TMT Technology Awards 2016

Virgin Pulse is the leading global provider of workplace wellbeing BT- A Recognised Leader in Data Protection

WELCOME TO THE 2016 TECHNOLOGY AWARDS The 2016 Technology Awards aim to highlight the key players across the vast world of the technology industry. Over the past couple of decades, Technology has changed and evolved how the world conducts business across a variety of industries and platforms.

Advances in Technology have paved the way for efficiency, cost effectivity and have provided firms with an invaluable reach to clients and customers in all corners of the globe. Recent years have seen significant technological changes in the fields of communication and innovation and have altered the way the business world consumes and perceives. As the world of technology continues to grow, it’s role in the modern day life and business cannot be overstated.

Our 2016 Technology Awards will highlight these key players, individuals and innovative firms who have provided the world with new, cutting-edge techniques. We will cast a centre-stage spotlight on those, who through determination, commitment and hard work, have developed and shared their ideas to fundamentally evolve the business world and the lives of consumers and customers for years to come.

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CONTENTS BT GROUP PLC Recognised Leader in Data Protection – Europe IMIMOBILE EUROPE LTD Award for Innovation in Customer Engagement Mobile Technology & Best Contact Centre Software Application: IMIchat TERSO SOLUTIONS, INC. Best for Automated Inventory Management Solutions - Wisconsin VIRGIN PULSE Best Employee Engagement Platform: Virgin Pulse AKANA Best API Management Platform: Akana Platform ANGOLA CABLES Best Angolan Telecommunications Operator 2016 B&L INFORMATION SYSTEMS INC Best Metalcaster ERP Software Supplier - USA BYTES OF LEARNING INC Best Educational Multimedia Publishing Company 2016 - USA CIRRATO ONE Best Single Server Printing Solution 2016 COMPETENTUM GROUP Best E-Content Development Service 2016 - USA & TMT Excellence Award for Simulations & Virtual Labs DATATEL INC Best IVR & Telephone Payment Solutions Provider - North America HSTC LIMITED Best IT Systems Consultancy & Software Development House - Bangladesh HYPERION GLOBAL PARTNERS Best Management Consulting Firm – USA IGLOO SOFTWARE Most Cutting Edge Cloud Hosted Intranet Platform - North America INTERMUSICA ARTISTS' MANAGEMENT LIMITED Best Entertainment Digital Management Company - UK ITIVITI GROUP AB Best Capital Markets Technology Provider KIMBLE APPLICATIONS LIMITED Best in Service Automation & Workflow Software 2016 LEXISNEXIS Best for Legal Research & Workflow Solutions - Australia & Best Legal Practice Management System: Lexis Affinity™ MARQUIS SOFTWARE Best Corrections Industry Integrated Solutions Provider - USA & Best Inmate Information Management System: eOMIS™ PERFORMANCE TELECOM LTD Best Contact Centre TMT Solutions Provider - UK & Award for Innovation in Automated IVR - UK PMG GLOBAL Best Information Technology Solutions provider – Virginia PRIORITY DISPATCH CORPORATION Best Emergency Dispatch Software: ProQA® QA MENTOR INC Best Software Quality Assurance Service Provider 2016 - USA REDBACK CONFERENCING Best in Multi-Platform Conferencing Services - Australia RES Most Innovative Next Generation Software Development Firm 2016 & Best for Digital Workspace Technology - NL & USA REVE SYSTEMS Recognized Leader in Mobile VolP Solutions & Recognized Leader in Best Softswitch & Billing Solutions Provider SERVICEPOWER TECHNOLOGIES PLC Best for Mobile Workforce Management Software Solutions SOAPWARE, INC Best For EMR Software Solutions SUSE Best for Interoperable Linux & Cloud Infrastructure Solutions - USA TELLEMACHUS LTD Most Innovative IT Solutions Firm - North England WORTHWARE SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL INC Best Retail ERP Platform: CellSell® & Most Innovative Vertical Market ERP Provider – Canada ZEROLIGHT Best Real-Time 3D Visualisation Specialist & Most Advanced Car Configurator Solution

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BT GROUP PLC Recognised Leader in Data Protection – Europe BT is one of the world’s leading communications services companies, serving the needs of customers in 180 countries worldwide. Their main activities include the provision of fixed-line services, broadband, mobile and TV products and services, as well as networked IT services. BT also provide wholesale products and services to communications providers in the UK and around the world, and globally supply managed networked IT services to multinational corporations, domestic businesses and national and local government organisations. Mark Keddie, Chief Privacy Officer for BT Group told us about their approach to achieving data privacy compliance and some of the challenges ahead.

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or BT, this award is welcome recognition of how far the company has come in embedding privacy compliance in to its everyday business operations. By breaking down the privacy risk into simple everyday language, BT has enabled its people to understand just how privacy impacts their role within the business. The result is a positive data culture which benefits both BT and its customers.

“We use the power of communications to make a better world. We bring together the best networks, the best technology and the best people to make connections and create new possibilities. When we do all of these things well, the business grows, communities flourish and people get more out of life. Recognising privacy rights and meeting our obligations around these is part of that ambition.”

Contact Details Company: BT Group plc Name: Mark Keddie, Chief Privacy Officer Web Address: btplc.com

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“The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), due in force in May 2018, will be the biggest shake-up of data privacy law in over a decade. The global nature of IT architecture means that the GDPR will have a significant impact not just on the Telco sector, but on the wider economy as a whole. The GDPR demands that businesses demonstrate greater accountability for their data practices.

This will be a major challenge for most organisations and particularly for those multinationals with large supply chains and complex IT architecture. To be able to effectively demonstrate accountability on demand will mean truly understanding the who, where, what, when and why of personal data as it flows across the IT infrastructure throughout the entirety of the data lifecycle.

“New technologies, such as Big Data, may offer tremendous benefits for society, but innovation is not without boundaries. What constitutes ‘personal data’ or ‘personally identifiable information’ is well defined, and will continue to apply irrespective of the new technology being proposed.

As new technologies get even more personal, there will be a greater need to understand the importance of data ethics and brand values as part of the wider new technologyprivacy debate. Thankfully through our efforts here at BT, we have a clear understanding of how good privacy enhances our products and service and embraces our ethics and brand values.”

“At BT, the embedding of Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) within our IT governance framework has promoted the right balance between innovation and privacy compliance.

Pragmatic working relationships with key business stakeholders combined with positive interactions with supporting functions, such as Procurement and Security, has enabled me to make strategic decisions around our overall data risk. With this level of collaboration and understanding, collectively we can drive the best possible outcomes for both our customers and for BT.” Mark notes that until recently a career in privacy compliance has not been generally perceived as a long-term option. Consequently, the depth and experience available in the external market remains somewhat limited with good data privacy people hard to find.

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“In addition to obtaining relevant and recognised professional qualifications, individuals within my team are required to establish themselves as trusted advisors first, and compliance officers second. Although maintaining objective independence is important to achieving compliance, there must be a relationship of trust between the business and second line of defence (compliance), if together we are to deliver great products and services to our customers.�

Whilst a deep understanding of privacy law is a useful, there are other paths that can be taken towards a career in Privacy. Individuals with a strong background in internal controls and a robust understanding of IT, who can communicate in clear and pragmatic manner can also succeed in this growing profession.

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IMIMOBILE EUROPE LTD Award for Innovation in Customer Engagement Mobile Technology & Best Contact Centre Software Application: IMIchat IMImobile is a cloud communications software and solutions provider that helps companies use mobile and digital technologies to better communicate and engage with their customers.

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obile is the transformative force of our generation. Today, smartphones influence our everyday lives by giving us a constant connection to the digital world. As a result of the change in consumer behaviour, businesses need to transform the way they engage and interact with their customers.

IMImobile’s mission is to help businesses embrace mobile technologies, by enabling them to overcome the barriers and complexities holding them back from improving how they engage with their customers. Our goal is to be the go-to partner for organisations who want to harness the power of mobile and digital communication.

Over the past 15 years, we have grown to become the leading provider of cloud communication software and solutions. Our track record of committing to continual innovation has underpinned global growth, with our services being deployed in over 60 countries that process billions of digital touchpoints every month.

Contact Details Company: IMImobile Europe Ltd. Email: contactus@imimobile. com Address: 5 St John’s Lane, London, EC1M 4BH, United Kingdom Telephone: +44 1494 750 500

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“Our strategy has been to ensure that our software products and solutions are network, channel and device agnostic, so that our clients have a partner that is able to deliver the right experience for their customers,” says Jay Patel, Chief Executive at IMImobile.

We are pleased to be a trusted partner to large blue chip enterprises worldwide, helping them to change the way they engage with their customers. Some of our clients have become renowned for how they use mobile communications.

For example, O2 is a recognised award-winner in multi-channel campaign delivery, and our campaign management team help to deliver over 700 personalised and contextual marketing campaigns, generating more than 600 million customer interactions, every year.

The UK’s leading motoring association is now sending proactive updates on insurance claims to customers by integrating real-time mobile messaging into their customer service strategy. We are also working with Tier 1 retail banks to help them digitise key customer journeys to improve the retail banking experience.

As mobile transforms every aspect of how a customer engages with a business, we continue to look for ways our technology can be applied to improve the customer experience. One of our most recent products, IMIchat, has been specifically developed for the contact centre sector. IMIchat is an interactive messaging application that enables contact centre agents to have a real-time conversation with customers using two-way SMS or P2P Messaging Apps, like Facebook Messenger. The application is helping contact centres and contact centre service providers to move towards a digitally led customer service experience.

Jay Patel said; “it’s not just a faster service for customers and agents; IMIchat is a messaging solution that allows a great deal of personalisation. On top of that, the average chat is up to 75% cheaper than an equivalent voice call, making IMIchat perfect for helping contact centres deal with low-value customer enquiries.” There is no denying that we are working in one of the most progressive and

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exciting industries. New technologies and trends present challenges and opportunities in equal measure. We will continue to invest in our technology, and people, to ensure we are the very best at what we do and what we can offer.

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TERSO SOLUTIONS, INC. Best for Automated Inventory Management Solutions - Wisconsin Terso Solutions provides automated inventory management solutions for tracking high-value medical and scientific products in the healthcare and life science fields. We got the chance to speak to Joe Pleshek, President and CEO of the company, to find out more about the highly innovative technology they specialise in and how they always strive to be ahead of the curve.

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n total, Terso Solutions has deployed over 1,600 RFID-enabled sensors around the world. Through this technology, they believe in developing inventory management solutions that will provide the best possible end result for their customers.

"Technology is becoming increasingly adopted in the healthcare and life science markets, specifically to provide a seamless way to conduct everyday business."

Company: Terso Solutions, Inc. Name: Joe Pleshek, President & CEO Email: Joe.pleshek@ tersosolutions.com Web Address: www. tersosolutions.com Address: 5540 Research Park Drive Madison, Wisconsin, USA 53711

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When asked about the secret behind their success, Pleshek credits this to long-term partnerships and a hardworking team of employees. “To achieve the success we have seen thus far, Terso is committed to taking an ethical approach with each customer, and one that sets up our relationship for long-term growth. We work to find the best possible ways to close all gaps, and most importantly, we are committed as a team to exceptional service and leadership” says Joe. Fundamentally, Terso’s biggest competitor is the status quo. As such, Terso works diligently to stay ahead of industry changes and provide fresh, new ideas.

“As technology changes and continues to grow, it is important to remain agile and creative. Technology is becoming increasingly adopted in the healthcare and life science markets, specifically to provide a seamless

way to conduct everyday business. The adoption of technology solutions is a big change for many, and it becomes increasingly important to address this when developing new solutions”, Joe explains, Within the wider technology industry, Terso sees the Internet of Things (IoT) as an exploding phenomenon that will continue to transform the healthcare and life science markets. For instance, one of the prevailing trends is internet connected devices and sensors that automatically provide real-time data on the location and condition of people and “things” that work together in the supply chain. As such, software algorithms can enable companies to analyse this data, and make proactive decisions to drive supply chain optimisation and efficiencies. Joe believes that Terso’s development of IoT technologies will help to drive value and create new ways for customers to manage their supply.

