Belfast Telegraph IT Awards 2021

PROUDLY SPONSORED BY

Celebrating our IT industry 12 PAGE SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT

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Tuesday November 16 2021

A happy return for IT Awards

Foreword Peter Russell PROUDLY SPONSORED BY

BY PETER RUSSELL, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF TELEFÓNICA TECH IRELAND

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here were many reasons to be extremely positive about the Belfast Telegraph IT Awards earlier this month. It was great to see people back out at an event, enjoying industry camaraderie and craic. It was also fantastic to celebrate the achievements of the IT sector in Northern Ireland, including the extremely important role that many companies, departments and individuals have played in the fight against COVID, supporting the economy,

IT AWARDS 2021: THE WINNERS, SPONSORS AND HIGHLY COMMENDED OVERALL IT COMPANY OF THE YEAR Sponsor – Telefónica Tech Ireland Winner - Randox Laboratories Highly Commended Action Cancer Highly Commended RotaPal BEST PLACE TO WORK IN IT (LARGE) Sponsor – Vanrath Winner - Alchemy Technology Services BEST PLACE TO WORK IN IT (SMALL) Sponsor – Vanrath Winner – Covernet Highly Commended Decision Time BEST USE OF CLOUD SERVICES Sponsor – Version 1 Winner - George Best Belfast City Airport Highly Commended Western Health and Social Care Trust COVID RESPONSE Sponsor – Consult NB1 Ltd Winner - Codec Highly Commended Randox Laboratories Highly Commended - Civica CYBER SECURITY PROJECT OF THE YEAR Sponsor – NI Cyber Winner - Allstate IT PROJECT TEAM OF THE YEAR Sponsor – Codec Winner - Randox Laboratories ECOMMERCE PROJECT OF THE YEAR Sponsor – IRP Commerce Winner - Built for Growth Digital

people and communities during these challenging times.

For our team at Telefónica Tech UK&I, it was all of the above, as well as a celebration of our new brand and our new position within the Telefónica family.

Telefónica Tech acquired CANCOM UK&I, which incorporated the former Novosco business, in July of this year to create Telefónica Tech UK&I. This means that the company now has over 600 UK&I team members, 300 of which are based in Belfast, who join Telefónica Tech’s global team to offer world-leading expertise in areas including IT professional services, managed services, cyber security and multi-cloud solutions. The Belfast Telegraph IT Awards helped us officially mark our rebrand.

Telefónica Tech is the leading global company in digital

transformation that accelerates the implementation of technology for its customers through Cyber Security, Cloud, IoT, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain services. It has solutions based on proprietary technology and alliances with the best players in the market to help companies push their digital transformation. It has a base of 5.5 million B2B customers and a value proposition as technology integrators in all the markets in which Telefónica operates.

It is an exciting time for our team and our company. Our already strong market offering will be further strengthened by the global capabilities that Telefónica Tech brings to the table in terms of scale, investment and recognition.

It was brilliant to showcase our new brand at the awards as

the title sponsor. It was also fantastic to talk in person with industry colleagues. What is clear is that the IT sector – not withstanding some common challenges around skills and some other issues - is continuing to grow rapidly. The Belfast Telegraph IT Awards have a really important role to play in recognising this, and I want to thank the Belfast Telegraph, the judging panel and the other sponsors for their role in making the awards happen.

I would also like to congratulate all of the winners. There was a great variety of award recipients across the public, private and voluntary sectors, and in different areas of the industry including health and fintech.

There were so many worthy winners. Many congratulations again.

Meet the esteemed judges of the IT Awards

IT PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR Sponsor – Hays Technology Winner - Seamus Wilkinson, Version 1 Highly Commended Aaron Quinn, Cooneen IT PROJECT TEAM OF THE YEAR Sponsor – Civica Winner - Randox Laboratories IT TEAM OF THE YEAR Sponsor – Vyta Winner - Randox Laboratories IT WOMAN OF THE YEAR Sponsor – Ulster University Winner - Rachelle Reid, Allstate Highly Commended Lorna McAdoo, Version 1 MOBILE APP OF THE YEAR Sponsor – Invest NI Winner - RotaPal Highly Commended INEQE Safeguarding Group Highly Commended - Civica BEST ‘NOT FOR PROFIT’ SECTOR IT PROJECT OF THE YEAR Sponsor – Continu Winner - NIACRO SMALL IT TEAM OF THE YEAR Sponsor – Allstate Northern Ireland Winner - Action Cancer SMALL SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR Sponsor – eir evo Winner - Continu YOUNG IT PROFESSIONAL Sponsor – APCOA Ltd Winner - Johnny Gillespie, Version 1 Highly Commended Tanya Matthews, Version 1

PHOTOS BY KELVIN BOYES / PRESS EYE.

