Innovation Challenge Sparks Employee Creativity, Excitement

The winning concept, Project Central Database, gives Aptive an advanced tool to track, access and synthesize key data about the company’s previous and ongoing work more quickly and easily. Conceived by the Visionary Virtuosos, a team of four Aptive employees, Project Central Database enhances the company’s ability to efficiently collect, manage, maintain and extract relevant project information for business development, proposals, awards and other corporate activities.

The database concept builds on Aptive’s centralized repository, which facilitates data-driven decision making and strategic planning by answering critical questions about project equity, audience reach, capabilities and areas of expertise. It goes beyond what standard project databases typically include, such as using AI to identify missing audiences in work portfolios and assess the equity of projects.

“Aptive does a lot of work with a lot of great clients, but with new work coming in all the time, keeping track of everything can be challenging,” said Diana Do, a team member and senior communications associate. “With Project Central Database, we will be able to better aggregate, organize and track project data, making it easier to identify case studies, past performances, win themes and other information. In addition to business development, the innovation can also serve as an onboarding tool for new employees.”

Besides providing Aptive with a solution to improve business functions, the innovation challenge fostered collaboration and teamwork across the company.

“We all have different backgrounds and areas of expertise; we all work on different contracts,” said Niema Eaves, a team member and senior reporting and communications specialist. “But we identified an area that could be improved that many of us encountered across the organization and decided to come up with a solution together to advance it. This was a great team to work with.”

From Concept to Reality

The next step is for Aptive’s strategic innovation team to help the Visionary Virtuosos turn their concept into a company reality.

“The idea behind the Innovation Challenge was to showcase the creativity and talent we know exists among Aptive and Artemis employees,” said Ben Barker, Aptive’s chief strategy officer. “The innovative ideas that emerged from this competition will benefit our company, our clients and even our communities. We hope this challenge, along with future activities, will continue to inspire innovation, collaboration and a culture of excellence within our companies.”