"Terso is committed to taking an ethical approach with each customer, and one that sets up our relationship for long-term growth."

As technology continues to evolve, so too will Terso Solutions. With 2017 on the horizon, Joe is confident that they will continue to succeed. “Terso continues to evolve as a company, and is poised for growth. We will continue to adapt with technology and develop new and innovative solutions that drive value.”

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VIRGIN PULSE Best Employee Engagement Platform: Virgin Pulse Virgin Pulse is the leading global provider of workplace wellbeing and employee engagement software solutions. The company works with more than 2,200 clients in 185 countries around the world to ensure that their employees are happy, healthy and engaged at work and at home.

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ust as wellbeing means different things to different people, each company defines employee engagement in their own terms. Virgin Pulse’s suite of programs and solutions are designed to help employees and organizations wherever they are on their wellbeing journey, be it just starting out or advancing an existing program. For employees, Virgin Pulse offers tools to address the physical, emotional, financial and social elements of wellbeing.

For organizations, the company provides cutting-edge technology solutions that range from traditional wellness platforms, which are designed to lower healthcare costs in the U.S., to truly all-encompassing strategic wellbeing portals and hubs that create thriving, engaged workplace cultures.

The results reveal a new industry standard: • • • •

84.5% of members feel more energetic at their job 82.5% of members feel their company is a happy and positive place to work 68% of members using the weight tracker lost weight 69% of members reported a decrease in stress levels

These outcomes and results go far beyond the individual. In fact, when employees enjoy improved health and wellbeing, measurable business results follow. Across its book of business, Virgin Pulse clients realize:

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Contact Details

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Company: Virgin Pulse Name: Chris Boyce, CEO Web Address: virginpulse.com

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2.9x lower worker’s compensation claims for members vs. non-members 50% fewer injury rates in program members Average 13.4% reduction in medical claims

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29% lower employee turnover rates for members vs. non-members 9% increase in organizational productivity

Virgin Pulse’s extensive and impressive results are driven by the deep relationships it forges with both its clients and its members – employees use the company’s technology eight times more frequently than other wellbeing technology programs. This means that Virgin Pulse has a rich base of user data, allowing it to tweak, recalibrate, and personalize its technology so that employees are getting the best tools, guidance, and results possible.

In addition, Virgin Pulse has four competencies that further distinguish it from other wellbeing providers: 1. Extensive global experience Global engagement requires local expertise – not just translation. Virgin Pulse’s team of global experts, located in 11 countries, are dedicated to ensuring that resources and content are aligned with local customs, cultures, priorities and expectations.

2. Unmatched daily engagement The company’s daily engagement rates outpace even top consumer sites like Pinterest and LinkedIn. With an attentive and active user base, Virgin Pulse is able to drive healthy habits and behaviour change on a daily basis. These changes ripple through the social networks in organizations to positively impact culture.

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3. Actionable insights and analytics Virgin Pulse’s team of analysts is dedicated to connecting employee outcomes to business success, working with individual clients to produce the results that matter to them. In addition to an in-house team, Virgin Pulse offers extensive, on-demand reporting capabilities that provide clients with real-time data, helping them optimize their program with reduced administrative loan.

4. Scalability and breadth Workplace wellbeing, organizational culture, employee engagement – these business imperatives grow and evolve as businesses mature and adapt. Virgin Pulse’s configurable suite of wellbeing solutions is designed to scale along with companies, providing a clear and effective pathway to advanced, sustained employee engagement.

With 5.4 million annual users across the globe, Virgin Pulse is redefining employee engagement, using workplace wellbeing and healthy habit formation to drive individual outcomes and critical business results.

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AKANA Best API Management Platform: Akana Platform Akana is a highly innovative technology company that enables organisations to manage and secure application programming interfaces (APIs). We caught up with Roberto Medrano, Executive Vice President of Akana, to find out more about their company.

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n recent years, APIs have become increasingly popular as a way to connect applications with data and services across multiple enterprises. What we offer is a comprehensive suite of API management, API security and microservices solutions that are aimed at helping businesses accelerate digital transformation by securely extending their reach across multiple channels, whether it be mobile, cloud or "Internet of Things” (Iot).

Digital transformation initiatives are enabling the establishment of new disruptive business models.

These digital transformation initiatives enable companies to reach more customers and partners across multiple touch-points leaving disruptive wakes in their path. APIs are the key to digital transformation and disruptive innovation. APIs enable rapid sharing data across multiple channels. They enable unique business models. These encompass both open/public APIs as well as private, partner, or internal APIs. Most enterprises are interested in creating an effective partner API program, with open APIs restricted to limited set of industries or use-cases. Most large enterprises are beginning their digital transformation journeys starting with partner and internal API strategies, with a mix of leveraging existing IT assets and purpose-built APIs targeting specific business needs and objectives.

Contact Details Company: Akana Email: info@akana.com Web Address: akana.com Address: 12100 Wilshire Blvd, #1800, Los Angeles, CA 90025

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Government mandates such as the European Commission’s PSD2, a payment services mandate, and the US Government’s Meaningful Use, an electronic health record mandate, are accelerating business initiatives requiring API strategies. This acceleration is not just about complying with the government

mandate. This is about the unbundling of the traditional institutions. These API mandates will open the door and level the playing field for innovative contenders to capture revenue that has long been taken for granted by the incumbents. The traditional institutions will need to change their business and operating models to compete. Digital businesses need the ability to rapidly react to market changes in a matter of days with the ability mediate, orchestrate, and build new integrations with APIs both in the cloud and on premises.

Above all, Akana’s mission is to develop technologies that drive the achievement of digital transformation toward a digital business. The Akana Platform provides an end-to-end API Management solution for designing, implementing, securing, monitoring, and publishing APIs. It is available as a SaaS platform, on-premises, and as a hybrid environment. Our clients include global organisations such as Bank of America, Barclays, U.S. Bank, Aeromexico, Pfizer and Verizon. As such, Akana is recognised as a “Leader” in this field by several analyst firms.

Although there are many companies working within our industry, Akana specializes in enterprise, complex and regulated industries. Most of our customer are large enterprise customers in banking, financial services, healthcare and major accounts. These customers typically require compliance with industry mandates and regulations, such as PCI and HIPAA, and knowledge in emerging industry standards such as PSD2 and HL7 FHIR. Vendor knowledge and expertise in the industry enables a customer to gain quick ROI.

Akana offers the most comprehensive and sophisticated API security with support for security standards like HSM, OAuth, JWT, OpenID Connect, etc. and integrations with most security and identity management providers like Oracle, CA, IBM, AD, PingID, HSM, PCI 3.0 Level 1 compliant. A testament to this is that our environments have received the PCI 3.0 attestation of compliance. We have a great solution for regulatory industries as well as companies that require the highest level of API security.

In order to ensure that we remain at the forefront of our industry, we maintain a presence in industry groups and standards bodies. This, in combination with working closely with industry analysts and global players enables us to stay ahead of emerging developments in APIs, microservices, containerisation and related technologies. Looking towards the final end of 2016 and beyond, we see a number of developments that will affect our business as well as the broader technology industry.

Akana is the only vendor that is focused on the complete lifecycle of the API from design through runtime providing full lifecycle API management capabilities that are deeply integrated with dev tools such as SCM, IDE, DevOps tools like Jenkin and TeamCity and social tools such as Slack. Akana is the only vendor that provides customers with an API Description Language (API DL) neutral graphical API Designer that allows you design your API and annotate your API’s documentation using a built in markdown editor. You can then export your API in OpenAPI/Swagger, RAML, WSDL, or WADL and use it to generate either client side or server side code.

And of course, we feel very honoured and humbled to be the recipient of this award. This award is an acknowledgement of our leadership in helping clients to quickly deliver scalable applications, share data as APIs, connect and integrate applications, drive partner adoption, monetise their assets and provide intelligent insights into their businesses and operations.

Moreover, Akana’s internal culture is based on balancing the “big company” discipline we need to service large enterprise clients with a fast-moving, entrepreneurial state of mind. By balancing these two poles of tech industry experience, we are able to develop innovative technologies but deliver them with kind of stability that major clients demand.

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ANGOLA CABLES Best Angolan Telecommunications Operator 2016 Angola Cables is an Angolan telecommunications company founded in 2009, which operates in the international wholesale market and whose core business is the development of international circuits for voice and data.

They achieve this through Submarine Cable systems connecting Africa to Europe and the Americas, including both North and South America.

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ngola Cables’ goal is to transform Angola into one of the leading telecommunication hubs in Africa and they offer packages such as IP Transit services, Colocation services and dedicated Circuits services.

In order to achieve this goal, they are taking a number of crucial steps to ensuring their success. Firstly, they are localising global content in Luanda, and expanding their pan African network in Africa, Europe, South and North America. They are also building the first ever submarine fibre optic system between Angola and Brazil, and they are now responsible for a neutral management of the Internet Exchange Point in Angola, called Angonix. Angonix was founded in March 2015, and has been able to interconnect 13 networks, and reached peak traffic of 4.4Gbps in the first year.

Contact Details Company: Angola Cables, SA Name: Artur Mendes Email: artur.mendes@ angolacables.co.ao Web Address: angolacables. co.ao Address: Headquarter: Via C-3, Talatona - Luanda (Angola), and SĂŁo Paulo (Brazil) Telephone: +244227360006

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The main difference between Angola Cables and their competitors is their attitude. They are able to produce results that show their plans are more than just dreams; with hard work and dedication, they have been able to achieve their main goal of becoming an innovator on the global market and enlarging their product portfolio, so as to provide a better service to their customers.

With plans to expand their pan African network globally, Angola Cables will have the ability and credibility to provide services in accordance with global demand.

Angola Cables is committed to providing better services to the African continent, and their current projects include expanding their pan African network

to Europe and building the euro-ring project. They also plan to expand their network to strategic places in Africa and adding more peering points into this, and looking further into the implementation and business development of the South Atlantic Cables system and the implementation and business development of the Monet System.

The future is looking very bright for Angola Cables.

The company has been in the industry for almost 4 years now, and their status as a newcomer gives them the freedom to design innovative telecommunications solutions for the African continent. Being a carriers’ carrier, Angola Cables is looking to turn the SADC and make Angola more attractive in terms of Internet and traffic localisations.

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B&L INFORMATION SYSTEMS INC Best Metalcaster ERP Software Supplier - USA B&L Information Systems is a global leader in providing integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) for metalcasters. Vice President of Business Development Matt Gacek talks us through how the firm has been performing over the past twelve months and its plans for the future.

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stablished in 1976, since inception B&L has used its deep understanding of the specific challenges and problems of foundries and die casters to create ERP solutions which match the way metalcasters operate, making its flagship product Odyssey easier to utilise. Matt discusses how this innovative product, which was released as a browser-based option last year and has since had a strong impact on the market, has grown over the past year into something that is now invaluable to clients.

Contact Details Company: B&L Information Systems Name: Matt Gacek Email: BusinessDevelopment@ BLInfo.com Web Address: BLInfo.com Address: 4707 Rambo Road, Bridgman MI 49106 Telephone: 269-465-6207

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“Recently our R&D Department released B&L’s new Web User Interface of the Odyssey product into general availability in May; this browser-based ERP is a zero-client ERP technology which eliminates the need for metalcasting manufacturers to use specialty devices and 3rd party software interfaces to get the most out of their ERP. Odyssey’s Web UI may be used with any browser-based device, including laptops and tablets. In the metalcasting industry, this technology allows companies to bring ERP to the shop floor with ease and also means they can access Odyssey, from any device at any time.”

Working in a highly competitive industry, self-improvement is at the heart of everything B&L does and is highly encouraged by B&L’s CEO, Philip Laney. As such the firm’s staff are continuous learners and people who solve challenges, which is vital as their clients are companies looking to solve their technology challenges or improve efficiencies in a difficult economic environment.

Following on from the success of this year, Matt believes that things can only get better for B&L, as the firm explores exciting new expansion plans.

“Looking toward the future, our focus will be to expand our services in North America, and we will continue to grow our market percentage across the continent. Each new customer we sign means further integration into the metalcasting industry and strengthens our commitment to the market, which will be our focus going forward.”