Seated from left, George McKinney, Director of Technology & Services, Invest NI Clair Gheel, Business Development Manager, eir evo, Claire McBride, Sales Executive at Fujitsu, Dr Nicola Ayre, Associate Head of School of Computing, Ulster University. Standing from left, Peter Russell, Managing Director Telefonica Tech Ireland, Chair of the judging panel Professor Karen Rafferty, Head of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Queen’s University and Noel Brady, Managing Director, Consult NB1 Ltd and Joint Chair of the ICT Innovation Forum

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he Belfast Telegraph has been delighted to partner with Telefónica Tech Ireland for the 2021 IT Awards.

We held a sell-out awards ceremony at the MAC in Belfast, hosted by comedian Neil Delamre and featuring entertainment from Ursula Burns, AKA

The Dangerous Harpist.

It was a pleasure to hold the event this year following a necessary hiatus last year, after our inaugural IT Awards in 2019.

This year’s winners were chosen by our panel of seven judges from the industry, led by chair Professor Karen Neil Delamere pictured at the Belfast Telegraph IT Awards at The Mac

Rafferty, the Head of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Queen’s University.

Addressing the event, Eoin Brannigan, Editor-In-Chief at the Belfast Telegraph and Sunday Life, said: “The IT sector in Northern Ireland continues to grow at pace and there is no doubt that it continues to have a significant and positive impact on the local economy.

“A recent report said that the Digital ICT Sector in Northern Ireland employs 30,000 people, in jobs paying above the national average, in over 2,200 companies and generates £1.5bn.

“For that reason in 2019, we decided that this sector deserved

to have its own awards and its achievements needed to be celebrated.

“Our faith in the initiative has been rewarded once again with a 31% increase in entries and a sell-out event.”

In this supplement, we honour the contribution of IT companies and professionals as well as other types of firms which have harnessed the full potential of IT in their work.

Interviews by Emma Deighan

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Praise for IT team fighting a pandemic

Overall IT Company of the Year Randox Laboratories

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n international leader in the diagnostics industry, Randox Laboratories won three categories at this year’s IT Awards.

It was awarded the leading category at the event — IT Company of the Year — for its efforts during the pandemic.

The business’ development of a full end-to-end Covid testing process was instrumental in managing the pandemic.

That process included platforms relating to logistics, registration, and result reporting, not just for Northern Ireland but tens of thousands of daily tests for the UK Government’s National Covid Testing Programme. It also provided Covid testing for safe travel.

The company’s swift response

was a complete upscaling of its offering and IT platforms including an online sample kit registration portal, intelligent robotics automation, and an informatic lab workflow management system.

All elements were designed and developed entirely in-house, illustrating the knowledge, expertise, responsiveness and overall capability within the company.

Awarding Randox IT Company of the Year, the judges said: “While there were a number of very strong contenders, the judges felt that Randox were worthy winners of the Overall IT Company of the Year because of the way in which the team at Randox worked together at speed, to rise to the challenge of Covid.

“They were able to deliver a highly effective end-to-end solution to support the nationwide testing programme on a 24/7 basis, which has been hailed as a significant success in the fight against Covid-19.”

Stephen Fawl, chief information officer at Randox,said: “We are thrilled to have won the most coveted category of Overall IT Company of the Year.

“The Randox IT team have played a critical role in the fight against COVID-19... and their achievements demonstrate the knowledge, expertise, responsiveness and overall IT capability within Randox.

“I am proud of the efforts of each and every member of the team, which has transitioned to a 24/7 operation...”

