Firm offers a public window into its internal AI Marketplace of 600+ employee-built solutions and announces AI education partnership with the Mark Cuban Foundation.

CHICAGO, Oct. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — West Monroe, an AI-native global consulting firm, is marking its third annual Innovation Week by showcasing how employee-led innovation is transforming the way the firm works, creating measurable value for clients, and inspiring the next generation of AI builders.  

Taking place October 19–23, the week brings employees and leaders together to share innovations, collaborate on new ideas, and explore opportunities to turn promising solutions into lasting business value. The weeklong event reflects the firm’s broader approach to innovation: giving all employees the tools, resources, and opportunities to build solutions that can be scaled within the organization and for clients.

Giving the Public a Window into Employee-Led AI Innovation

For the first time, West Monroe is giving the public a look inside its internal AI Marketplace, a centralized collection of employee-created AI applications, super prompts, skills, demos, and other solutions.

West Monroe encourages everyone, regardless of technical background, to build with AI. The firm makes most of its AI tools, including Codex and Google AI Studio, available to all employees across the firm, empowering them to create their own solutions. Employees can then submit their innovations to the AI Marketplace, where approved solutions become available for others to discover, use, and build upon—saving time, sparking inspiration, and eliminating duplicative rework.

Examples of select applications featured in the public-facing experience include:

Prompt Clarity Coach: Guides users through a three-step process to turn new ideas into clearer, more effective AI prompts, helping them get better results from AI tools.Professional Development Planner: Helps people identify career goals, explore opportunities to develop new skills, and create personalized, actionable plans for professional growth.Restaurant Menu Insights Demo: Based on a demo developed for a client, this application analyzes restaurant menus to identify ingredient opportunities and product substitutions, connecting menu items to opportunities for growth, greater operational efficiency, consistency, and improved margins.

Additionally, the firm has mobilized a community of advanced AI builders, now representing 15% of West Monroe’s workforce. The Builder Community develops delivery assets and reimagines how the firm serves clients through AI.

“The people closest to the work often have the best ideas about how to make it better, and AI is making it possible for everyone, technical or not, to bring those ideas to life as tools and apps,” said Bret Greenstein, Chief AI Officer at West Monroe. “We’ve given our people the freedom to solve problems themselves, and they’ve built more than 600 solutions and counting to improve how we work and deliver value to clients. This is what being AI-native actually looks like: people at every level using AI to rethink how work gets done, sharing what they’ve created, and making the entire organization better.”

The public-facing experience builds on the June launch of westmonroe.ai, the firm’s public platform offering business leaders access to AI agents that help tackle strategic challenges, from assessing business model risks to evaluating AI readiness and talent strategies.

The firm’s internal AI Marketplace has already been featured in Business Insider and CIO.com.

Turning Employee Innovation into Business Value

Innovation Week also provides an opportunity for West Monroe employees to collaborate and turn ideas into practical solutions through the firm’s innovation competitions.

This year’s Innovation Week competition challenges teams to develop more effective ways of advancing the firm’s growing portfolio of technology assets, including how enhancements are prioritized, ownership is established, user experiences are improved, and feedback is incorporated. Participating teams will demonstrate approaches to help West Monroe scale promising solutions and continuously improve the value they deliver.

The competition has a track record of producing commercially successful solutions. During West Monroe’s 2024 Innovation Week, a team developed a prototype that became Intellio® Hopper, an AI-powered data modernization solution that reduces the time required to convert data for platforms like Databricks by 80%. Since its inception, the solution has generated about $50 million in sales.

“Some of our most valuable solutions started with employees seeing a problem and deciding there had to be a better way to solve it,” said John Rosato, Head of Technology at West Monroe, who is serving as a sponsor and judge for the Innovation Week competition. “Assets are a big part of how West Monroe is different and delivers faster, better results for clients. They allow us to take our expertise and turn it into something repeatable and scalable, which is why this innovation challenge is about investing in their acceleration.”

Finalists will present live demonstrations at the conclusion of Innovation Week, with winners receiving cash prizes.

Investing in the Next Generation of AI Builders

West Monroe is also extending its commitment to making AI innovation widely accessible through a partnership with the Mark Cuban Foundation.

The firm will host AI bootcamps for high school students this fall, which will introduce students to AI tools, ethics, and real-world applications through hands-on activities and a final capstone project. The Mark Cuban Foundation provides the curriculum and technology resources, while West Monroe hosts the program and provides employee volunteers as mentors.

