If digital transformation is to be fully realized in the promotional products industry, it will require cooperation. The winning team of the first ever PromoStandards hackathon suggests it just might be possible.

Five staffers from technology provider Brikl, calling themselves The Adaptors, teamed up with Lisa Hubbard, vice president of sales and marketing for The Vernon Company, to win the challenge at the PromoStandards Technology Summit.

The Challenge

Groups of cross-functional teams were tasked with finding a solution to integrate effectively with PromoStandards due to its use of SOAP technology, API design, and API documentation. 

Five Brikl employees teamed up with Hubbard and produced a working demo that showed it’s possible to integrate with PromoStandards in 90 seconds and complement e-commerce sites, platforms, and enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs), which gives users the ability to search products, refresh inventory, and submit POs in milliseconds.

“I was incredibly excited to be able to participate in this event and contribute my insights,” Hubbard says. “I’m not a tech person or a developer, but I am passionate about making processes and experiences better for our users and customers.

“To see the passion of all the teams while breaking down the competitive barriers to make a better tomorrow for our industry was incredible to see. It’s critical that we lean into technology to help us scale our businesses. Those that don’t will struggle.”

The Push Toward Digital Transformation

The PromoStandards Technology Summit highlights an industry mission, shared by PPAI, to solve technological challenges in the promo industry.

Streamlining processes with versatile and efficient business service platforms is a constant goal for promo companies, especially as their lists of clients and orders grow. More than ever, digital transformation is needed.