Highly Commended: Action Cancer RotaPal

PHOTOS BY KELVIN BOYES / PRESS EYE.

Peter Russell (right), Managing Director of title sponsor Telefonica Tech Ireland, and Margaret Canning, Business Editor of the Belfast Telegraph, present the Overall IT Company of the Year Award to Stephen Fawl, Chief Information Officer at Randox Laboratories

Engaging and rehabilitating through tech

Best ‘Not for Profit’ Sector IT Project of the Year Niacro

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Alison McFadden, Managing Director, Continu, presents the Best Not For Profit Sector IT Project of the Year Award to Ruth Walker, Business Development Manager, Niacro

he Northern Ireland Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (Niacro) won the Not For Profit Sector IT Project category for its Site IT scheme.

Site IT is a collaboration between three key organisations, focusing on training and rehabilitation of people in prison.

It does this by providing improvement to current learning enabling ‘learning by doing’ in immersive environments.

It is an immersive learning experience delivered on headsets through virtual reality.

It takes learners onto a virtual construction site and assesses their skills and knowledge against a Level 1 qualification

in construction site health and safety.

The judges said: “Niacro are overall winners of the “Not for profit” category.

“They demonstrated innovative and excellent use of technology for training and rehabilitation of persons in prison with the aim of assisting them to find employment and reduce the likelihood of re-entering the prison system.”

Ruth Walker, business development manager at Niacro, said it was delighted to have won the category award.

“Our project, SITE IT, has been an exciting venture for us, and our partners, over the past 18 months. We are particularly

proud of SITE IT’s partnership approach.

“Working alongside software company, Sentireal and CITBNI, we’ve used virtual reality technology to develop an immersive training experience that can be delivered in prisons, on VR headsets. This will enable people in prison to gain the Level 1 qualification and experience needed to get jobs on construction sites upon release.

“We’ve been delighted too that the Northern Ireland Prison Service has been supportive of this project, seeing its potential to capture the imaginations of people in prison and help them to engage with vocational training.”

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Using new tech to deliver high impact

Digital Project of the Year Randox Laboratories

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inning Digital Project of the Year was just one of four accolades for Randox Laboratories at the IT Awards 2021.

The Antrim-based business won over the judges with its Covid testing technology during the pandemic.

The company responded quickly in an ever-evolving situation, it says, and “introduced a full end-to-end testing process inclusive of logistics, registration, accessioning, and results reporting, for tens of thousands of daily tests”.

Those tests and the results process became instrumental in opening up the travel industry thanks to a high-quality IT appli-

cation designed and built to meet the unique needs of a client registering their Covid sample collection kit - for private travel testing customers as well as the UK National Testing Programme in the early days of the pandemic.

Its data-driven platforms, a complex sample testing process and more, made it an IT project of huge proportions.

Initially intended for Randox’s new 80,000 sqft of molecular laboratory space at the company’s headquarters in Northern Ireland, the systems are also in use across newly built adaptive labs in Manchester and London, in mobile testing vans at key airport locations, and in a number of walk-through and drive-through testing clinics across the UK and

Ireland.

The improvements in IT automation, robotics and software capabilities have enabled Randox to upscale its testing capability like no other.

The judges said: “The judges felt that Randox Laboratories deserved to win of the Digital Project of the year because of the implementation of a range of emerging technologies to deliver an extremely high-impact, user-friendly, successful solution at scale, within a very short timeline.”

Stephen Fawl at Randox said: “We are thrilled to have won and be recognised alongside the best in the business, was an incredible honour and something we were so pleased to be part of.”

PHOTOS BY KELVIN BOYES / PRESS EYE.

Peter McKay, Northern Ireland Commercial Lead, Codec, presents the Digital Project of the Year to Stephen Fawl, Chief information Officer from Randox Laboratories.

An agile approach maximising cyber security

Cyber Security of the Year Allstate

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Judith Millar, Business Development Manager, CSIT, presents the Cyber Security Project of the Year to Robert McCausland, Director, Identity and Access Management, Allstate

llstate’s strength is its data protection and it took the Cyber Security of the Year award for its Privilege Account Risk Reduction (PARR) project.

