Published on the 17/09/2019 | Written by Heather Wright

Who’s who of Kiwi tech in the running for top awards…

Theta, Intergen, Datacom, Spark, 11ants, New Era Technology and Enlighten Designs are among those leading the charge in this year’s Microsoft New Zealand, each making the finalist category for at least three awards.

This year’s awards, now in their twelfth year, see plenty of old hands and some new faces among the contenders.

Sarah Bowden [pictured], Microsoft New Zealand ‘One Commercial’ partner director, says “We’ve seen a really pleasing mix of entries from long-standing and new partners, highlighting the diverse range of amazing work that’s going on across our partner network.

“The awards highlight the diverse range of amazing work that’s going on across our partner network.”

Theta has claimed finalist status across four award categories: Engaging Customers, Business Applications (which it won last year for its work on a facilities maintenance solution using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service for Downer), Azure Migrate and Optimising Operations.

Repeat winner Intergen, which was Microsoft’s 2018 Country Partner of the Year for New Zealand, has again made a stellar showing, with finalist status across the Engaging Customers, Modern Workplace and Optimising Operations categories, while Spark is in the running for the awards in the Modern Workplace, Cloud for Good and Empowering Employees categories.

This year’s Microsoft Country Partner of the Year for New Zealand, Umbrellar, is up for awards in the Channel Development and Transforming Products categories.

Ten awards are up for grabs this year, as Microsoft continues the more focused theme adopted last year, when categories were cut back to 11 awards, from 26 in 2017, as it shifted focus to ‘creating solutions that work to empower organisations to help their own customers better’.

This year sees the introduction of the Azure Migrate Award, with the Applications and Infrastructure and Data and AI awards dropping out.

The Modern Workplace category looks to be especially contested, with eight finalists: Telesmart, Lucidity Cloud Services, Defend, Intergen, DXC, Spark, Englighten Designs and Information Leadership.

The winners will be announced at a gala awards in Auckland on October 17.

Bowden, who replaced Phil Goldie in the key partner role earlier this year, is responsible for the SME and larger partner segment. This accounts for about half of the vendors’ total partner community of 2,300 companies employing, at last count, more than 21,000 Kiwis.

The One Commercial Partner (OCP) model, introduced to NZ in 2019, essentially means that ISV partners can leverage Microsoft to “co-sell” their solutions, which is an area of focus for the awards.

“They are the perfect example of small Kiwi innovators making a big impact and that’s why their work deserves celebrating,” Bowden says.

The 2019 finalists are:

Engaging Customers Award
Theta
Intergen
New Era Technology

Business Applications Award
DXC
Datacom
11Ants Analytics
Theta
Datacom
Magnetism

Channel Development Award
Dicker Data NZ
New Era Technology
Umbrellar
Exeed

Azure Innovate Award
Parallo
Aware Group
Valocity
ASG Technologies Ltd TPT Group
11Ants Analytics

Modern Workplace Award
Telesmart
Lucidity Cloud Services
DEFEND
Intergen
DXC
Spark New Zealand
Enlighten Designs
Information Leadership

Cloud for Good Award
Securecom
DXC
Spark New Zealand
Enlighten Designs
Fusion 5
Softsource

Empowering Employees Award
Spark New Zealand
Datacom
Information Leadership
Magnetism Solutions
Provoke Solutions NZ
Securecom

Azure Migrate Award
IT360
The Instillery
Stellar Consulting
Provoke Solutions NZ
Theta
ETP

Optimising Operations Award
Intergen
Total Utilities Management Group
Theta

Surface Partners Award
NXP NZ
The Laptop Company

Transforming Products Award
Umbrellar
Advanced Security (TPT Group)
11Ants Analytics
Enlighten Designs
New Era Technology
Datacom
Stellar Consulting Group