and inspiring event for all with remarks from Office Depot’s senior executives, school’s principals, the district’s superintendents, National PTA representatives and other special guests.

The special day includes hundreds of excited students gathering, cheering, and receiving brand-new backpacks and school supplies; classroom supplies donated to all the teachers of the school; and one ‘All-Star Teacher’ from each school celebrated for their extraordinary efforts in the classroom and surprised with a package of premium classroom supplies including new furniture, teaching supplies, technology and tech services from Office Depot valued at almost $2000.

In 2021, over $3.8 million worth of educational supplies were donated. Associate volunteers assembled 18,000 premium backpacks filled with over $1.8 million worth of school supplies like notebooks, composition books, crayons, pencils, highlighters and more, to provide to students at more than 25 Title I schools nationwide. With support from Boise Paper and Domtar Paper, each backpack also included one $20 Office Depot gift card for families to purchase additional supplies for their child. Let’s see what 2022 will bring!

“After the great challenges of these past three years, nothing could be more important than supporting and celebrating our public school students and teachers as they head into the 2022 back-to-school season,“ said Alex Price, National Director of Community Investment for The ODP Corporation (parent of Office Depot),

“As we traverse the traverse the U.S. adopting Title 1 schools, supporting families in need, and celebrating teachers who are our superheroes, this Start Proud! campaign will shower the most economically distressed schools with everything they need with a special commitment to our home community of South Florida,” added Price.

Did you know that YOU can help make a difference this school year just by purchasing the supplies you need from Office Depot? Simply make a purchase of qualifying school supplies, provide your school’s ID at
checkout (in store and online) and your designated school will receive 5% back in credits for FREE supplies! It’s a small act that can make a huge difference and anything that can help stretch a school’s budget allows them to provide the best education possible.

Office Depot also leverages its retail footprint to provide customers with the opportunity to support a local Title I school in their area, through a partnership with Round It Up America® (RIUA). Simply round up your purchase to the nearest dollar. With these additional funds, selected school representatives can enjoy a shopping spree at their local Office Depot or OfficeMax store to get additional learning essentials, technology and personal protective equipment (PPE) into the hands of the teachers, students, and school administrators who need them.

The Start Proud! campaign is part of Office Depot’s community investment initiative called #depotdifference. As our company continues to change and evolve in exciting ways, so too has the way in which we support the communities where we live and do business. #depotdifference brings an employee-centric, hands-on approach to empower us all to make a difference through robust employee volunteerism and philanthropic giving. To learn more about Office Depot’s investment in local communities nationwide, visit depotdifference.com

 

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10
Jun, 2022

By Nikki Cabus

Industry leaders and researchers brought together for the FAU Data Science Conference

Read Time 3 Minutes

Back in person for the first time since the pandemic, the Florida Atlantic University Data-Driven Science & AI Conference brought together industry leaders, students, and researchers from multiple industries. This is the fourth conference for the Schmidt College of Science and the first year the conference attracted support from the National Science Foundation!

“The conference was reshaped this year to meet the growth of the Schmidt College of Science as well as the dynamic tech, data and AI community we work with in South Florida,” said William Kalies, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Conference Chair. “The funding provided by the NSF enabled us to conduct this conference again and provide opportunities for our local industry to interact with our researchers and students to spark future collaborations, internship and career opportunities.”

Throughout the day-long event, participants had the opportunity to attend two panel discussions, six themed minisymposium sessions, ranging from the use of AI in chemistry and molecular medicine to the urban applications of data science, enjoy a student research poster competition, learn about opportunities in the community through Tech Hub South Florida, and had multiple opportunities for learning and networking.

Twenty-six students from FAU High School and FAU’s undergraduate and graduate programs exhibited their research at the conference. Three students, Kayla Ahlness, Dawn Raja Somu, and Deepika Regmi, earned recognition for their studies from faculty judges.

The conference included two sponsored panel sessions by South Florida Tech Hub, including the Health Tech panel that discussed, “Digital Transformation and Data-Driven Insight in Healthcare” with leaders in healthcare technology. This panel had a packed room of students, researchers and faculty interested in hearing about “Where We Are and Where We’re Going” in healthtech.

Meggie Soliman, Director of Strategic Innovations at DSS, Inc. opened up the conversation with a presentation and followed by moderating the discussion with panelists, Pete Martinez, CEO of Sivotech Bioinformatics and former IBM executive, Yenvy Truong, Founder of LSM Group, and  Christopher Kunney, Chief of Strategy & Business Development at DSS, Inc.

The Tech Career & Internship Experiences panel discussion paired recent FAU alumni with their mentors to discuss how they secured an internship and their current full-time industry positions. They also answered students’ questions and shared advice.