The PARR project’s biggest achievement is the significant reduction in risk to sensitive data, as well as the change in culture that it brought about, says the firm. Allstate said: “PARR created a process to discover, manage, monitor and govern all privileged accounts across the business.

“The innovation for this project came from the team’s dedication

to move people from monthly to hourly passphrase expiration.

This was one of the most ambitious efforts of the project.

“The team went above and beyond expectations and industry standards by having a focused strategy and working closely with the users.”

It concluded: “The PARR project has been one of the most efficient methods for risk reduction - reducing the potential attack surface exposed from privilege accounts by tens of millions of hours.”

Keith Lippert, vice president

and deputy chief information security officer, Allstate NI, said: “We are honoured to be recognised at the Belfast Telegraph IT Awards. We strive to provide the best-in-class security solutions and cutting-edge technology to protect Allstate and our customers, and this project is a great example of that work.”

Judge Peter Russell added: “The Allstate PARR project was the stand-out Cyber entry and demonstrated an agile and innovative approach to minimising an identified organisational security risk.”

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Putting an iconic brand on the online market

E-Commerce Project of the Year Built for Growth Digital

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uilt for Growth Digital gation, listing pages, model pagwon this category for its es and promotional pages. work with Belleek, the “We used custom code to enIrish gift and tableware sure the website was fully responsive and scaled to size for brand.

A huge SEO project. it involved all devices. The redesign was an email marketing strategy and completed at the end of April, strategic management across paid and since then, conversion rate marketing channels and a com- has increased by 15%. plete site redesign.

“Transactions increased by BFG said: “The site redesign fo- 48% and average time on site incused on conversion rate optimi- creased by 346% (September vs sation and streamlining the user April).”

Hits and a growth in sales foljourney.

“This involved creating a num- lowed as well as a boost in new ber of localised homepage varia- markets while BFG and Belleek’s tions across different countries, 21 relationship flourished over the landing pages and the restyling of course of 2021 as it collaborated brand pages, top and bottom navi- toward a common goal: to max-

imise Belleek’s online growth potential in the face of adversity.

BFG now works as an extension of the Belleek team helping enriched its online presence and boost sales.

The judges said: “By taking a holistic approach to e-commerce, this company helped an iconic Northern Irish brand expand their existing online presence into an international success increasing sales by 49% during a time of extreme economic uncertainty.”

Courtney Duncan, ecommerce consultant at BGF, said: “At Built for Growth Digital we’re delighted to accept the eCommerce Project of the Year award for our work

PHOTOS BY KELVIN BOYES / PRESS EYE.

Philip Macartney, Chief Commercial Officer, IRP Commerce, presents the E-Commerce Project of the Year Award to Ellen Burns, E-Commerce Consultant, Built for Growth Digital with Belleek Pottery. We provide them with a wealth of services including growth consultancy, de-

sign, implementation and digital marketing. It gives us great pleasure to help such an iconic Irish

brand realise their potential online. Teamwork is in our DNA at Built for Growth.”

An app that addresses fundamental issues

Mobile App of the Year RotaPal

R Highly Commended: INEQE Safeguarding Group Civica

PHOTOS BY KELVIN BOYES / PRESS EYE.

Mobile App of the Year George McKinney, Director of Technology and Services, Invest Northern Ireland presents the Mobile App of the Year Award to Harry Eves, CEO Rotapal.

otaPal, a Northern Irish company founded by two doctors, is a real-time rota management app which been revolutionising how doctors and healthcare professionals connect and communicate with their colleagues.

At a time when the health care system faced its most challenging period, RotaPal was making waves with a human resources tool that would change how they work.

The judges praised the compa-

ny for its efforts. They said: “This application addressed a fundamental issue and will have a significant impact on assisting with staffing and resourcing among front line staff. A simple yet innovative idea and implementation.”

Harry Eves, CEO, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have won Mobile App of the Year.

“RotaPal has and always will have our doctors and healthcare professionals’ interests at the heart of everything we do.

Although we recognise we may

have just played a small supportive role through these challenging times, we are committed to ensuring every doctor and healthcare professional has access to the best possible technology to help them deliver the best possible care.