As a final comment Matt outlines his firm’s pride in their success in this awards programme and share what he and his team believes is the secret behind this achievement.

“Overall, our whole team is very honored to have been recognized with such a prestigious award and feels our dedication to serving our industry played a big part in this success. We firmly believe that this recognition of excellence is certainly a distinguishing difference among providers of industry-specific ERP software.”

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BYTES OF LEARNING INC Best Educational Multimedia Publishing Company 2016 - USA For over thirty years, Bytes of Learning has researched, developed and published educational software technology for schools, enterprises and individuals. The company has used a team approach, whereby professionally qualified content and instructional experts have been allied with experienced technologists to produce a wide range of solutions. Art Willer, President, told us more.

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he mission of Bytes of Learning is to provide effective educational solutions that genuinely meet the needs of our customers. Our approach has been to involve informed professionals in the development and design phases of the technology. This is followed by the release of our products in test environments to ensure they are working as designed. Following publication, we constantly interact with our customers to learn more about their needs and see where we might improve our software to help them in the future.

Contact Details Company: Bytes of Learning Incorporated Name: Art Willer, M. Ed., President Email: artwiller@ bytesoflearning.com Web Address: bytesoflearning. com Address: 24 Emerick Avenue, Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada L2A 2W3 In the U.S.: 266 Elmwood Avenue #256, Buffalo, New York 14222 Telephone: 800-465-6428, +905-947-4646; dial 2221 at the company greeting

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Educational technology has to do more than instruct. It has to operate in educational environments, which range widely in needs and constraints. For example, we recently worked closely with the State of Minnesota Department of Corrections Education Division to meet their security needs.

We modified the software for them at no cost, something we did because the benefits would accrue to other environments too.

We often invest our time in our customers, because the investment pays off in greater knowledge of their needs and perspectives. That investment sometimes exceeds the dollar value of the potential sale, but we see it an investment, not a loss. We mark ourselves out from our competitors by building up a relationship that is founded on trust; I do not mean that people cannot trust our competitors. I mean that trust is the most precious thing any company has to offer, and how customers perceive your trustworthiness makes all the difference.

This process begins with us ensuring that every staff member has a service-orientation and a positive attitude

towards our customers. Sometimes we deal with customers who may not be as technically literate as we would like, but we constantly remind ourselves: If they did not need the help, they would not be contacting us.

The second thing we do is consistently look for ways to improve our solutions so customers do not need to contact us. Our design mantra is that our software should run, regardless of the customer or the situation. We find it much more effective to save everybody the time and hassle of dealing with technical problems by addressing them before publication.

A side benefit of remaining open to customer contact is that sometimes our customers contact us, not because they are having problems, but because they are pleased with our products and are wanting more information on how to fully utilise them.

Most technology companies around the world do most of their business in the United States, so there is little comfort and lots of competition for everyone in our particular region.

The cost of entry into software technology is quite low compared to other industries, and the rewards can be very high. In fact, I believe that the cost of entry with a new product is a lower cost than an established company pays to sustain and support a product, something the new entrant learns later. However, the low entry cost means new competitors are always arriving.

We keep up with the constant changes by regularly

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reviewing our goals, persisting with those that continue to make sense, changing the ones that do not, and continuing to learn everything we can about customer trends and industry trends. The challenge is to separate fleeting trends, from sustained trends.

We have been around long enough to enjoy huge successes and life-threatening downfalls. We have faced a challenging few years with recent socio-economic events, where almost the whole educational software industry disappeared and we took a lot of damage. However, since these events, we have refocused, and see a much brighter future ahead.

We are continuing a plan that we drew up in 2009, to position ourselves as a number one provider of educational software, online and offline.

Our most recent launch was UltraKey Online, which is receiving a lot of interest among educators, enterprise trainers and individual consumers. Many industry experts, professional educators and users, regard UltraKey as the most effective and comprehensive typing instruction solution available. The overarching goal is to create the richest online learning experience people have ever encountered, and we intend to follow UltraKey Online with a number of exciting developments.

In the future, I see a levelling off in truly new technologies or devices, but a continued improvement in the technologies we have, such as Internet cost and speed. This goes hand in hand with connectedness, including the ability for people to work from home or in satellite offices. We may even achieve the ultimate promise of technology, which is to have more leisure time!

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CIRRATO ONE Best Single Server Printing Solution 2016 Cirrato, now part of Levi, Ray and Shoup, was founded in 2002, with the aim of developing a solution that would make print servers redundant. Since then, the patented technology has become increasingly popular, as centralized print management has turned out to be a benefit for management, finance, IT and end users within large enterprises.

Gorm Halberg-Lange talks to us about Cirrato’s recent acquisition by LRS, and their approach to customer service.

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oth Levi, Ray and Shoup andCirrato want to offer high value software products to their customers, and want their customers to benefit from their investment for many years after initial purchase. Gorm who manages the Cirrato team at LRS believes that the key to achieving this is by continuously improving their software and by building a close relationship with their partners and customers, thus unburdening the IT department and increasing print availability.

“We always aim to be a reliable and stable company, and the recent acquisition of Cirrato by LRS adds to our ability to provide both. Most competitive solutions have either not been around for long, or the company has long been established but their version of the single server printing solution has only been developed recently. Cirrato is a pioneer and a visionary; now combined with the history of LRS, we feel that we are a company that can guarantee our customers a stable solution that delivers on its promises.

Contact Details Company: Levi, Ray and Shoup (formerly Cirrato Technologies) Name: Linda van der Westen Email: linda@cirrato.com Web Address: cirrato.com Address: Birger Jarlsgatan 5, 11145 Stockholm, Sweden Telephone: +46 (0)8 462 24 40

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“What separates Cirrato and its owner, LRS, from the competition is the close relationship that we develop with our customers. This might not qualify as a technique technically, but the direction in which the Cirrato solution has been developed is mainly determined by customer input. We do not try and add everything that we are asked to; only if it is an improvement to the solution.

That way, we stay focused and unique in our offering.

Where others are trying to incorporate many different technologies, we opted to integrate with other leading software and hardware manufacturers in order to provide best in class solutions.”

The recent LRS acquisition, which was announced September 19th, will change a lot for Cirrato, but Gorm believes these changes will only be positive.

“The skilled developers will exchange knowledge which will result in an even better technology. The stability and experience of a 37-year old company will increase the market penetration of Cirrato. Our strong focus on technology and on developing the best solution for our customers has heavily impacted on the commercial side of our business. This side is strong at LRS, so we now have the best of both worlds, and will be able to further enhance our solution and grow our business.”

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COMPETENTUM GROUP Best E-Content Development Service 2016 - USA & TMT Excellence Award for Simulations & Virtual Labs Headquartered in New York City, Competentum is a global e-Learning software and content provider which creates high-quality and game-changing solutions for academic education and professional training. They offer a wide range of educational solutions such as content development, complex software development, and comprehensive quality assurance.

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tarted over two decades ago by a university professor, Competentum was built on the basis of enthusiasm and care for science and education. Over the years, the company has continually been improving the efficacy of their developments, keeping the quality of education at the heart of their production process. They are proud that over a quarter of their staff have worked with them for over a decade; some have even been growing with them since the early nineties. Competentum always encourage and listen to the feedback from both their team and their clients, which in turn makes them agile and responsive to every new trend. The majority of their clients are world-leading educational organizations such as Pearson Education, Cengage Learning, and Macmillan, amongst others.

Contact Details Company: Competentum Group Name: Dr. Natalia Soboleva, CEO Email: Soboleva@ competentum.ru Web Address: competentum. com Address: 100 Park Avenue, Suite 1600, New York, NY 10017 Telephone: (800) 975 70 31

offer up-to-date solutions that will also provide a sufficient ROI for customers. That is why Competentum’s knowledge of the education processes and newest technologies are so valuable; they know every tricky detail and can always offer advice on the best possible solution.

Competentum are very excited about the future of technology in education. Right now, they are working on a number of mind-blowing projects, such as virtual and augmented reality educational products, and voice and handwriting recognition for STEM disciplines. They are also keen to keep up with the good name that they have created for themselves in developing and adapting innovative resources for students with learning differences.

The firm’s overall mission is to create innovative educational products of the highest quality. With over a thousand successful projects, there is evidence that their approach of hiring stars from the top universities, who are both scientists and educators, works well. They invest in further education of their staff as well as nurturing their spirit to innovate and generate new ideas. They are always on the lookout for new technologies and trends to keep them ahead of their competition.

Competentum’s highly trained subject matter experts, who have advanced software development skills, are the company’s major advantage as an educational software development company. Their agile approach, unique blend of expertise, knowledge of e-Learning and strong technology base makes Competentum perfect for developing custom content and software. As the industry progresses, the biggest challenge on the market is now to

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DATATEL INC Best IVR & Telephone Payment Solutions Provider - North America Datatel Communications Inc. / Datatel Inc. in Canada is a leader in PCI Compliant IVR Payment solutions for enterprises and their SMB. Datatel’s IVR Payment Platform on the Cloud provides businesses with the most robust and cost effective way to securely and easily process credit card payments 24/7 over the telephone, in a PCI Compliant environment. Barnard Crespi, Datatel’s Co-CEO told us more.

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e are thrilled to have been selected as the winner of the Best IVR & Telephone Payment Solutions Provider – North America category.

This is additional confirmation for us that all of our hard work to deliver great products and services has been recognised by our clients and the industry as a whole.

Contact Details Company: Datatel Inc Name: Barnard Crespi Email: bcrespi@datatelsystems.com Address: Canada 1200 Eglinton Ave. East, Suite 712 Toronto, Ontario M3C 1H9 USA 8345 North West 66th Street, #7995 Miami, FL 33166 Telephone: 800-831-6660

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“With over 20 years of experience, 1000’s of successful implementations, exceptional customer service and innovation focused culture, we deliver the most robust and cost effective products in the industry for our category. We base our success on our client’s success.

Any business who accepts credit card payments over the telephone must be Payment Card Industry (PCI-DSS) complaint. What used to constitute standard practice is being changed, with much more restrictive measures being put into place to ensure that credit card holder information is protected. This industry transformation is impacting how businesses take and process payments over the telephone, and most importantly how they run their businesses. Datatel helps solve this challenge.”

Datatel has been providing IVR Payment Solutions on the Cloud to hundreds of businesses, healthcare providers, governments, and not-for-profit organizations for over 10 years. In addition, they have services which automate a wide range of customer, patient, voter and employee interactions, over the telephone. Barnard is proud that Datatel’s technology enables their customers to track and measure outcomes in real-time.

“Our success comes from investing in our people, our clients and our technology. With a focus on innovation, we have arrived at a service delivery model that guarantees our customers satisfaction and success. 20 years ago, we launched Datatel with a vision to deliver innovative software and voice communication solutions to help our clients become more agile, profitable and successful. Years of working with our clients, rather than for them, has allowed to us to be successful in our mission.

Datatel is about to launch a number of new services, including a suite of voice and SMS enabled platforms as a service to help organizations improve accounts receivable communication, manage customer account queries, accelerate cash flow and lower account collection costs.

Datatel’s AR Connected Suite leverages the power of voice and SMS to deliver a robust, cost effective and easy to deploy accounts receivable communication platform on the Cloud.

HSTC LIMITED Best IT Systems Consultancy & Software Development House - Bangladesh HSTC Limited is a multi-trade Bangladesh-based company, which places special emphasis on information and communication technology (ICT). It has been providing customers with a wide range of services including system consultancy and software development, both domestically and overseas, since 2001. Mr. M. Shoeb Chowdhury talks us through the business and how it aims to innovate and stay ahead of the competition.

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STC’s mission is to lead the ICT industry in Bangladesh with excellence, integrity and unwavering determination, whilst also further expanding the cliental network of their organization. Mr Shoeb Chowdhury, CEO of HSTC Limited believes that the firm is set apart from its competitors by its cooperative approach, dedicated after-sales service, consistent communication with clients and its transparency.