Panelists included Rich Viens, Chief Financial Officer at PeakActivity and former intern Valeria Tineo, now the Incoming Account Executive of Organizational Business Development at Cleveland Cavaliers, and Lakshamana Sankarakuttalam, Senior Manager IT, Enterprise Intelligence at Office Depot alongside recent FAU Alum and current Master’s student,  Jose Delgado, Software Developer at Office Depot.

The conference featured mini sessions highlighting everything from “The Impact of AI in Financial Market Investment Strategies” to “Topological Data Analysis Algorithms in Robot Motion Planning.” The final keynote talk of the day was Daniel Uribe, MBA, Co-Founder & CEO, GenoBank.io, and active Tech Hub member. His talk was titled “BioNFTs: Enabling Decentralized Consented Genomics in the Metaverse” discussing the biodata provenance journey with an ethical risk analysis of who benefits, who is at risk, and who decides on the biological assets (biosamples + biodata) and the introduction of Biological Non-Fungible Tokens or BioNFTs that resolve in a public blockchain.

This year marked the return to an in-person event for the first time since 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the last conference was held virtually in 2020. The last conference was successfully supported by the local Boca Raton company, TechStrong Group and Media Ops, which ensured it could be attended virtually. We are already looking forward to 2023!

Student Kerry-Ann Bartley shares how the M.S. in Data Science and Analytics program in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science provides training in analytic tools, preparing students with transferrable real world skills.
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10
May, 2021

By Riley Kaminer

Member Spotlight | Andrew Parry & Office Depot

Read Time 3 Minutes

Business: A leading provider of business services, products and digital workplace technology solutions to small, medium and enterprise businesses.

Launched: 1986

HQ: Boca Raton

Employees: 40,000+

Website: OfficeDepot.com

Office Depot might just be one of South Florida’s biggest commercial success stories. Founded in Fort Lauderdale in 1986, this publicly traded organization now provides business services, products, and digital workplace technology solutions to small, medium and enterprise businesses. They have an integrated business-to-business (B2B) distribution platform, which includes world-class supply chain and distribution operations, dedicated sales professionals and technicians, online presence, and approximately 1,100 stores.

Andrew Parry is VP of Product and Technology for Office Depot, focusing on application and product development, including customer-facing apps, order management platforms, and tech related to supply chain management. 

While Boca Raton is Office Depot’s headquarters, Parry coordinates with teams in Texas and India to develop the tech that helps the company best serve its customers. “It’s about providing the best experience to customers, from purchasing through to delivery,” said Parry.

Like many businesses, Office Depot had to react quickly to the pandemic. Parry said that technology played a major role in turning this disruption into innovation. He gave the example of consumer deliveries. “Many people are working remote now, so we’re not just delivering to commercial mailrooms anymore. We’re adapting our deliveries to fit the shifting needs and expectations of our customers.”

On the ground, Parry’s mission during Covid has been to “double down on our focus on the customer,” both consumer and business alike. 

Office Depot’s CEO, Gerry Smith, has also noted an increased importance of the B2B market within Office Depot’s overall strategy. Smith said in a statement that the company has “made significant progress on our B2B pivot and digital transformation.”

To get there, Office Depot is investing heavily in all things tech. Parry told Tech Hub South Florida that Office Depot is currently hiring “in all areas” related to technology. “In technology, we can’t grow fast enough,” Parry said, underscoring the company’s commitment to its digital-first approach.

According to Parry, one of the benefits of working at Office Depot is what the company calls its 5C Culture: Customer, Commitment, Change, Caring, Creativity. “These principles help us excel at serving our clients while also making Office Depot a great place to work,” said Parry.

As part of these principles, Office Depot makes an effort to have a positive impact in their communities. Parry is particularly proud of the company launching Elevate Together™ powered by Round It Up America®, a new nonprofit initiative designed to help accelerate the creation, growth and prosperity of Black and Hispanic-owned small businesses.

The initiative, which is run in partnership with the National Urban League’s Entrepreneurship Centers and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, provides education, access, and aid to minority-owned small businesses with five or fewer employees. Eligible small business owners will gain access to educational workshops, training and mentorship services, professional networks and more. 

Parry has thoroughly enjoyed mentoring a few small businesses in South Florida through Elevate Together. “I loved sharing my knowledge and learning from these entrepreneurs,” he said.

“With initiatives like this, it’s definitely an exciting time to be with Office Depot.”

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22
Apr, 2019

By Nancy Dahlberg

Member Spotlight | Office Depot

Read Time 5 Minutes

Business: A leading B2B integrated distribution company providing business services and supplies, products and technology solutions.