“We hope this award will help highlight just how outstanding our doctors and healthcare professionals are, this win is a testament to those innovative doctorpreneurs who have and continue to collaborate with us.”

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Putting staff at the heart of the business

Best Place to Work in IT, Small Company Covernet

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overnet, this year’s winner of Best Place to Work in IT, Small Company, has been providing software to the insurance industry across Europe since 1995.

The company says its success is driven by its team “who define and embody the value which our customers know us by”.

Team values, respect, excellence and innovation are the foundations of its success with staff wellbeing, including flexible working policies, dedicated mental health and wellbeing programmes and even daily treats like fruit and cereal part of the offering.

It has also revised its career development framework - Covernet Causeway, which is focused on ongoing training and development across all levels of

staff from a graduate scheme to senior level.

“Through this framework there are always new opportunities available to our people to help excel and develop careers right here on the North Coast,” it says.

During the pandemic, the business has continued to deliver, attracting national employment awards.

“Our position on this prestigious list is driven by an annual people engagement survey which measures the extent to which everyone in the organisation reported a consistently great workplace experience, considering factors such as physical and mental wellbeing, fairness, camaraderie and trust in our leadership,” it says.

The judges said: “Covernet

obviously put the maximum effort into nurturing and growing their staff. It is clear from their achievement that this company is an excellent place to work.”

Jim Campbell, business development director at Covernet, said: “We were absolutely delighted to win the Best Place to Work in IT award on Friday evening. Our people are at the heart of our business and as an organisation, we have a steadfast commitment to create an exceptional, high performing workplace where employees feel trusted, valued, and supported every day.

“We are extremely proud to be part of such a brilliant team and it was great that many of them were able to join us at the awards evening to celebrate our success.”

Highly Commended: Decision Time

PHOTOS BY KELVIN BOYES / PRESS EYE.

Ryan Quinn, Managing Director, Vanrath, presents the Best Place To Work in IT (Small) Award to Jim Campbell, Business Development Director, Covernet

‘People really want to work for our company’

Place to work in IT, Large Company Alchemy Technology Services

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Highly Commended: Version 1

PHOTOS BY KELVIN BOYES / PRESS EYE.

Ryan Quinn, Managing Director, Vanrath presents the Best Place to Work in IT (Large) to John Harkin, Founder and CEO Alchemy Technology Services

lchemy Technology Services has a unique way of working. A flat structure with no middle management and a unique promotion system allows staff at the Derry-based site to thrive.

A robust mentoring programme focused on coaching and mentoring individuals both in their day-to-day tasks but also the bigger picture of their longterm career and progression, creates a growth environment in an untraditional but forward-thinking setting.

Its in-house feed-back process

tells it the latter setup is working with 97% of staff reporting Alchemy to be “a great place to work”.

Taking away this year’s Large Best Place to Work in IT Award, the company said: “Alchemy is about so much more than the bottom line. Our vision is not only to bring new talent to the forefront of the digitisation of the insurance industry, but to bring meaningful, exciting, and long-lasting careers to a region in need of investment. We have always been and will always be committed to the socio economic recovery of the north west.”

John Harkin, Founder and CEO, said: “When we set up Alchemy we wanted it to be a place where people would choose to work every day, the people who work for us are so talented they could work anywhere. We are delighted to be recognised by the judging panel for this award.”

The judges said: “Alchemy were the outstanding submission in this category and were clearly able to demonstrate fantastic employee engagement and truly being a great place to work.”

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‘A company plan that thinks outside the box’

Small Supplier of the Year Continu

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SP NI Ltd Continu was formed by Technical Director, Tom Hall and Managing Director, Alison McFadden who spotted a gap in the market for a specialist company that provided backup power products and services.

Set up in an attic, today the company is used by large public and private organisations including BT, Concentrix, NIE, Total Mobile, Moy Park, Thales, Hospital Trusts, NICS and SONI. It provides service support 24/7/365 to customers throughout Ireland, the UK and Europe.

The Continu business strate-

gy was reinvented during Covid to be robust enough to navigate the pandemic and Brexit while growing.

Year end results showed the company increased profit, despite lockdown trading periods and staffing resources.

This was possible, it says, by developing the SaaS model which is currently being rolled out to all customers.