Mr. Chowdhury said, “We at HSTC have, so far, implemented all our business pledges to our customers which makes us the finest choice for people who seek ICT assistance. ICT is a booming industry in Bangladesh at present, with a lot of young people pursuing higher education in this field. However, the present challenge for this industry in Bangladesh is finding efficient people to run the show for ICT companies. We are very conscious about the people we select to work for us, and so far we have been successful in recruiting highly qualified and competent employees.”

Contact Details Company: HSTC Limited Name: Mr. M. Shoeb Chowdhury, Chief Executive Officer Email: mscoffice@gmail.com Web Address: www.hstcl.com Address: House # 21(Level 4) Road # 17 Banani Dhaka -1213 Bangladesh Telephone: (+880-2)98211824, 882 0388

the induction of the latest entries in the ICT market of Bangladesh.

Mr. Chowdhury further said that “on top of providing precise and effective technological support, we run a daily English newspaper named The Asian Age, wherewe publish articles by experts on ICT in order to keep readers updated with latest developments in the field worldwide.

We are determined to make this newspaper the best of its kind in Bangladesh, and maintain a special focus on information and communication technology. One of our principal goals is to make HSTC Limited one of the most advanced and reliable ICT firms in South Asia, and to work as a role model in this field.”

He added that “HSTC “has a highly dexterous and devoted team of employees in our firm. Whilst selecting staff, we always closely examine three things; their ICT skills, their English language proficiency and their willingness to work hard. All of our staff-members are treated with great care and sincerity by the firm, thus allowing them to uphold a close attachment with the organization whilst working here.”

HSTC Limited keeps connected with the latest technological innovations worldwide and introduce any new devices and systems to potential customers. They always make the effort to act as pioneers, and assist

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HYPERION GLOBAL PARTNERS Best Management Consulting Firm – USA Hyperion Global Partners is a premier global consultancy to legal and professional services organizations. At Hyperion, their advisory services focus on President, which they define as the confluence of Process, Operations, Organization and Technology into the ‘Business of Law’.

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yperion’s practices focus on the contextual application of Practice Management, and all of their advisory services – strategic and tactical – are rooted in a core set of proprietary Practice Management methodologies which have been developed, refined, tested and trued over many years of thought leadership and operational excellence. Eyal Iffergan, President, talked us through the service offering of the firm.

“Our company works with AmLaw 200 law firms and Global 1000 corporations to manage the challenges of their business. Our services focus is in the areas of IP Management, Workflow and Automation, Enterprise Legal Management, Information Strategy, Litigation Strategy and Retained Leadership.

Contact Details Company: Hyperion Global Partners Name: Eyal Iffergan, President Email: eyal@hyperiongp.com Web Address: hyperiongp.com hgpresearch.com Address: Three Sugar Creek Center, Suite 100, Sugar Land, Texas, 77478 Telephone: +1 832 886 6800

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“Hyperion Research, a division of Hyperion Global Partners, is the legal industry’s premier source of independent market research and advisory services, providing unparalleled insight into the leading trends in legal strategy, operations, and technology. Hyperion Research works with law departments, law firms and other legal service organizations to improve their operational performance, and also with solution providers, professional service groups and consultants to help them better understand the latest market trends and the needs of their customers.

“Our model is simple: we do not try to be all things to all people, and focus only on the areas that we know

better than anyone else. The consultants that bear the Hyperion name represent the legal industry’s most experienced technology and business thought leaders in their respective practices. Hyperion experts have worked with the largest international law practices, Fortune 500 corporations and public sector agencies. Our professional roster includes attorneys, legal professionals, management consultants and technologists. We are wellpublished, well-spoken, well-known and well-regarded.

We are thought leaders and business leaders, and our experts are consistently called upon to help shape the direction of legal practice management and the business of law.”

Hyperion bring unparalleled expertise and depth to help their clients define and align their strategic business objectives, and to execute against those objectives with project management, system implementations, and holistic information management solutions.

“Most importantly, we are focused on helping our clients maximise return on their existing investments, and to make smart, considered decisions about executing process and technology improvement initiatives that produce measurable value. We constantly work to translate our expertise in new and innovative ways, and deliver solutions ahead of the curve. Hyperion clients hire us for our expertise, but retain us to help lead, improve and transform their organizations.”

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IGLOO SOFTWARE Most Cutting Edge Cloud Hosted Intranet Platform - North America Igloo is a leading provider of modern digital workplace solutions, offering a suite of features that help organizations improve communication, collaboration, knowledge management, and workflow. In addition to core features, Igloo offers the ability to integrate with leading cloud apps like Office 365, Google Drive, Salesforce, Zendesk, Dropbox and Slack. CEO Dan Latendre told us more about the cutting edge company.

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gloo helps organizations design and build peoplepowered digital destinations that increase employee engagement, agility, and productivity across their organizations. Dan notes that Igloo’s customers come from industries such as high-tech, healthcare, professional services, retail and notfor-profit.

“We believe that re-wiring your workplace is just as much about the people as it is the technology.

It’s about modernizing a company’s brand, values, and ways of working. A digital workplace is not one solution; it’s the sum of all your tools and technologies, designed for people and backed by people. Our goal is to help our customers drive productivity, promote innovation, and help their business succeed.”

Contact Details Company: Igloo Software Email: info@ igloosoftware.com Web Address: www.igloosoftware.com Address: 55 King St. West, Kitchener, ON. Canada. N2G 4W1 Telephone: 1 519 489 4120

“We continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in the new digital workplace, and we are moving further and faster to enable our customers to make an immediate impact on how they work.

We’re helping customers stay ahead of workplace trends that may be threatening their progress, including a widening generation gap, the war for talent, and an increasingly remote workforce. We look to our successful customers’ use cases to drive our strategy and build our expertise.”

and create competitive advantage, companies need to ensure their knowledge workers have access to critical information, wherever they may be. For example, customers leverage the Igloo platform to create alignment around vision, objectives, and culture with its structured communication and collaboration tools. The platform makes it easy to cultivate an online community where knowledge sharing and selfservice is a natural extension of everyone’s daily routine.”

“Looking ahead, we’re continuing to build out our solutions offerings, exploring new technology partnerships, improving the self-service experience, and evolving our Customer Success program to ensure our customers have everything they need to succeed in the era of the new digital workplace.”

As part of an ongoing mission to drive innovation

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INTERMUSICA ARTISTS' MANAGEMENT LTD Best Entertainment Digital Management Company - UK Intermusica is an award-winning international classical music management agency. They manage worldclass and rising artists, have over 30 years’ expertise in international touring, tailor bespoke communications and marketing campaigns, and are an industry leader in film and multimedia in performance. Head of Communications and Marketing, Fabienne Morris, told us more about this unique agency.

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ntermusica seek not just to represent artists, but to inspire them to new creative heights. They are constantly exploring what it means to represent classical musicians in the 21st century, driven by their key values: integrity, support, dynamism and innovation. Intermusica Managers travel the world to support their artists and strengthen connections with key industry contacts. They operate a vibrant internal culture where staff are encouraged to think outside of the box, and Fabienne is proud of the level of teamwork that is consistently shown within the company, and which is vital for forging new creative ideas.

“We are delighted to receive yet more recognition for our industry-leading website. We are passionate about what we do, and did not shy away from risk-taking during last year’s re-design process. The project was a collaboration between interactive design studio Sennep, a brilliant team with huge experience, and our own experienced and talented employees.

Contact Details Company: Intermusica Name: Fabienne Morris, Head of Communications & Marketing Email: fmorris@intermusica. co.uk Web Address: intermusica. co.uk Address: 36 Graham Street, London, N1 8GJ Telephone: 020 7608 9900

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“Our style of management is characterised by an exceptional level of care. Our Communications and Marketing department is the largest and most experienced in the business, and we are the only classical management agency to have received multiple accolades from the design and tech world: as well as the TMT Awards, Intermusica. co.uk has won a Webby and a Pixel Award, and was nominated for a Lovie. This is very rare in our industry, and shows that our approach has impressed not just the music world, but the whole world!”

Every artist represented by Intermusica has one or more dedicated Managers and Assistant Managers to tend to

their needs and help them reach their full potential. The Managers have launched and managed the careers of some of the world’s most esteemed musicians. Many have direct experience as performers, thus offer a high degree of empathy and insider-knowledge. Intermusica take a proactive approach, anticipating client requests wherever possible.

“We’re a global agency, so need to understand technology around the world. That said, we undoubtedly benefit from being headquartered in the global tech hub that is London.

Downloading and streaming have presented challenges for the classical industry, but also a major opportunity to reach new audiences. Intermusica has adapted to the rise of mobile technology with our iPad app, an offline version of our website which offers high quality multimedia with no need for Wi-Fi access. The increasing prevalence of video on social media is important too, offering a quick and engaging way for fans to see inside an artist’s world. Concert promoters are increasingly experimenting with the use of multimedia in the concert hall, and are blurring the lines between live performance and the virtual experience; we have a responsibility to ensure our artists are prepared for new trends like this.

“Our Communications and Marketing team are passionate about making the latest technology work for our artists.

Regular training and networking is vital for keeping staff current, as is being plugged into the many great online resources which monitor emerging developments. We endeavour to look outside of the arts to borrow ideas from retail, tech, and other sectors, and where appropriate, employ specialists to work on particular projects.

“Music is our shared passion; we genuinely believe in its power to change lives for the better, and this drives staff to care about their contribution. From an innovation point of view, we run regular workshops to demonstrate new ideas and operate an internal Tumblr account, where we collate inspiring articles. Our office is at once friendly and ambitious – ideas are as likely to materialise over an informal lunch, as in a meeting.”

Fabienne feels that the calibre of artist Intermusica represents sends a clear message to applicants that they expect the best from their staff too.

ability to master the intricacies of people management. But one to help with making tea might be good!

“The music industry has faced huge changes but thanks to technology our artists now have the potential to reach a larger audience than ever before, and we want to help them do this in style. We will continue to develop our awardwinning website, and commission more films to showcase our artists and company spirit. The rest of our plans are secret for now!”

“We advertise via effective, well-known arts and cultural outlets, such as Guardian Jobs, as well as through our own social media channels. We are also not afraid to headhunt; directly approaching those we admire has resulted in some excellent appointments. Flexible working is available to staff with important outside commitments, ensuring we do not miss out on strong candidates who do not fit the 9-5 mould.”

Intermusica never rest on their laurels, and are invigorated by the pace of change in technology, and the opportunities that this affords them.

“Virtual reality is taking off in the music business, and we’d love to involve our artists in this. Classical music has a responsibility to reach out to a younger, more diverse demographic, and we anticipate platforms like Snapchat, Apple Music and musical.ly being useful. There is a lot of talk about AI, but we’re confident that our jobs are not in jeopardy just yet… It would take a machine of superhuman

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ITIVITI GROUP AB Best Capital Markets Technology Provider Itiviti is a world-leading technology provider for the capital markets industry. Trading firms, banks, brokers and institutional clients rely on their technology, solutions and expertise for streamlining daily operations, and to underpin the ongoing pursuit of a sustainable competitive edge.

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tiviti are very proud to be awarded as Best Capital Markets Technology provider. The company believes that this recognition is an acknowledgement not only of their business success, but also that their clients name Itiviti as their preferred partner and solution provider.

While the Itiviti brand is new, born with the recent union of Orc Group and CameronTec Group, the company brings vast experience, a market-leading offering in trading and connectivity solutions, and a sizeable organization to the table, with 13 offices and serving more than 400 customers worldwide.

Itiviti was founded on the insight that the use of electronic trading technology on financial markets worldwide has reached a new phase of maturity. IT budgets are questioned and tightened, just as a traders’ thirst for performance remains unquenched and firms are facing tighter regulatory measures which call for new solutions and logic. The resulting pressure is forcing firms to streamline their trading technology and to rethink their approach to systems development. In-house, custom development of trading systems is increasingly becoming a luxury that even big firms wish to leave behind. Flexibility is the most distinctive general requirement that Itiviti face from clients today, and they recognize its importance.

