Phil Goldie (Microsoft)
Microsoft has honoured leading partners across the channel following a year of customer innovation and market growth in New Zealand.
Unveiled during a revamped ceremony in Auckland, the 2018 Microsoft Partner Awards recognised excellence within the context of the end-user, spanning a host of emerging and established providers.
With more than 400 in attendance, Lexel Systems was recognised for work with My Food Bag in the Modern Workplace category, while Datacom was awarded for maximising the benefits of cloud technology for Tourism New Zealand in the Empowering Employees category.
Theta took home the Cloud for Good honours for leveraging Office 365 in collaboration with Emerge Aotearoa, alongside recognition in the Business Applications category.
Intergen continued the double trend by also taking home two awards on the night, spanning Optimising Operations and Data & AI.
Other winners included The Instillery, The Laptop Company and Timely, alongside NV Interactive and Dicker Data.
“This year the judges were incredibly impressed by the high calibre of entries,” said Phil Goldie, director of One Commercial Partner at Microsoft New Zealand. “It was a genuine challenge to pick the winners in so many closely contested categories.
“The winners truly showed a range of Microsoft partners who are delivering excellent solutions and innovations that are optimising businesses as well as improving people’s lives.”
In reducing the categories from 26 to 11, the focus shifted towards customer-centric solutions, resulting in a wide-ranging line-up of finalists, from a 12-month-old start-up to veterans of industry, and everything in-between.
Judges praised winners and finalists for “outstanding knowledge, skills and innovations” that are “propelling” New Zealand’s technology industry into the future.
“Our partners play a crucial role in New Zealand’s IT sector,” Goldie added. “Whether they are creating new solutions to meet customer demands or providing insightful IT advice, every day they are realising Microsoft’s mission by empowering New Zealand businesses to be trail blazers.”
The 2018 Microsoft Partner Awards winners -
Modern Workplace Award
Winner - Lexel Systems (My Food Bag)
Highly Commended - Intergen (SNAP 365)
Applications & Infrastructure Award
Winner - The Instillery (The Cloud Savings Calculator)
Highly Commended - Umbrellar (Digital Transformation)
Data & AI Award
Winner - Intergen (Foodstuffs)
Highly Commended - Datacom (Vulcan Steel)
Business Applications Award
Winner - Theta (Downer facilities maintenance application)
Highly Commended - Datacom
Surface Partner Award
Winner - The Laptop Company
Channel Development Award
Winner - Dicker Data New Zealand
Engaging Customers Award
Winner - Timely
Highly Commended - Datacom (AIA ‘Ava’)
Empowering Employees Award
Winner - Datacom (Tourism New Zealand)
Highly Commended - Lexel (My Food Bag)
Transforming Products Award
Winner - NV Interactive (NV Play)
Optimising Operations Award
Winner - Intergen (AB Equipment)
Cloud for Good Award
Winner - Theta (Emerge Aotearoa Office 365)
