We like challenges and believe we can convince the impossible to become possible.
This is the attitude with which we accepted Asbis Romania's invitation to organize a technological City Quest at the opening of their annual event, which brings together business partners. The role of the City Quest was to provide participants with the framework to interact with each other and with the latest business technology, in a context that is as relaxed as it is practical.
80 participants, divided into 4 teams, with whom we went to 6 different locations for 4 hours, being against the clock and at the same time having to synchronize the times spent in each location. Can you imagine the challenge?
An important aspect of the story was the celebration of 20 years of Asbis Romania superimposed on the history of technology development. We managed to mirror this interweaving of events in the unfolding of the action, building the most diverse tasks for the participants. They needed to demonstrate both their insight to decipher the clues, and their technical skills to put them into practice.
The challenges were varied: from assembling a computer, to defusing a bomb and supplying electricity to the equipment that allows connection to the internet; from configuring virtual machines and cloud security solutions, to using the platform Office 365 for real-time collaborative communication.
Also through technology, the participants' actions during the quest were collected and transformed into data, which could ultimately be interpreted through Business Intelligence powered by Microsoft. Part of the data we had access to was the collection of moods taken from photos, using an internally developed application that uses the service called Cognitive Services within Microsoft. Microsoft Azure.
The emotions of the participants faithfully reflected the seriousness of the situation. Yes, you read that right, the seriousness of the situation! We forgot to tell you that all these actions were aimed at countering the attack operation of a famous hacker, who tried to compromise the AnniverCity Asbis 2.0 event by destroying IT infrastructure of the entire city. First there was the surprise and shock felt upon learning the news given by the hacker himself, then calm and determination set in, upon receiving the mission to restore an alternative IT infrastructure. Understanding the contribution of each participant in this mission increased the adrenaline level to levels never seen before in a city in Ardea
l, as Sibiu is. However, responsibility was the strongest motivating factor, which supported the completion of the mission and the triggering of a state of satisfaction. The festive spirit was accentuated by the revelation of the collaborative aspect of the entire operation. The finale demonstrated that the teams did not work in competition, but collected in parallel pieces that had no meaning except when put together.
As for our emotions as organizers, we admit with our hands on our hearts that they fluctuated from agony to ecstasy. When the unpredictable appeared, we embraced it and adapted, when chaos surrounded us, we deciphered it and rearranged it, when we were threatened with being overwhelmed by the situation, we mobilized and moved forward. Throughout this process, we were animated by our passion for what we do and the belief that it is possible, even when all the odds seemed against us.
Only at the end did we realize that all the efforts and difficulties during the process turned into opportunities to work more coherently as a team and to transform the impossible into possible, a skill that we suspect we will need in the future.