Contact Details Company: Itiviti Group AB Web Address: itiviti.com Email: sales@itiviti.com

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The answer that Itiviti provides for this challenge is a comprehensive infrastructure with platforms and trading applications engineered for the future. Their Buy and Build concept means that they provide a reliable, highperformance system foundation that is ready to use, much like a packaged application (Buy), combined with a modular, app-based architecture that allows for extensive

customization, whilst facilitating systems integration (Build).

Aside from cost benefits, the Buy and Build approach also gives enhanced agility and a time to market advantage.

Itiviti’s commitment to R&D and their pioneering spirit has helped shape the world of trading technology. Another capability that sets them apart is their industry insight and a fundamental understanding of their clients’ needs.

A recent example of how Itiviti combines know-how with their innovative spirit to address new market opportunities is the all-new regulatory offering Itiviti Analyst. This is designed to meet clients’ needs for compliance with the updated European regulatory framework (MiFID II). Through automated data collection, monitoring and analysis, Itiviti Analyst helps clients to ensure compliance in a cost-effective way, reducing overhead and workload on key staff.

At Itiviti, they are driven to give their clients the freedom to be the best; and in an ever-changing environment, Itiviti are today’s pioneers − seeking tomorrow’s solutions.

Torben Munch, CEO

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KIMBLE APPLICATIONS LIMITED Best in Service Automation & Workflow Software 2016 Kimble provides a professional services automation (PSA) solution built on the salesforce cloud platform which helps consulting organizations of any size to grow faster, more efficiently and with greater predictability. Kimble is overturning the idea that PSA is all about gathering data to assist operations. They believe that the real purpose of PSA is to empower people throughout a consulting organization to make better decisions based on a forward view, to improve business performance, as Mark Robinson explains.

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he Kimble application connects three critical management domains: pipeline, resourcing and delivery. It combines them with role-specific workflows and dashboards. These guide business development, resourcing, project managers and financers to take action to sell and deliver more profitable projects and to optimize the back office. Users can see resource demand and supply across pipeline as well as firm business; they are then coached to optimize the resource plan and the skills mix to maximize utilization.

The moment project managers approve time and expense; they can see the impact on performance versus budget on their project. It’s easy for a consultant to accurately record time and expense via a mobile device, and then check their projected billable utilization meaning they feel more valued and engaged. As a result, Kimble’s clients are achieving an average growth rate of 30% annually, 25% higher than the sector average, which is something Mark is very proud of.

Contact Details Company: Kimble Applications Name: Mark Robinson Email: mark.robinson@ kimbleapps.com Web Address: kimbleapps. com Address: 8 Boundary Row, Southwark, London, SE1 8HP Telephone: 0044 203 006 9222

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“We are delighted to have won Best in Service Automation & Workflow Software at the TMT Technology Awards 2016.

We are proud to have built a best in class solution for the consulting industry, and this award brings peer recognition of this achievement. We recognise that any application is only good as the business outcomes it can drive for its users. Our mission is to build an admired, high growth company, exploiting business insight to deliver innovative SaaS solutions which enable ambitious professional services organisations to achieve outstanding success.

“The Kimble management team are recognised Professional Services experts, having founded, managed and grown a number of successful IT and Management Consulting organizations. They have first-hand experience of the

business problems which result from the lack of adequate software available to manage fast growing professional services organisations. We have leveraged this experience to build an application which can be configured to enable consulting organisations to implement best practice processes. The fast growth of our customers and strong partnership is a testament to that commitment.”

Kimble lives and breathes consulting best practice, having been founded in 2010 by three ex-consultants, together representing nearly 100 years’ experience in the sector.

Kimble’s founders have successfully set up, grown and sold consultancies of their own before creating Kimble, and held senior leadership roles running a wide range of consulting businesses. Using that experience, Kimble’s software has been designed to help consulting organizations to drive best practice process throughout their organization.

“Our competitors focus on providing software which essentially automates existing processes and provides visibility of historic performance data. To scale faster and more efficiently in the vast majority of project-based businesses, you need to be looking forward and adjusting your plans. In light of this, our software has been designed to go way beyond that of our competitors providing forward looking analysis and guidance which gives insight into what kind of actions will deliver desired revenue and profit outcomes.

“Nearly 200 companies have adopted the Kimble approach to business management over the last five years. They have seen a 1-5% percentage point improvements in EBIT thanks to increases in project profitability, utilization, over-head efficiency and working capital usage. Our customers need to be extremely agile in responding to

changing market demand and thus remaining competitive; there are only a few international consulting organizations who are able to rely on their brands to win new business.

There are over 30,000 Management and IT consulting firms in the US between 200 and 2000 staff, and for the vast majority, their success is closely linked to being able to provide experienced consultants with in demand skills.

Kimble’s close link between supply and demand allows our customers to use Kimble to spot trends in the industry before their competitors, and gain associated commercial advantage.”

With Kimble, you will move day-to-day management and employee collaboration away from spread-sheets/email into a process-centric, integrated system that embodies best practice; something that Kimble are proud their team is able to utilise for themselves.

“Our culture is driven by our passion to help consulting firms scale. We make sure our staff understand not just how Kimble works, but also the challenges our customers face.

We reward people based on their contribution externally to our customers rather than any internal metrics. That way they focus 100% on making our customers achieve tangible business benefit from their use of Kimble.

“I’m excited to see the way our customers are leveraging Kimble to accelerate their own growth. For example, one of our earliest customers has tripled in size, increased EBIT and achieved a successful market listing, and will openly quote Kimble as being a key platform that underpinned their growth. From a product perspective we have added guided and predictive analytics functionality which will not only further differentiate us from our competitors, but also help more of our customers in accelerating their own growth.”

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LEXISNEXIS Best for Legal Research & Workflow Solutions - Australia & Best Legal Practice Management System: Lexis Affinity™ LexisNexis® is a leading global provider of legal research and content-enabled workflow solutions. We invited Executive Director, Legal Software Solutions, James Parker, to talk us through the legal sector and how LexisNexis is committed to innovating new solutions for the market.

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exisNexis® is a leading provider of contentenabled workflow solutions, designed specifically for professionals in the legal, risk management, corporate, government, law enforcement, accounting and academic markets. James outlines how the organisation’s goal is to be behind every great decision their clients make around the world.

“We do this by leveraging more than 100 years of deep understanding of the law and our customers into our content; we then integrate this into our data, analytics and technology to create what we call ‘content in context’. Our aim is to surface content intuitively within our customers’ workflows, in order to drive new efficiencies in how they research and work on matters.”

James also notes an overarching mission that drives the people of LexisNexis around the globe, which is to advance the rule of law.

“Every time we document a case, release a decision tool or support the development of legal infrastructure, we are working to expand the umbrella protection of the rule of law. We believe that in building awareness, in collaborating in strategic partnerships and using technology we can advance the rule of law around the world.”

Contact Details Company: LexisNexis® Website: lexisnexis.com.au

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This sense of purpose underlies each product and service at LexisNexis, and James discusses how seriously the organisation takes this vision when assessing how it

supports clients with every aspect of their research and workflow needs.

“The work we do is critically important to the advancement of industry and society. We combine technology and information to give users online access to billions of searchable documents and records from more than 45,000 sources. We apply analytics to help our users see patterns, connect ideas and find answers that make their jobs easier. In this endeavour, we improve access to justice both within the legal community and society more broadly.”

Looking to the future, James outlines how through collaboration and co-creation with customers, LexisNexis aims to help clients stay ahead of the everevolving markets in which they operate “Moving forward, the future of LexisNexis is about building upon our pioneering heritage and to continue innovating for the changing needs of our customers and partners. We are developing new tools, services and content that will better prepare our customers for the challenges of tomorrow. We work closely with the community to provide authoritative content and leading-edge technology to those who advance commerce, society and justice. Every day, more than five million professionals rely on us to inform their decisions across more than 100 countries.”

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MARQUIS SOFTWARE Best Corrections Industry Integrated Solutions Provider - USA & Best Inmate Information Management System: eOMIS™ Marquis Software Development, Inc. (Marquis) is the worldwide market leader in Offender Management Software. We invited Ben Harrell, Director of Sales and Marketing, to tell us more about the firm and its pioneering solution.

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hirty-five years ago, Marquis founder Ed Fishback led the way in development of enterprise-wide corrections management software. The initial Marquis application, the Offender Based Information System (OBIS), was the first to use a single database to track offenders upon intake from jails/court, throughout incarceration and on to release and supervision in the community. This solution is still being used by some of our clients to this day, and is something the firm is incredibly proud of, as Ben is keen to express.

Marquis’ newest generation of corrections software is called eOMIS™, the electronic Offender Management Information System.

Contact Details Company: Marquis Software Development, Inc. (Marquis) Name: Ben Harrell – Director of Sales and Marketing Email: ben.harrell@ marquisware.com Web Address: marquisware. com Address: 1625 Summit Lake Loop #105, Tallahassee, Florida 32317 Telephone: 850-877-8864 ext. 123

“The eOMIS™ Suite is a comprehensive integrated solution that consists of 40+ modules that make up three (3) applications: eOMIS™ Inmate Management, eOMIS™ Healthcare Management, and eOMIS™ Community Supervision. These three applications are based on one powerful integrated database, however, they can be split into standalone systems.

“Marquis is the worldwide market leader in Offender Management Software (OMS), with ten successful statewide implementations, from Florida to California, more states in the U.S. regularly choosing Marquis to provide mission critical corrections software than any other.”

South America, Africa, and Europe.”

It is the firm’s focus on corrections software and commitment to providing the very best solutions that sets it apart from the rest of the market, according to Ben. “What truly sets Marquis apart from our competitors is that we focus strictly on the corrections industry.

Our competitor’s solutions are often part of a larger company portfolio that focuses on other industries or services.

Marquis also re-invests 25to 30% of revenue back into research and development, ensuring that we keep eOMIS™ on the cutting edge of technology and functionality for years to come. This dedication to providing a truly quality solution puts us ahead of our competitors.”

Looking ahead, Ben was keen to emphasise that the firm’s focus was firmly on gaining new contracts whilst at the same time offering the same high quality solutions that it has come to be renowned for.

“Moving forward, Marquis will continue to support all of our customers, whilst at the same time bidding on new opportunities in the US and overseas that will guarantee our future for decades to come. Ultimately we look forward to an exciting and prosperous future.”

“Due to Marquis proven success in the states, many foreign correctional departments have contacted Marquis for demonstrations of (eOMIS™. Marquis is being considered in several countries in Central and

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PERFORMANCE TELECOM LTD Best Contact Centre TMT Solutions Provider - UK & Award for Innovation in Automated IVR - UK Performance Telecom has been supplying a comprehensive suite of telecom services to contact centres since their establishment 17 years ago. They work with contact centres in many vertical markets, and excel in supporting their clients customer engagement efforts. Their innovative and award winning technology is redefining what is possible for contact centres, and Adam Norsworthy was keen to tell us more.

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he mission of Performance Telecom is to unlock aspirations by improving communication through tailored, leading-edge and trusted technology.

They have developed a progressive engineering process, thus ensuring their ability to innovate and deliver timely solutions, generating value for their clients and the contact centre market, whilst complying with their strict reliability and security standards.

They constantly seek to receive, and implement, feedback from their clients, as well as conduct market research, surveys and reviews, alongside hosting forums, to make sure that their technology is relevant and can be tailored to fit within various UK and European contact centres operating environments.

Adam is proud of the client service that Performance Telecom offer, and believes that they truly partner with each client they work with, supporting mutual success.

Contact Details Company: Performance Telecom Name: Adam Norsworthy Email: adamnorsworthy@ performancetelecom.co.uk Web Address: performancetelecom.co.uk Address: Centurion Point, Abbey View, Everard Close, St Albans, AL1 2PS Telephone: 0330 303 4321

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“We have procedures within the company that focus us on providing an outstanding, integrated, responsive and collaborative client service. Our award winning technology has features which benefit a wide array of Contact Centres.

An example of this is VoiceGuard™, our active voice biometric authentication service. Although many of our applications are sold and used independently, they are part of a single platform called INovation™, which we consider to be the most advanced Customer Engagement platform in the UK for Contact Centres.