HQ: Boca Raton

Beginnings: Launched in 1986 with a single store in Fort Lauderdale

No. of stores today: 1.350

Tech Team: 450 people

Robots and automation. Hundreds of real-time applications. Co-working spaces. Internal hackathons and an “Innovation Week.”

At the heart of much of the transformation of Office Depot from an office supplies retailer to a business services company is a IT team of about 450 people.

“One of the great things about my role is I enable [taking] business strategy to reality by using the latest tech. I truly love my job. Working in a retailer is an extremely interesting one because we need to transform and that’s what [Office Depot CEO] Gerry Smith is doing — his whole strategy is to transform the business from a retail based business to a digital services business… and he’s had success with that,” said Andrew Parry, VP of IT, Application Development and Support, who works in Office Depot’s Boca Raton headquarters. “60% of our business is digital now. It’s business to business.”

Parry’s team, about 200 employees, develops and maintains more than 400 applications, essentially all of the applications for Office Depot.

“We have multiple websites, multiple customer facing apps, mobile apps, retail stores … It’s all a real-time enterprise. When someone buys in a retail store I know not to sell it online for in-store pickup – the omni-channel just works and we spend a lot of time making these applications real time,” said the British-born Parry, who joined Office Depot in 2003 as part of an acquisition. He has lived in South Florida since 2006.

“Within IT we have so many roles,” he continued. “We are investing a lot in modernizing user interfaces. Also automation – we are in a wonderful world right now where the tools are available to us to do automation in a big way.”

A part of that is through CompuCom, a company Office Depot acquired in late 2017 that provides IT services to many organizations.

“We are having huge success with integrating those services to our customers. There’s tech services, building, automation services. Services has been doubling year over year, and that’s been awesome,  and moves us  away from selling traditional office products to providing real value add services to our customers. Sticky services.”

A big innovation within the company is its Workonomy platform, which offers comprehensive business services married with “human touch” expertise to small- to medium-sized business customers. This includes in-store tech service kiosks, self-service print and copy kisosks, pack and ship services in store and online, and most recently co-working.

Office Depot opened its first ever integrated co-working space within a retail location in California last year, and recently announced Workonomy Hub openings in Texas and Chicago. Customers can buy membership plans to use the modern in-store coworking spaces, including private offices, dedicated desks and conference rooms, all with access to mailing, shipping, marketing, printing, concierge and tech support services.

“It’s not like any Office Depot you have seen before in your life,” Parry said.

And then there’s Office Depot’s recently announced partnership with Alibaba that aims to connect its 10 million small business customers with the Chinese e-commerce giant’s 150,000 global suppliers to better serve the needs of its small to medium-sized businesses.

“Alibaba is a very exciting opportunity for Office Depot … there is a lot of opportunity. We are right in the beginning of this relationship, and I am looking forward to seeing that come to fruition,” Parry said.

Closer to home, Parry says he learns a great deal by being involved in the Palm Beach Tech community.

“We hosted Palm Beach Tech community hackathon in October here on site and doing the same again this year. It was a great success. We actually hired some of the talent and I’ve kept in touch with a number of the winners.”

Leveraging what it learned from the community event, Office Depot plans to do an internal hackathon in addition to another community hackathon, Parry said.

“We have 40,000-plus employees and they all have great ideas. We have an Innovation portal – an idea collection site, if you will  – and a number of them lend themselves to a 24- or 48-hour sprint to develop them through a hackathon-like event. We will wrap around that a whole Innovation Week to really show our people the art of the possible. If they can see what is possible, they can see what they can change about what they do for the better of Office Depot.”

Office Depot’s first Innovation Week will be in June; the root of this came from listening to what others are doing in Palm Beach Tech, he said. “That was the seed that made this grow.”

For the upcoming Innovation Week for its employees, Office Depot Invited in top companies to show their innovative tech, Parry said. “But also we have some great tech that goes on within Office Depot; for example, CompuCom has a building automation platform. Building automation is a big area – think switching on and off lights, the environment, security, panic buttons – and we will showcase all that. We will showcase what we are doing with our robots in warehouses – they are pretty cool, actually.”

He said he learned some different agile development best practices and strategies from the Palm Beach Tech community, and it goes both ways. During a meetup Office Depot hosted, Parry talked about the company’s success moving data warehouse platforms to Snowflake, a Silicon Valley SaaS company, and now other companies are using Snowflake too.

Parry says it’s important for him to get out into the community,

“I love going to meetups in Palm Beach Tech and talking to people outside of my environment to get new perspectives on things. I am always meeting interesting people. I love that. It lets me see different ways of doing things and bring that back to Office Depot and I can think about different trends going on in the market that maybe we weren’t thinking about here.

“I’m most impressed with the bench strength of the tech in Palm Beach County.”

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