Microsoft New Zealand Partner Awards results

Posted on 18-Oct-2019 10:18 | Filed under: News : Computing

The 12^th annual Microsoft New Zealand Partner Awards saw 12 local businesses recognised for their outstanding customer solutions at an event that celebrates Kiwi innovation. A total of 56 Microsoft Partners competed for the honours announced at a glamorous ceremony held at St Matthew in the City, Auckland.

Judges were full of praise for entrants’ ability to come up with new ways to empower their customers, not only within the scope of each project but in ways that benefited all areas of their business.

“The magic of these Awards is that they reveal the capability and influence that Microsoft Partners have in empowering customers to create real change and value. Some of the examples we’ve seen have created an impact that reaches far beyond one organisation, transforming people’s wellbeing as well as our natural environment,” said Sarah Bowden, Microsoft New Zealand One Commercial Partner Director.

Several Partners were recognised more than once for creating solutions that achieved the greatest difference for their customers. Enlighten Designs took home the awards for Transforming Products and Cloud for Good, with Datacom and Information Leadership also receiving two mentions. Umbrellar celebrated its earlier win at the Microsoft Global Partner Awards, receiving the accolade for New Zealand Country Partner of the Year in June. Meanwhile The Laptop Company won the Surface Partner Award for the second year in a row.

Intergen was named winner of no fewer than three categories, the Engaging Customers Award, Optimising Operations Award (for the second year running) and Modern Workplace Award, the most hotly-contested category of the night. Intergen’s Lumino Dental Plan platform is a worthy winner of the Engaging Customers category, helping overturn New Zealand’s poor track record for dental maintenance. The platform, developed for Lumino the Dentists, provides patients with a self-service portal that reminds them when check-ups are due, and enables them to book online and see their treatment and payment history. Patients have cited the platform as the reason they returned to regular dentist’s visits after many years of neglect.

Aware Group won the Azure Innovate Award for its IoT solution that monitors noises exceeding agreed levels at Port Otago. Previously staff members were spending substantial time listening to recordings and manually tracking the source of the noise. Aware Group’s solution uses sensors with artificial intelligence to identify and filter out false positives such as passing trains and motorbikes. Not only has this raised productivity and compliance, employee morale has risen dramatically. Employees also benefited greatly from Information Leadership’s solution for Todd Energy, which pulled together fragmented information and operations into one easy Office 365 platform supported by Power BI. Staff found themselves able to collaborate, source information, track progress and work flexibly in ways never before possible.

Said Bowden: “We were delighted by the mix of entries this year, both from our long-time Microsoft Partners and new members of our Partner network who are already delivering fantastic outcomes for their customers and accelerating digital transformation.

With Data and AI, leveraging the power of Microsoft’s Cloud Platform, Partners are transforming New Zealand’s economy in incredible ways. This momentum is being fuelled by our Partners investing, developing and growing their capabilities and capacity to enable New Zealanders tomake the most of this exciting phase of growth and transformation.”

The full list of 2019 winners are:

New Zealand Partner of the Year (global award)

Umbrellar

Azure Innovate Award

Aware Group – Port Otago

Azure Migrate Award

The Instillery – Carter Holt Harvey

Business Applications Award

Datacom

Empowering Employees Award

Information Leadership – Todd Energy

Modern Workplace Award