“Currently, we are working with groups outside of our organisation, including the local county council, the University of Hertfordshire, and other technology firms in

a consortium, to further technological advances that can improve life for us all. We are proud sponsors of the MakeA-Wish Foundation, and through them help to unlock the aspirations of not just our team and our clients, but many children across the UK too. We live and breathe our purpose and create truly outstanding technology.

Performance Telecom is proud to be helping Contact Centres by innovating the strongest Customer Engagement platform in the UK, and to have this validated by many clients up and down the country.

“We are far along the path, and are excited by our growth prospects as we seek to release into the market the award winning technology we have been working for three years to perfect.”

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PMG GLOBAL Best Information Technology Solutions provider – Virginia PMG Global is a well-established Information Technology services company that are based in Herndon, VA. They provide Customer Software Development and Contract IT staffing services to Fortune 500 companies, as well as the Federal government and the non-profit sector. PMG Global was founded almost 15 years ago, and some of their senior management members have been in the IT services field for close to 25 years.

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MG Global’s mission is to make sure that their customers are satisfied and that their employees are happy. They have chosen to remain a small business so as to allow them to deliver on these commitments. V. R. Ganesh points out that they run a tight ship, and work continuously to keep their overheads low so that they can quote competitive rates to their customers.

“We are happy to say that customers of PMG Global are extremely satisfied. We have worked with some high profile customers, including the Department of Transportation, Fidelity Investments, Lockheed Martin, Lubrizol, GEICO, American Association of Community Colleges, American Association of Health System Pharmacists, American Association of Fund Raising Professionals and the National Student Clearinghouse.

Contact Details Company: PMG Global Name: V. R. Ganesh Email: ganesh@pmgglobal. com Web Address: pmgglobal.com Address: 13800 Coppermine Road Suite 253 Herndon VA 20171 Telephone: 703 593 4796

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“The loyalty of our customers is one of the things that makes us stand out from our competitors. Our biggest customer has been with us for more than 12 years, and this relationship is still going strong. We have made a conscious decision not to have too many customers, meaning that we can treat the ones that we have with single-minded focus and integrity. We only take on projects where we know that we will be able to deliver exactly what the client needs with great success. Our clients receive outstanding support from us, and we work on small margins because we know that they will stay with us and we will grow successfully together. We keep our employees very happy and they, in turn, remain loyal to us and stay with us for many years, thus allowing us to provide a great sense of continuity to our customers.”

As an IT services provider, the two biggest challenges that PMG Global face are demands from customers for lower prices that are sometimes unrealistic, and the cost associated with training staff in the ever-evolving technology landscape, so as to allow them to keep abreast of the latest developments in their field. Despite these challenges, V.R. Ganesh is confident that PMG Global are able to deliver the services that their customers require, to a standard that sets them apart.

“Development achieves new scales of efficiency for the industry, and we push ourselves to continuously improve and be flexible in response to change, so as to be able to provide the most up to date service for our customers. At the same time, our own developments present innovative products, such as systems, apps, and integrations, that provide maximum consideration to the ‘Ops’ side of the equation. Our DevOps tenets ensure maximum yield to the people who provide operational support; the engineers, DBAs, operations staff, infrastructure and security personnel, alongside many others. All of this ensures our customers that our solutions will stand the test of time.

“The culture within our firm is very cordial, and based on mutual trust and respect, which we think adds to the service that our customers receive. We pay our employees very well, and follow through on all of the commitments that we make to them. Since we have chosen to be a small business, we know our employees very intimately and ensure that they are happy, both professionally and personally. Our employees have given us very good reviews on www. glassdoor.com.

“We find that this culture helps us to resource the best talent in our industry. We make a point of hiring fresh graduates and training them and investing in them, so in turn they stay loyal to us. Many of our employees have been with us for more than 5 years! This loyalty makes our customer service second to none. Our customers operate in very demanding markets that are also very dynamic, and as such, they constantly change the business requirements of projects on which we are engaged with them; our loyal team always endeavour to match the needs of our customers with their skillsets.”

PMG Global have a proprietary software development methodology called ‘Rapidigm’, that is based on Agile software principles and DevOps. This ensures unmatched delivery of rapid, accurate and cost-effective solutions.

“In accordance with Agile, we employ adaptive planning and development, so as to avoid ‘straightjackets’ that doom so many projects, and which are dictated by their inability to adjust for changing technical and business demands.

Our Agile and DevOps principles development can pivot readily to changing conditions and realities throughout each project’s course. We have very close ties with our customers, and have developed systems such as this so as to be able to provide them with the highest quality solutions.

We believe we have a very good future ahead. Our customers are Fortune 500 companies, who are winners in their chosen fields, will be around for many decades to come. We will therefore continue to service them and be successful alongside them.”

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PRIORITY DISPATCH CORPORATION Best Emergency Dispatch Software: ProQA® In 1979, concerned about the inconsistencies and unpredictable manner of emergency dispatch handling, Priority Dispatch Corporation founder, Dr Jeff Clawson, set out to create a set of emergency medical dispatch protocols to treat patients with similar complaints with the same care and medical consistency.

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roQA Dispatch Software is the pinnacle of 37 years of putting our emergency medical protocols - later expanded to include police and fire protocols - into practice, and integrating them with today’s critical computer technologies across the world. They process over 65 million emergency calls per year using ProQA. Priority Dispatch Corporation provides easy solutions for the array of complex services that communications centres deliver to their communities. ThWe help them to achieve the highest standard of care possible and, equally important, we increase our client’s ability to measure and continuously improve the quality of service they provide by implementing structured Quality Assessment programs.

Contact Details Company: Priority Dispatch Corporation Web Address: prioritydispatch.net Address: Spectrum Building, Bond Street, Bristol, UK, BS1 3LG and 110 South Regent Street, Suite 500, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 USA Telephone: 0808 2344 896

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Our company mission statement is: ‘to lead the creation of meaningful change in public safety’. Behind all our products, training and content development we use a process, lead by exhaustive data collection and scientific vigour, and driven by a goal to produce quality tools, to ensure the care and safety of the public. This makes Priority Dispatch Corporation a highly unique company. Whilst others have attempted to provide products and training for emergency call-taking centres, we are the only one that has used a comprehensive systems approach. The company’s Medical Priority Dispatch System® has been in use for over 35 years, receiving frequent and substantial updates.

Historical data shows that the system reduces costs and risk.

Users of the fire and police dispatching protocols have seen great success since their introduction in the early 2000s.

PDC is the only dispatch system provider with an in-house research and development organization with the approval

of a recognized body of industry experts; the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch.

We are an organisation that sets the standard for research within the sector and which leads the way in Emergency Dispatch Protocols and software. Priority Dispatch is always evolving to keep pace with the ever-changing environment within public safety and making sure to deliver the highest possible level of customer service to our clients. We expect a lot from our employees and invest in the tools to allow them to achieve, Including, most recently, the implementation of a Customer Relationship Software package and cloud services.

Our mission is to provide ‘One Protocol Worldwide – the only protocol of dispatch choice’. We are implementing our protocols and software worldwide, and look forward to continuing this trend in the future.

Dr. Jeff Clawson

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QA MENTOR INC Best Software Quality Assurance Service Provider 2016 - USA QA Mentor was established with the objective of helping organizations improve their QA functions, optimize their QA process and become the best Software Testing QA company in the world. They offer 28 different services in and around the Software QA domain and over 50 different testing types, QA Mentor is a one-stop shop for all QA needs. Many of their services are unique to QA Mentor, and this level of variety is offered by no other company in the world. We spoke with Ruslan Desyatnikov, CEO, to find out more.

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Contact Details Company: QA Mentor Name: Ruslan Desyatnikov Email: rdesyatnikov@ qamentor.com Web Address: qamentor. com | qacoverage.com| qatesting24.7.com Address: 1441 Broadway, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10018 Telephone: 1-800-622-2602

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stablished in 2010, QA Mentor have since grown considerably and have since branched out to new services, including offering their own Test Management Platform (www.qacoverage.com), a new generation test management solution with an innovative vision and workflow, to manage Software Test Life Cycles more effectively and efficiently. It boosts test productivity and provides visibility to better handle and control a client’s established QA process via comprehensive Requirements Management, Test Design, Test Execution, Defects Management, and Metrics and Reporting modules. Ruslan is eager to discuss the new solution in more detail.

new strategic location in the Philippines, which will allow us to provide even lower prices.”

“QA Mentor continues to surprise customers with new QA Services such as Agile Transformation Services, Testing in Your Time Zone, ETL and Data Warehouse Testing Services, Static Code, Analysis and many others. We have recently launched a new portal, www.qatesting247.com, where we publish the low prices we have for all our services. We believe in honesty and transparency, which is why anyone can review our packages and prices. With nearly 150 QA Experts, we are serving over 450 clients who range from Fortune 500 companies to starts ups, within 7 different industries and across 22 countries.

“QA Mentor’s QA experts possess knowledge of over 50 automation tools and solutions in 7 different domains, ranging from E-commerce to Finance and all of our QA professionals are certified either by ISTQB or Brainbench organizations. We are the only QA company that assigns QA professionals that have at least three years QA experience to all projects. All junior QA resources are not billable if they participate in the project and are considered an added bonus.

“This new solution is a key part in helping us achieve our overall mission to provide the most economical and cost effective testing services and solutions in the world, whilst offering the best possible quality through our own unique QA methodologies, products, and solutions. For this reason, we constantly identify lower cost area locations around the world, so as to be able to provide competitive pricing to our customers. In addition to our testing centers in India, Ukraine and Moldova, next year we are planning to open a

As part of the new solution the firm have created QA methodologies and best practices that attract customers.

They also have various open-source tools, enterprise versions, and their own automaton proprietary frameworks, with their offices in Moldova, India and the Ukraine allow them to operate 24/7. The firm are due to launch a new product next year that will help QA managers monitor Quality Metrics and KPIs. Ruslan explains the benefits of working with QA.

“We do not have an account management team, as we have different strategies for each customer. We conduct quarterly surveys and monthly checks with clients, where we review progress and collect feedback. A dedicated QA Manager is assigned to every project and very closely monitors the progress via our established metrics and obligations, such as defect leakages, resource daily productivity measures, test effectiveness and so on. I attend several meetings, conference calls and checkpoints with clients to ensure they are being managed effectively and that our processes are working.

“Our company is equipped to support various SDLC models from waterfall to agile, and has adapted to various client demands including super-fast turnaround time on testing execution. We have the capability to provide on demand services with quick ramp up and ramp down options. We can create thousands of test cases utilizing our proprietary technology, Magic Converter, which translates user stories, functional requirements, and user cases into detailed level test cases. Our proprietary automation framework allows us to utilize automation for all projects and automate regression testing cycles in a very short period of time, using open source tools and enterprise solutions.”

Ruslan is excited about the future, as QA Mentor has consistently grown 25% year on year.

“For next year, we have set the bar to hit 50%, due to our new economical packages that we started to offer in September 2016. We are working on an exciting platform for QA Executives, which will allow them to monitor metrics and KPIs, and help them make decisions, which is set to be released in 2017. In addition, we are planning to launch another 5 new QA services in 2017.

We will continue to support our mission of becoming the most cost-effective service provider in the world, and to spread our methodologies, our best practices, and our approaches to every QA department in the world for them to adapt. Finally, we aim to educate decision makers on the importance of QA, so our clients will not only receive superior quality services, but also adapt our best practices and methodologies within their IT and QA organizations.”

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REDBACK CONFERENCING Best in Multi-Platform Conferencing Services - Australia

Redback Conferencing is a conferencing service provider, able to help people with all their teleconferencing, web conferencing, videoconferencing, webinar or webcasting needs. They are able to offer these services to businesses across Australia and New Zealand and we spoke with Jeff Downs, CEO, about their plans for further expansion and his approach to customer service.

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Contact Details Company: Redback Conferencing Name: Jeff Downs Email: info@ redbackconferencing.com.au Web Address: redbackconferencing.com.au/ Address: Sydney Head Office: Level 11, 301 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000 Telephone: Within Australia: (02) 8014 5150, International: + 61 2 9037 0330

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he mission of Redback Conferencing is to make distance obsolete, by ensuring that the technologies that they provide to help people meet at a distance are very simple and very secure. Jeff was keen to tell us more about how they stay ahead of the curve in this area.

responsible for 50% of the corporate culture at Redback, with the rest of the staff contributing the remaining 50%. We have a very robust culture at Redback and only hire rock stars. A lot of time and energy is devoted to honouring corporate culture, as we think it is critically important to the performance of our staff.