In addition, Continu has invested in extensive R&D to create new product offerings in the Renewable Energy market. The company is also working with NI Water on their 5MW solar farm to install Battery Energy Storage

Systems (BESS). This will assist the System Operator (SONI) to make the grid more resilient and ‘flatten out’ the variable nature of the solar energy with their BESS solution, a first for Northern Ireland.

Speaking about the win, Alison McFadden, managing director at Continu said: “Winning an award at the prestigious Belfast Telegraph IT awards is a great motivational boost to the Team at Continu. As a niche SME supplier to the IT sector, its fantastic to be a winner amongst so many world leading Northern Ireland IT specialists.”

The judges said: “Continu

PHOTOS BY KELVIN BOYES / PRESS EYE.

Philip O’Meara, Regional Director, eir evo presents the Small Supplier of the Year Award to Alison McFadden, Managing Director, Continu showed real confidence when they expanded into the exciting Battery Storage market but en-

sured that it continued to focus on the core business supplying vital UPS systems to keep cus-

tomers in business during Covid. A great example of thinking outside the box.”

Delivering results in challenging times

IT Project Team of the Year Randox Laboratories

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Mark Owens, Managing Director of Civica, presents the IT Project Team of the Year Award to Stephen McFadden, IT Service Desk Manager, Randox Laboratories

he Randox team’s development of a full endto-end Covid testing process, inclusive of platforms relating to logistics, registration, accessioning, and results reporting, for tens of thousands of daily tests for the UK Government’s National Covid Testing Programme, as well as testing for safe travel, has directly contributed to the UK’s response to Covid-19.

The development of platforms such as an online sample kit registration portal, intelligent robotics automation, and an informatic lab workflow management system, all designed and developed entirely in-house, show-

“The project team evidently utilised every available asset and delivered results, in challenging conditions, that both elevate Northern Ireland as an area of excellence and in tandem provided a significant social impact across the UK and beyond.” cases the knowledge, expertise, responsiveness and overall capa-

bility within Randox IT. The Randox IT team have, from the offset of the pandemic, led the way in developing and advising on the systems required for nationwide testing, and as such have played a critical role in the fight against COVID-19.

The judges said: “A unanimous decision awarded Randox this year’s IT Project team of the year. The Project Team evidently utilised every available asset and delivered results, in challenging conditions, that both elevate Northern Ireland as an area of excellence and in tandem provided a significant social impact across the UK and beyond.”

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Charity excels with rapid online response

Small IT Team of the Year Action Cancer

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ction Cancer is Northern Ireland’s leading, local, cancer charity. Its mission is to save lives and support people by providing detection, prevention, and support services as well as oneto-one services to around 18,000 people annually.

The pandemic hit the charity hard, with income halting and access to users restricted.

The charity was forced to adapt to a new technically advanced world overnight to ensure its services continued.

It attributes this turnaround to its small IT team made up of Hugh Blair and Chris Turley.

The pair sourced computers to move the Action Cancer team to a remote working setup and they seamlessly launched online services for users and staff. The

success of their swift action was evident.

Action Cancer was able to deliver 1,738 virtual sessions to 372 clients from September 2020 to March 2021.

Its virtual/online services are now the preferred choice for many - 47% of its counselling clients, 24% complementary therapy, 87% Pilates and 59% of Step into Action, the charity’s coaching division.

Efficiencies have also increased with the number of people attending appointments up by 20% while people using Action Cancer’s online services from rural areas, such as Fermanagh and Tyrone, doubled.

Speaking about the transition, the judges said: “This organisation established transformative virtual services for clients with

limited IT equipment, significantly reduced revenue and an IT team of two people. In just seven months they delivered 1,738 virtual sessions to 372 clients and received outstanding customer feedback.”

Action Cancer’s Arlene McGeown said: “Action Cancer were truly delighted that the work of Hugh Blair and Chris Turley was recognised when they became winners of the Small IT Team category.

“It has been challenging working in the charity sector over the pandemic but Action Cancer’s (very) small IT team were able to source equipment, support the organisation in working from home and most importantly, ensure that clients were able to access cancer prevention and support services online. ”

PHOTOS BY KELVIN BOYES / PRESS EYE.