“As AI continues to become an undeniable force in all of our lives, it’s crucial that we open the door to this knowledge, especially to young people who want to explore it,” said Mark Cuban, Founder of the Mark Cuban Foundation. “While technology expands and becomes more advanced, it becomes more critical that we ensure our students are prepared when they apply for schools or jobs in the future. Thanks to our work with West Monroe, the bootcamp will offer an avenue to explore this fascinating field of technology to any student, no matter their means.”

The partnership supports West Monroe’s mission to build the next generation of leaders and reflects the firm’s belief that the ability to understand, use, and build with AI should extend beyond traditional technical roles and backgrounds.

West Monroe’s commitment to AI innovation has earned significant industry recognition in 2026. The firm was named Overall AI Consulting Firm of the Year by the AI Breakthrough Awards, received a Gold Stevie® Award for AI-Driven Culture of Innovation at the Stevies American Business Awards, and was recognized by Forbes as one of America’s Best Management Consulting Firms, including for its AI consulting capabilities. Chief AI Officer Bret Greenstein was also named an AI Leader of the Year in the Stevie Awards.

For more information and to explore West Monroe’s public AI Marketplace preview, visit westmonroe.ai/ai-marketplace.

About West Monroe

West Monroe is an AI-native global consulting firm built for today’s pace of change. We combine deep industry expertise with modern technology and business transformation capabilities to help organizations move faster and deliver measurable impact with speed to value and certainty of results through execution excellence. We don’t just talk about what’s possible—we apply AI and technology where it matters most, pairing strategic insights with hands-on execution to help clients move from strategy to results, faster.

Clients tell us we show up differently. Our employee ownership model fuels an all-in approach grounded in practical execution, measurable impact, and lasting partnership. That commitment has earned recognition from Forbes and Business Insider and made West Monroe one of only 22 companies recognized worldwide for building high-quality careers.

See what’s possible at westmonroe.com.

Media Inquiries

Christina Galoozis

Director, Communications & Public Relations

cgaloozis@westmonroe.com

847-302-1762

Shira Cohen

Manager, Public Relations

scohen@westmonroe.com

443-841-6879

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SOURCE West Monroe

Identity-verified, location-validated, time-limited release closes the gap between carrier assignment and physical handoff; full rollout across the Carpool network by year-end

ATLANTA, Oct. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Carpool Logistics, the vehicle logistics platform for dealerships, auctions, fleets, and OEMs, today announced the rollout of Carpass™, a patent-pending secure vehicle release system that ties every release to a verified driver, a validated pickup location, and a time-limited digital credential. Carpass joins carrier vetting, live GPS tracking, geo-tagged inspection photos, account-takeover monitoring, and role-based access controls in Carpool’s layered defense against fraud. It is rolling out across the Carpool network now, will be fully deployed by the end of 2026, and is included at no additional cost on every Carpool shipment.

A gate pass clears the vehicle. It does not clear the driver. Paper gate passes get forwarded, screenshots get reused, and at most dealerships a porter hands keys to whoever arrives with the right name. That gap between carrier assignment and physical handoff is where fraud, theft, and disputes live.

Carpass closes it. Before a vehicle is released, the driver’s identity must be verified against a government-issued ID and a live face match, the driver must be inside the pickup geofence, and the release credential must be active and unexpired. If any one fails, the vehicle does not move. At auctions, Carpass validates the driver against the existing gate pass. At dealerships, it creates a documented handoff where none existed.

“We’re in the trust business. A customer hands us a vehicle and expects it to leave the lot with the driver we assigned, not someone holding a forwarded gate pass,” said Mike Malakhov, Co-Founder and CEO of Carpool Logistics. “Carpass is how we prove that at the gate. We’re including it on every shipment because that trust shouldn’t cost extra.”

First-time drivers complete a one-time identity verification in the Carpool driver app. Once verified and inside the pickup radius, they receive the vehicle release details and a time-limited, encrypted QR code. Gate staff scan it with any smartphone camera, no app or login required, and see the driver’s verified name, photo, company, DOT number, and assigned vehicles. Codes cannot be screenshotted, forwarded, or reused, and every verification attempt and release is logged in a complete audit trail. The system also protects drivers from unauthorized use of their DOT numbers and identities and has already stopped attempted fraud during its pilot phase.

“Carpass runs on one rule: verify the driver, confirm the location, and enforce the time limit at the same moment, or the vehicle doesn’t move,” said Joe Norton, VP of Product at Carpool Logistics. “Every layer of the system, from the encrypted release codes to the geofence to the biometric match, exists because a gate pass clears the vehicle, not the person driving it away.”