“Redback Conferencing delivers simplicity and peace of mind to customers by developing unique technologies and maintaining an incredibly high level of support for our clients. Our technology really sets us apart, and we are one of the few companies that host our technology right here in Australia. Our main challenge is to ensure that we can enable our users to have a good end user experience, despite the connectivity problems that some areas of Australia face.

“We are currently in the midst of expanding; we have opened a new office in Melbourne and are in discussions to open an office in Canberra. We are also hoping to open up an office in New Zealand at some point next year. We have been building broadcast studios for the use of our clients, allowing them to broadcast their webinars and webcasts from the office, which we think has helped our growth significantly.”

“Our customer service really sets up apart from our competition; we do not simply provide a service, but we teach our clients how to use it effectively. Not a single person in this business goes a day without interacting with customers, myself included. Our highly engaged customer force mean that our customers feel value, and the average customer stays with us in excess of 6 years. This is all done with a service that you are under no obligation to continue to use, as we do not use contracts or minimum spends.”

Redback Conferencing relentlessly look to innovate, and gear everything towards increasing the value for their clients.

“Corporate culture is my number one job as CEO; I feel

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RES Most Innovative Next Generation Software Development Firm 2016 & Best for Digital Workspace Technology - USA RES is the leader in digital workspace technology, helping organisations achieve better business results by enabling and securing their digital workspaces, whilst making enterprise technology easier and less disruptive for their employees to access.

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ccording to IDC, the virtual client computing market will grow to $4.6 billion in 2018 at a 10.3% compound annual growth rate, with enterprises needing to find solutions that provide a platformindependent and secure digital workspace experience with fast time to value. This statistic summarises and emphasizes RES’ value proposition.

Always innovative, RES specializes in ensuring predictable and well-managed user experiences by automating and securing digital workspaces. RES believes IT can, should and must align its goals with a business’s needs, without sacrificing productivity.

One of RES’ core mantras is that better efficiency, security and reduced costs can co-exist with a great user experience across physical, virtual and cloud enviroments. It rejects the thought that business and IT must be at odds, or that more versatility means less productivity.

Contact Details Company: RES Email Address: info@res.com Web Address: www.res.com Address: 1210 - Park View, Arlington Business Park, Theale, Berkshire, RG7 4TY Telephone: 0203 868 4258

The company prides itself on its people-centric approach to making technology access secure, even in complex multi-device, multi-location scenarios. It has numerous patented technologies and provides valuable solutions and superior customer support to hundreds of thousands of employees in more than 2,500 companies around the world. This includes its flagship product, RES ONE Suite; that takes a people-focused approach to business technology, empowering the workforce through self-service and automated delivery.

The solution ensures technology is delivered to

employees proactively and securely, building a foundation for IT as a Service (ITaaS) to support today’s agile workplace. It also provides quick time to value and predictive capabilities that reduces time and cost, thus increasing resources spent on innovation. The RES ONE Suite includes the award-winning RES ONE Service Store, RES ONE Security, RES ONE Workspace, and RES ONE Automation.

RES is continuously growing. It recently announced it would be accelerating growth in key European markets - particularly Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. It tripled its Central and Southern European teams in the first half of 2016. During this period, the company subsequently grew revenues by 300% in the region compared to the previous year as they extended our presence in the Middle Eastern market.

This expansion followed a series of RES initiatives in the last five months to further support the company’s business growth: In April, RES unveiled its new PartnerFirst Global Program, delivering more options and flexibility for channel partners. In May, RES launched new RES ONE solutions for automated workspace delivery and people-centric security. In June, RES hosted its first Pan-European conference for customers and partners in Amsterdam: RES Focus Europe 2016 and in July, RES announced its new Tech Alliance Program and opened new global Tech Centers in Boston and Bucharest.

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REVE SYSTEMS Recognized Leader in Mobile VolP Solutions & Recognized Leader in Best Softswitch & Billing Solutions Provider REVE Systems is a telecoms and software solution provider with a focused approach to serving the IP based communication industry. We caught up with Ajmat Iqbal to learn more about the company and how it has built up a strong reputation for excellence since inception.

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stablished in 2003, REVE Systems provides VoIP & IP Communication Software Solutions for Mobile VoIP, SIP Softswitch, VoIP Billing, Bandwidth Optimization with VoIP Tunnelling, WebRTC and Mobile OTT.

Operating in such a fast paced market, Ajmat believes that staying ahead of the competition and the latest industry developments is crucial to success, and as such this is embodied in the firm’s mission.

Headquartered in Singapore, the firm has its major development centres in Bangladesh and India with presence in USA, UK, Russia, Hong Kong and Lebanon. It serves more than 3000 VoIP and Telecommunication Service Providers in over 78 countries eventually more than 1 Billion Global End Users. Ajmat is extremely proud of the firm’s success and is eager to showcase the firm’s client focused approach, which has been vital to the company’s achievements so far.

“Our mission is to be the world’s one of the top VoIP & IP communication software solution providers. To achieve this, we will develop all cutting edge communication software solutions and deliver to our global clients.

“Here at REVE we are extremely honoured to be receiving 2016 Technology Award. Even being nominated for such an award is an incredible honour, but to win against strong competition is just amazing. We feel humble, but at the same time incredibly proud too.

Contact Details Company: REVE Systems Name: Ajmat Iqbal Designation: CEO Email: ajmat.iqbal@revesoft. com Web Address: revesoft.com Address: WCEGA Tower, 21 Bukit Batok Crescent, Unit 1584, Singapore 658065 Telephone: +8801814655961

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“A well-defined vision along with vast knowledge regarding the industry, continuous product development, dedicated members, solid customer relationship management, disciplined work life followed by sensational leadership are what we believe are the main reasons behind this success.

“Ultimately we have always been passionate about serving our clients best as they are the prime reason behind our existence. Personalized client service from our sales team ensure every client receive the overall solution and our client service team ensures they get complete ongoing support. Our trained engineers ensure premium client support through dedicated support portal, trouble ticketing, live chat, call centre in 17 languages 24/7.”

Looking ahead, Ajmat is eager to communicate the firm’s exciting future plans, as it seeks to remain at the forefront of the latest industry developments.

“Moving forward, REVE Systems will keep developing new, innovative communication software solutions to cope up with the fast paced world of innovation. With a view to stand out from the future competition, we are working on solutions for PBX, Cloud Communication and Wholesale Switch which will be available in very near future.

“Within the wider industry, we foresee OTT (Over the Top) Service and Cloud Communication as all being central to the development of the market. The rapidly increasing rate of smartphones and tablets adoption is highly encouraging Communication Service Providers to invest in developing own branded mobile VoIP apps (OTT Apps) to reach wider markets and secure a unique presence. Moreover, cloud based real-time communication can empower Communication Service Providers rapidly create and deploy communications services at a superior value. As such our firm will adapt through wider research, more room for development, more investment.”

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SERVICEPOWER TECHNOLOGIES PLC Best for Mobile Workforce Management Software Solutions ServicePower, the acknowledged industry leader in optimization technology, provides a patented, connected, mobile workforce management software platform used by organizations with mobile or remote workers to maximize productivity and efficiency, intelligently schedule appointments, SLA and complex jobs, as well as parts when needed. We invited Jenniffer Breitenstein, SVP Marketing, to tell us more.

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ervicePower’s platform focuses on solving fundamental problems related to managing a mobile workforce, with patented routing optimization, 3rd party dispatch and warranty claim payments, crossplatform mobile technology and asset tracking software, robust business intelligence, M2M connected services, and, the firm’s latest innovations, optimization on DemandTM and NEXUS FSTM Field service management software.

“Our flagship product, ServiceScheduling was introduced in 1996, to provide real time, intra-day schedule and route optimization. Since it was introduced ServiceScheduling has been acknowledged by the industry as the leading optimization technology. We have worked hard to enhance it over time, filing four new patents on Quantum Annealing, for instance, which is the first new optimization algorithm for field service and vehicle routing in decades, as well as adding new functionality to cater to the nuances of different verticals.

Contact Details Company: ServicePower Technologies Plc Name: Jenniffer Breitenstein Website: servicepower.com

“In addition, we also decoupled the optimization algorithm and create optimization on Demand, which enables any business to optimize remote worker schedules, without a full on workforce management deployment of ServiceScheduling. This has huge implications for verticals with remote workers, like those referenced above, that simply are not as complex as the typical field service operation.”

ServicePower was also first to offer, in 2004, a true SaaS, integrated third party contractor and warranty management platform, ServiceOperations, which enables clients across verticals, to dynamically dispatch contractors either as a supplement to their own remote workforce, or as their total labor solution.

As her final comment Jenniffer was keen to highlight the firm’s exciting plans for the future, which are firmly focused on growing as a business whilst retaining the same high standard of service and product which the firm has come to pride itself on.

“Ultimately ServicePower is very well positioned for the future. Our new product launches, and enhancements to the existing platform support our existing clients as their businesses change and adapt to new technologies and changing customer expectations. The platform provides new clients with a connected, mobile workforce management platform that enables each to intelligently mix the best resources to provide the highest levels of customer service.

“Significant effort has been invested recently in building our partner ecosystem, with resale, technology and system integration partners which expand our footprint in terms of sales, complementary technologies and deployment resources and will allow us to better serve our clients moving forward.”

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SOAPWARE, INC. Best For EMR Software Solutions SOAPware is a national developer of solutions for the healthcare industry. It originated from a core team of realworld, caring physicians, and serves over 75 different medical specialties in both large and small organizations.

The firm is still headed by medical professionals today, and are committed to improving healthcare and the quality of life of patients. We profile the company to find out more about how they approach customer service.

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n an ever changing healthcare environment, SOAPware offers real world solutions that focus on real quality, value and efficiency. SOAPware solutions include broadcast messaging, online bill paying, online patient forms, business consulting services, marketing services, membership management, online appointment scheduling, appointment reminder services, patient engagement, an easy-to-use electronic health record, alongside much more.

"...SOAPware products and services are derived from more than 20 years of experience in a constantly evolving industry and during that time, they have remained committed..."

Contact Details Company: SOAPware Name: LaDonna Humphrey, Director of Marketing and Communications Email: ladonna.humphrey@ soapware.com

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SOAPware aims to improve healthcare and the quality of life of their users, by empowering medical professionals and patients with innovative technology and services. SOAPware has a focus on technology that enhances the doctor-patient relationship. SOAPware’s Meaningful Use certified, ICD-10 ready software

is designed by medical providers and engineered in a real world setting, making SOAPware the preferred EHR for medical professionals, all across the US and around the world.

"In an ever changing healthcare environment, SOAPware offers real world solutions that focus on real quality, value and efficiency."

The team at SOAPware is honored to receive this award. The SOAPware team believes that being great at something is just a starting point, not an endpoint; whether it is personal skill sets, processes, services, or applications, the SOAPware team believes that they have the responsibility to continuously grow and improve.

And they have done just that! The SOAPware products and services are derived from more than 20 years of experience in a constantly evolving industry and during that time, they have remained committed to improving healthcare and the quality of life for physicians and patients.

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TELLEMACHUS LTD Most Innovative IT Solutions Firm - North England Tellemachus are trusted security specialists, who have been delivering risk reducing and innovative solutions across IT Network Infrastructure, Telecommunications, Cyber Security and Electronic Security for over 20 years.

They have been trusted to provide solutions for the UK Government, Police Forces, Military Agencies and Blue Chip Companies, and are now looking to branch further into the commercial sector, as Peter Wood explains.

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ellemachus are a unique company, as they are one of very few UK companies that provide IT Network Infrastructure, Telecommunications, Cyber Security and Electronic Security as a complete, integrated service.