Robert Chapple, Deputy CISO Analytics Team Manager, Allstate Northern Ireland, presents the Small IT Team of the Year Award to Chris Turley, ICT Support Technician, Action Cancer

‘Strength and ability to perform in a crisis’

IT Team of the Year Randox Laboratories

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Faye Thomas, Chief Commercial Officer at Vyta, presents the IT Team of the Year Award to Stephen Fawl, Chief Information Officer, Randox Laboratories

andox’s team effort in responding to the testing needs during the pandemic, and their continuation of that service, alongside the relevant platforms such as an online sample kit registration portal, intelligent robotics automation, and an informatic lab workflow management system, all designed and developed entirely in-house, showcases the knowledge, expertise, responsiveness and overall capability within Randox IT. Their ability to scale up the project to include multiple sites is also testament of the team’s strength

and ability to over perform even in a crisis.

The judges said: “The Randox IT Team played a critical role in the fight against COVID-19 leading the way in developing and advising on the systems required for national testing.”

Stephen Fawl, chief information officer at Randox, said: “As a world-leading diagnostics company, Randox is largely associated with jobs in science and engineering, and people may not even be aware that we have a dedicated IT resource here within the business. But IT remains such a large

part of what we do here, and we have a team of almost 50 highly skilled IT professionals spanning a broad range of specialisms including information security, operational support, software development and testing, and web design.

“I am proud of the efforts of each and every member of the team, which has transitioned to a 24/7 operation to support the needs of the UK’s testing infrastructure, and delighted that their hard work and contributions have been recognised.

“We are thrilled to have won.”

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‘Willingness to go beyond what’s expected’

Young IT Professional of the Year Johnny Gillespie, Version 1

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ohnny Gillespie is an outstanding innovative young IT professional whose drive and leadership has helped to position Version 1 as the ‘thought leader’ on cloud architecture, specifically with a new major US-based client. Johnny’s technological nous has been instrumental in growing an initial 6-week partnership into a long-term commitment with Version 1,” says the company.

It adds: “Johnny has been the personification of Version 1 Values. Integrity and honesty. He doesn’t just demonstrate these attributes, they are really what makes him tick.

“Moreover, it is his mission to ensure the needs of our client are always front and centre. Com-

bined with this, his mature and thoughtful in-house leadership, mentoring and coaching of team members more senior than he, in terms of years and experience, is truly outstanding.”

The young IT professional has garnered praise within Version 1 but also from clients.

Principal software engineer Alejandro Navarro of Fulleda said: “Johnny has always been a talented person. Since I met him on his placement year where I served somewhat a role of mentor on earlier engagements he’s shown drive, willingness to go beyond the set mark, and an uncanny ability to learn as fast a needed to catch up with the requirements.

“He’s always been up to the task, and this last engagement

hasn’t shown otherwise, defining himself as a leader and capable of driving meaningful change to clients and fellow colleagues.”

The judges said: “In a very competitive category Johnny’s commitment, initiative and leadership was exemplary.”

Johnny added: “I feel privileged and honoured to have received the Young IT Professional of the Year award for 2021.

“I couldn’t quite believe it when it was my name that was read out. I have my team in Version 1 that I work alongside on a daily basis, and all my colleagues across the organisation to thank for putting me forward for it.

“The IT industry in Northern Ireland is packed full of some amazing talent, and I am excited for the years that lie ahead.”

PHOTOS BY KELVIN BOYES / PRESS EYE.

Highly Commended: Tanya Matthews, Version 1

Noel Brady, Strategic Advisor, APCOA Parking (UK) Ltd, presents the Young IT Professional of the Year Award to Johnny Gillespie, Version 1

A winning formula for learning in Covid

Covid Response Codec

C Highly Commended: Randox Laboratories Civica

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Noel Brady, Managing Director, Consult NB1 Ltd presents the Best Covid Response Award to Ian Purdy, Deputy Director and Head of Digital Transformation, Queen’s University

odec won the Covid Response category for its work with Queen’s University Belfast during lockdown.