Carpass requires no additional hardware or software for shippers or gate staff. Carpool has filed a patent application covering its multi-factor verification architecture. For more information, visit https://www.carpoollogistics.com/carpass.

About Carpool Logistics

Carpool Logistics is a vehicle logistics platform that moves cars for dealerships, auctions, fleets, and OEMs. Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Atlanta, Carpool runs pricing, dispatch, tracking, and documentation in a single proprietary platform built for vehicles, with every shipment executed by one of more than 13,000 vetted carriers, tracked in real time, and documented at the VIN level. Carpool has delivered more than 450,000 vehicles, including 210,000+ in the past twelve months, with a 99.8% claim-free rate in 2025. Learn more at www.carpoollogistics.com.

Media Contact:
Austin Bryan
Head of Marketing, Carpool Logistics
austin.bryan@carpoollogistics.com
(404) 666-7136

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SOURCE Carpool Logistics

Bringing the versatile DNA of the Apex 300 into a compact 2.56kWh format that scales up to 100kWh.

LAS VEGAS, Oct. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — In response to recent severe-weather outages, BLUETTI today opened early access to the Apex 200, a versatile portable power station built for home emergency backup, RV travel, and off-grid living. The new arrival packs BLUETTI’s signature modular expandability into a highly portable 2.56kWh format, empowering users to start small and scale as their needs grow.

A More Portable Path into the Apex Family

Building on the legacy of Apex 300, the latest Apex 200 extends the Apex series’ modular versatility into a more portable 2.5kWh-class format—allowing users to start small with essential home backup and scale up as their power needs evolve.

It combines 2,560Wh of LFP capacity with a 3.2kW–3.6kW standalone AC output (up to 3.6kW under select conditions); compatible expansion batteries can take a single unit up to 33.28kWh, while three units in parallel can reach up to 6kW and approximately 100kWh of total storage.

Apex 200 packs this combination of capacity, output, and expansion into a sleek 27kg (36.5L) enclosure, with 10 output ports—including four individually controllable smart AC outlets, a dedicated TT-30R RV port, and a 12V/30A Anderson port—for flexible use across home, RV, and off-grid settings.

“The Apex Series is rooted in a simple promise: people don’t have to overinvest upfront to secure high-performance energy,” said James Ray, Marketing Director at BLUETTI. “Apex 200 is our latest response, bringing the versatility of a full-featured, expandable power system into a more compact, portable format. Users can start small and scale as their needs grow.” 

From Essential Backup to Whole-Home Resilience

At the essential-backup level, Apex 200’s 3.2kW standalone output can support selected 120V loads such as refrigeration, lighting, Wi-Fi, and home connectivity. Adding B300K/B500K series expansion batteries extends runtime for longer outages, while a fully expanded single unit can reach up to 33.28kWh. For larger backup needs, up to three fully expanded Apex 200 systems can be configured in parallel via HUB A1, with up to 6kW of output and approximately 100kWh of total storage.

For extended outages, up to 3,000W of solar input helps replenish the system and extend runtime. Apex 200 also brings a first for BLUETTI with four independently controllable smart AC outlets. Through the BLUETTI App, users can switch each outlet remotely, set schedules, or apply SOC-based controls, making it easier to direct available power to priority loads.

Plug-and-Go for RV, Camping & Off-Grid Life

Tailored for life on the move, the Apex 200 features a built-in TT-30R port for travel trailers and a high-draw 12V/30A Anderson port to run DC appliances directly without conversion losses. For boondocking and extended road trips, Apex 200 can be paired with portable solar panels such as SORA 500 and Charger 2, the alternator & solar dual charger, to help restore power while driving on the road.

Apex 200 Early Access Open Now

Early-access registration for the Apex 200 portable power station is now open through November 4. Subscribers will get first access to early-bird pricing details ahead of launch and can also spin for purchase-redeemable rewards. Final pricing will be announced when the Apex 200 officially launches in the U.S. on November 5.

About BLUETTI

Established in 2013, BLUETTI has evolved into a pioneer in the clean energy sector. Driven by robust in-house R&D and sustainable innovation, the brand empowers millions across 120+ countries to stay safe and prepared. Its portfolio of solar generators and home battery backup solutions provides reliable power for emergency preparedness, RV travel, and off-grid lifestyles.

Media Contact

Ellen Lee
PR Lead, US Market
ellenlee@bluetti.com 

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SOURCE BLUETTI POWER INC