This has been key to helping them achieve success in their business, as they are able to understand their client’s requirements and then match them to suitable technological solutions that can really be of benefit to them. Peter is very proud to receive this award, as he feels that it recognises the innovation that Tellemachus prides itself on.

Contact Details Company: Tellemachus Name: Peter Wood Email: enquiries@ tellemachus.com Web Address: tellemachus.com Address: 10 Steeton Grove, Steeton, West Yorkshire, England, BD20 6TT Telephone: + 44 (0) 8700 119040

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“A lot of businesses are too wrapped up in providing technology for the sake of having technology, thus complicating the experience for the client; we do not believe in this. We listen closely to our client’s to fully understand their needs, and only recommend the technology that will meet their requirements; we remain at the forefront technology, whilst only giving our customers solutions that they have a practical use for to improve their business.

“Electronic security has become an integral part of IT security in recent years, but very few IT companies, irrespective of their size, have the credentials to do both. We are proud that customers are able to come to us because we understand the process on all sides and can map this together. A challenge for any business is to understand what cyber security means for their business; there has been a lot of confusion surrounding it. We are able to deliver appropriate solutions, and prioritise what it most critical for a company in this respect.

“An example of the challenges associated with this is the use of IP cameras for CCTV. It has taken about 10 years for this to become widespread and overtake the use of old analogue cameras, but now there is a new problem.

If these cameras are not installed correctly, they can actually create an increased risk for the company’s whole IT infrastructure. In the future, we are anticipating more solutions to be put in place to combat this.

“It is within our DNA to stay ahead of any technological advances, and we always endeavour to understand these fully in order to bring the benefits of any advance to our customers. We are always interested in technology; that is how it has always been, as we are very much an engineering based company. All of our staff are interested in seeing what is coming up in the tech world, as this is what motivates and excites them.”

Tellemachus ensure that all of their Engineers are fully accredited and security cleared where required for all work For example they have Engineers who partake in telecom mast climbing and equipment rigging, and so these workers need high levels of health and safety accreditation.

“Our entire culture is focused on providing our customers with both quality and value. Our staff care about their customers, colleagues and the environment, and they are all focused on solving problems and delivering results for the customer. We also pride ourselves on the stellar internal communications that we have. Our staff consistently share knowledge and ideas, which leads to improved solutions across the whole company.

“A few years ago we employed a business coach; we were performing well, but knew that we could be performing even better. We changed our recruitment process; we start with a group induction session, where we give potential employees an overview of who we are, our core values, our future aims and our expectations for employees. We have a very thorough profiling process that we now use during the hiring process, called Talent Dynamics. Everyone is pre-programmed to enjoy doing certain jobs, whether they realise it or not, and this process helps to identify the best job roles for the particular person. This process allows us to identify where someone is both qualified for a job and whether they will enjoy doing it.

“Looking to the future, we will focus on growing the company; we are good at what we do, and we want is to bring those benefits to as many customers as possible.

Up until a few years ago, the type of organisations that we mainly worked with meant that most of our work was classified, and therefore many people had never heard of Tellemachus. We could not showcase what we had been achieving. Our focus now is to come out of this sphere, and work more in the commercial sector where we can really showcase our talents, and bring the benefits of our experience to the commercial world.”

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WORTHWARE SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL INC. Best Retail ERP Platform: CellSell® & Most Innovative Vertical Market ERP Provider – Canada Worthware Systems International Inc. is a leader in the design, development, and implementation of powerful vertical market Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software solutions. Worthware is the developer of CellSell®, the leading Retail ERP Platform designed specifically for retailers of cellular phones, wireless devices, and telecommunications products and services. Originally introduced in Canada in 1991, CellSell® is today the most time-tested and proven Wireless Industry Retail ERP Platform on the market. Ron Moss told us more about CellSell® and how Worthware attracts attention in such a competitive marketspace.

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ellSell® Retail ERP systems are supplied under license in Canada and the United States to wireless retailers, master dealers, agents and carriers, and feature patented technology that cost effectively bridges the gap between disparate carrier, dealer and agent retailer systems and subscriber activation processes, to increase POS checkout capacity and make existing employees more effective. It also works to improve the in-store experience, build retailer competitive advantage, better bottom line performance and to deliver rapid ROI. Ron was delighted to have the chance to talk more about this revolutionary system.

Contact Details Company: Worthware Systems International Inc. Name: Ron Moss. President & CEO Email: ron.moss@cellsell.com Web Address: www.cellsell.com Address: 602-3333 Graham Boulevard, Mount-Royal, Quebec, H3R 3L5, Canada Telephone: (514) 343-4813

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“Our CellSell® Retail ERP systems instantly update inventory, commissions, and financial accounting reports for both store-based and company-wide consolidated profit and loss income statements, balance sheets, accounts receivable and bank reconciliations. This provides management with an unalterable General Ledger audit trail, that eliminates the needs for standalone accounting software, and the delays and potential errors associated with month-end data aggregation of financial results, from and between either disparate or loosely interfaced point-of-sale and accounting systems.

“The latest generation of CellSell® Retail ERP systems are highly scalable and include licensed versions, that are installed either on-premises or in a Private Cloud.

All of these feature enhanced and natively integrated Thin Client software remote computing technology. We also offer newly minted Cloud-Based SaaS (Softwareas-a-Service) varieties, available online by subscription

only. All editions of CellSell® Retail ERP support real-time remote Android®, iOS® and Windows® mobile devicebased computing, and are meticulously engineered to stay in lockstep with the dynamic and continuously evolving needs of modern wireless retailers of all types and sizes.”

Ron does not see the mission of Worthware as only building a simpler, better Retail ERP platform, but thinks that it is about building a simpler and better way of doing things for wireless retailers overall.

“The steps we take to achieve this involve listening carefully to the needs of users across all departments, across all types and sizes of wireless retailers; Carriers, Franchisors, Master Agents and Independent Dealers from both the Post-Paid and Pre-Paid Wireless Retail Business Sectors. We like to think that we’re better listeners than our competition. In our business, we face two different types of competitor; vendors who offer standalone point-of-sale software customized for cell-phone stores, and vendors who offer mass-market general-purpose accounting packages.

“Both have one thing in common, they provide standalone single purpose software products, that do not integrate across all of the departments in a company. ERP, the category of fully integrated system that our company provides sets us apart. ERP systems allow companies to automate and efficiently manage multiple aspects of their business; finance, customer relationships, human resources, supply chain and much more, all on a single unified platform.

“One of the key benefits of an ERP system is that it eliminates the need for standalone, single purpose software products that do not integrate across all company departments. ERP is not new, in fact most ERP systems were originally developed years ago, as either general purpose financial systems, or as integrated software modules for manufacturing companies, not for retail companies, and especially not for wireless retail companies. Our solution is new and different because we have developed a modern vertical market Retail Version of ERP Platform, specifically for wireless retail companies that specialize in the sales of cellular phones, wireless devices and telecommunications products and services, that seamlessly integrates across all company departments.

“These commissions from these sales are the life force of their business, so they absolutely need to effectively manage and correctly account for every activation for cellular telephone service in order to remain profitable and stay in business. Our patented internet-based cellular telephone service accounting method and system is designed to allow retailers of cellular phones to costeffectively integrate their cellular telephone service carrier’s activation systems and processes with their CellSell® Retail ERP systems and eliminate re-keying and double-entry of cellular telephone service subscriber data and streamline the processing of these vital wireless retail industry specific types of point-of-sale transactions.

This is just one example of the innovation that makes CellSell® a one of a kind Retail ERP Platform.”

“This is what marks us out as the best possible option for our clients, because they have very specific needs.

One of the most fundamental of those needs is access to, and use of, an accurate accounting method and system for the ongoing registration, recording and tracking of cellular telephone service sales and activations. This is because retailers of cellular phones receive commission from the cellular phone service carrier they represent for each customer that they sign up for cellular telephone service on that network.

“If a wireless retail company does not have the best, most efficient, automated method or system for the precise accounting of each customer subscribing for cellular telephone service, activated on their cellular telephone service carrier’s network at their store, they simply cannot effectively manage how much money the carrier owes them in monthly commissions.

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TC160013

ZEROLIGHT Best Real-Time 3D Visualisation Specialist & Most Advanced Car Configurator Solution ZeroLight is bringing innovation to the global automotive industry through the application of new CGI and visualisation technologies to create high-quality, real-time digital showroom experiences across any display device. We invited Marketing Executive Joseph Artgole to tell us more about this innovative company and the solutions it provides.

Z

eroLight’s mission is to change the way the world buys cars, delivering highly innovative digital experiences that excite and engage modern customers across all touch points, providing a competitive advantage for its clients.

As strategic partners with Audi AG, ZeroLight’s visualisation software powers the popular Audi City cyberstores, the Audi Walking VR Experience and the Cloud powered web configurator used across the entire A4 range on Audi.de.

ZeroLight also provide digital showroom experiences for Pagani Automobili, allowing customers to view an accurate digital representation of their bespoke, hand-made cars before purchase.

In his opening comments Joseph outlines the importance of innovation and how the firm works to ensure that it is always at the forefront of the latest technological developments.

“Here at ZeroLight, we constantly innovate to push our already industry leading technology further, matching the latest equipment with the highest calibre expertise to drive new R&D.”

Contact Details Company: ZeroLight Email: info@zerolight.com Web Address: zerolight.com Telephone: 01914850505

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“For example, ZeroLight Labs is an initiative we have in place to test applications of our technology in new scenarios. This includes the implementation of new user inputs, building new products and testing emerging hardware. Recent case studies include integrating Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service with our Cloud powered car configurator, the creation of a unique video configurator developed from our live real-time platform, and a promotional campaign using google cardboard.”

“Our operational programmes ensure projects are consistently delivered on time and to spec, alongside the

implementation of new and emerging technologies. This allows us to apply the latest advancements to current projects as soon as they are achieved.”

Every technology firm needs a strong team behind it in order to succeed. Joseph expresses the shared pride in ZeroLight’s team and the culture of the firm overall.

“ZeroLight’s culture is one of collaborative invention. Our environment and benefits are built around the facilitation of innovation and forward thinking. Our new office on the Newcastle Quayside is a development designed to be open plan and inclusive, encouraging interaction amongst employees. ‘Innovation spaces’ provide staff with a creative backdrop to discuss new ideas, whilst multiple demo areas allow for constant testing and analysis. The number of demo areas available means that we can showcase multiple projects whilst continuing to test and refine experiences. Flexible working, cycle scheme, fully equipped breakout room, balcony overlooking the quayside, table tennis, pool and badminton leagues along with other benefits mean our staff can maintain a healthy work-life balance.”

“Ultimately our work is testament to the staff we employ, showcasing the collective skill of our growing team.

Recognition of our continuing advancements mean we’re always working with the latest equipment to create and build new experiences. The prospects of working alongside such skilled colleagues to develop new technologies draws in new talent. Local connections with Universities and colleges provides us with the brightest individuals to partake in our graduate programme, ensuring a practical foundation that is well regarded within the industry.”

This dedicated and professional workforce enables the

firm to offer a superior level of client service, as Joseph explains.

“Our approach to service sees clients receive their own dedicated team within ZeroLight that focuses on developing and optimising our suite of technologies for their particular needs. This means that our clients receive a solution that is completely tailored to their stated requirements whilst at the same time providing a support team that is fully aware of every aspect of the development process, allowing them to identify new solutions efficiently.”

Looking to the future, Joseph foresees a number of exhilarating opportunities that will allow ZeroLight to build upon its current success.

“Currently, our cloud technology is gaining international acclaim and is live on audi.de. Our recent talk at SIGGRAPH 2016 saw us present alongside Audi AG in relation to the benefits of real-time visualisation via the web and how it leads to increased engagement levels. Such visualisation solutions are the future of both online and offline retail, allowing for a customer-centric approach that is welcomed by the modern marketplace, delivering a consistent, personal experience across all touch points. This comes alongside praise for our industry leading VR experiences, which have seen a number of commercial applications this year.”

“Within the wider industry, AR is a medium that we anticipate will further alter people’s perception of the world around them. Our omni-channel platform is prepared for optimisation across any new display device and we are particularly excited about the prospects of AR in the retail landscape.”

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