The company supported the educational institution’s move to online teaching and collaborating including implementing an online portal for COVID campus contact tracing, a mobile application for asymptomatic test booking of staff and students and Azure Windows Virtual Desktop which delivers secure access to over 130 specialised applications for students.

The University COVID Response Team (UCRT) used the systems to identify and support covid cases and trace other connections while real time dashboards allowed QUB to keep

schools, senior managers and the PHA fully informed of the number of cases (including those with symptoms, positive test results and numbers required to self-isolate).

Meanwhile using Azure Windows Virtual Desktop, Queen’s University facilitated remote access to learning for over 1,500 users initially.

Students could use any device they have access to use the full processing power of the university’s systems remotely.

The net result for the university’s IT department was that instead of having to provide technical support to a potentially enormous range of platforms and devices, it could work with a vastly simplified system.

The company said: “Our col-

laboration has enabled QUB to exploit the new opportunities that digital disruption provides.

Our joint vision of creating a culture of continual improvement helped QUB to move at pace and realise benefits quickly, at the most challenging time for students and staff. “ The judges praised the team for responding to the needs of a treasured educational institution: “Codec demonstrated speed, technical ability and team working to react very successfully to the needs of their client Queens University to help prevent the spread of Covid 19 among staff, students and visitors to the University. Partnership and collaboration were the key elements of success in this project.”

Tuesday November 16 2021

BELFAST TELEGRAPH IT AWARDS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH TELEFÓNICA TECH IRELAND

11

Responding to greater travel requirements

Best Use of Cloud Services George Best Belfast City Airport

W

hen the pandemic hit, George Best Belfast City Airport came to a standstill in what was its most testing period to date.

With foresight for pent-up demand, the airport continued to work behind the scenes to hone its offering and ramp up its IT serving in line with a more digitally focussed world.

“We knew that demand for air travel would return but that there would be greater expectation from travellers for a swift transition through the airport and for

more flexible, efficient, and convenient services. We also realised there would be greater emphasis from industry bodies on what procedures airports would be putting in place to manage passenger flow and safety compliance,” it said.

With that in mind, it developed a “comprehensive cloud-based solution that would not only support the above but enable us to become a truly data-driven organisation.”

The airport partnered with Civicia, a global IT-based organisation specialising in digital solutions, software applications and

managed services, to build an IoT cloud-based solution that would provide detailed passenger journey views, capture and interpret data, improve and automate security clearance processes, use data to identify and classify baggage and support the monetisation of complementary services for business and commercial partners among other things.

The result is a better understanding of customers and a data-driven organisation that will future proof operations.

The judges said: “In the very difficult circumstances presented

Highly Commended: Western Health and Social Care Trust

by Covid 19 and the impact on the Air Travel industry BCGBA acted quickly in collaboration with Civica to develop cloud-based systems that would deal with customer requirements and exceed their expectations.”

Brian Roche, director of IT at BCA, said: “We are thrilled to have

PHOTOS BY KELVIN BOYES / PRESS EYE.

Justin Hillis, Managed Services Consultant and Member of the Version1 Shadow Board, presents the Best Use of Cloud Services Award to Brian Roche, director of IT, George Best Belfast City Airport

picked up the ‘Best Use of Cloud Services’ accolade at this year’s Belfast Telegraph IT Awards. It is not only testament to the forward-thinking ethos, agility, and commitment of the airport’s IT department but also to the innate ability of our business partner Civica to deliver on the airport’s

vision for technology.

“Civica’s SenseAI platform will provide Belfast City Airport with valuable, real-time insights that we can harness to become a truly data-driven organisation and continue in our pursuits to continuously exceed the expectation of our passengers.”

A night of celebration for tech’s finest Ursula Burns, AKA The Dangerous Harpist, entertains at the IT Awards

Cooneen by Design staff including Aaron Quinn (right), highly commened in IT Professional category

PHOTOS BY KELVIN BOYES / PRESS EYE.

Nathan Wardlow, Stephen Currie, Jonathan Sinclair, Jonny Donnell and Chris Lyle

Staff from Rapid 7 enjoyed their evening at the IT Awards

Christopher and Jennifer Neff

David Martin, Carly Rodgers, Brian Roache, Carla Milne, Alan Scott and Paul Courtney