Award Winners and Runners-up from 2023

HCLTech

Daisy Corporate Services

Royal Holloway University London (RHUL) is one of the University of London's 17 member institutions, founded in 1886 to promote the education of women. Today, it ranks among the top 25 universities in the UK, with nearly 12,000 students and staff spread across the two main campuses in central London and Egham, Surrey. RHUL's legacy infrastructure sat at the heart of its IT environment, delivering critical data services to thousands of staff and students from across its data centres. Over a long period of time, RHUL invested in various platforms that could not fully realise their potential due to legacy workloads and inherent migration challenges. Generations of hardware, with various legacy dependencies attributed to them, meant that maintaining efficient day-to-day support and management was more difficult than it had to be. This was impacting RHUL's ability to easily develop and scale to meet its future academic needs. With a significant data centre footprint and increasing awareness of its energy usage, regaining control of its infrastructure's energy consumption was another growing concern. As a trusted advisor to RHUL with a more than twenty-year relationship, Daisy engaged with the RHUL leadership team to perform a series of consultative discovery and assessment programmes. The outcomes from this work allowed Daisy to gain a clear understanding of RHUL's business priorities and technical requirements: - Simplify - Reduce the complexity of running multiple infrastructure generations and rationalise them to a single common platform. - High availability - Provide a single resilient data centre design, stretched across each physical campus, providing workload mobility and cross-site load balancing. - Remediation of technical debt - Introduce an environment where the service provider ensures the ecosystem remains well maintained, freeing up essential RHUL resources to 'keep the lights on'. - Fixed project migration - Contracting to an outcome-based solution with a fixed price to cover all scoped professional services. - ROI - based on the existing platform, the current monthly running costs, including overhead for maintenance, would match the approximate monthly cost of a brand new 'Infrastructure-as-a-Service'. - Environmental - Provide significant carbon footprint savings and provide value back for the disposal and trade in of legacy equipment. To meet RHUL's requirements, Daisy implemented a new virtual infrastructure solution based on HPE dHCI technology: HPE ProLiant DL Servers and HPE Nimble Storage. This extensive technology refresh was developed under a HPE GreenLake programme, presenting a consumption model that was delivered as-a-service. RHUL is the first UK educational institution to implement HPE GreenLake. To remediate all technical debt, the removal of legacy equipment and services was consolidated to form a single 'right sized' ecosystem by design. This utilised the capabilities of HPE dHCI, which is a highly scalable platform that supports growing compute and storage workloads. The solution also offers an improved level of resiliency, with 99.9999% availability. It uses HPE Peer Persistence to provide synchronous storage replication and VMware Metro Cluster to ensure that a single cluster is load balanced between each data centre. Installation services were provided by HPE to provide the immediate landing zone, whilst Daisy developed and implemented the cloud transformation and migration programme to migrate four separate virtual environments across two independent hypervisor technologies. RHUL has now been able to replace its legacy infrastructure with a state-of-the-art hybrid cloud platform. This shift is almost cost-neutral when compared to what RHUL would have spent in maintenance and power usage supporting its old environment. In fact, RHUL was able to forecast a saving of 5% from initiating the project, contrasted to what it would have spent by doing nothing. The hybrid solution not only solved RHUL's current infrastructure headaches but has also addressed many other business priorities - including support, management, education, cost, and sustainability. - Simplicity - A single, modern, easy-to-manage platform with enterprise levels of resiliency, availability, intelligence, proactive reporting, management, and automation. - Flexibility - 20% variable infrastructure that provides immediate support for seasonal demands that can be consumed on a daily pay-per-use basis. - Improved environmental impact - The new solution successfully reduced RHUL's data centre footprint by 75%, reduced the number of VMWare sockets by 85% and achieved energy savings of over 72%. - Streamlined management - Future management tasks are made painless with the help of improved analytics, support from an 'as-a-service' Service Delivery Team and well-trained staff. - Sustainability - Legacy equipment has been fully decommissioned, sanitised, and disposed of using ISO accredited processes with all residual value being paid back to RHUL. - Budget predictability - By contracting an outcome with guaranteed pricing and fixed pricing bands for the length of the contact, RHUL's budgeting has been simplified. Overall, HPE GreenLake has delivered immediate commercial benefits to RHUL and a return on investment in months rather than years. With no upfront charges and well-defined costs, this 'as-a-service' model has enabled RHUL to futureproof its infrastructure and better meet seasonal demand. Commenting on the success of the project, Zoe Faiz, Assistant IT Director at Royal Holloway University of London, said: 'A modern, world-class university needs server infrastructure future-proofed for the cloud age. We're delighted to have upgraded a critical part of our IT environment so seamlessly with Daisy and HPE. The predicted power and software licensing savings will keep us leaner and greener, and better able to support our staff and students.'

GFI Software

GFI Software, the global leader in software solutions for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), have launched its newest product , GFI AppManager™. This innovative cloud-based platform provides GFI’s global partner network of MSPs and resellers with a revolutionary “single-pane-of-glass” solution to easily manage communications, security, and networks, all from one unified dashboard. For the first time, MSPs can now use one interface to manage all their accounts and products streamlining their management of their customers’ solutions.

With GFI AppManager, fleet management is simplified and streamlined, covering a deep breadth of IT capabilities and SMB needs. MSPs can instantly push configurations to any and all appliances under management, making it easy to administer the array of installed solutions across multiple locations. GFI AppManager also offers real-time monitoring and alerting, allowing MSPs to be notified about failures or impending failures, ensuring they can take immediate action to resolve any issues. In addition, GFI AppManager provides coverage for IT solutions ranging from mail servers to firewalls to endpoint security, and is fully extensible through a simple API to add unlimited support for other solutions.

With over 20 years providing award-winning IT solutions for SMBs, GFI uniquely understands the importance of a comprehensive IT management solution for MSPs,” said Eric Vaughan, CEO, GFI Software. “The unveiling of GFI AppManager represents a major milestone in our commitment to providing our partners with cutting-edge technology and the ability to impact our partners and their end users\' success in managing their critical IT systems. AppManager represents a truly innovative, end-to-end unified and extensible platform that organizations can rely on to streamline their IT operations, proactively address security risks, and maintain compliance with industry standards.”

GFI AppManager is designed to help partners enable their end users to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to security. The platform offers proactive monitoring of vulnerabilities and threats across users, networks, and applications, helping IT teams to avert potential security breaches. With GFI AppManager’s RADAR™ feature, native threat intelligence and response capabilities are automated by machine learning, so IT teams can quickly respond to any potential threats, minimizing risk to an organization\'s critical systems and data.

Additionally, GFI AppManager helps organizations stay compliant with important regulations such as GDPR, NIS2, and ISO27001. The GFI AppManager solution provides comprehensive reporting and gap analysis capabilities, allowing IT teams to quickly identify areas where they may be non-compliant and take the necessary steps to remedy the situation.

Data Security/Compliance Project of the Year

Sponsored by

WINNER

Data Dynamics

Business Need
Data consolidation across multiple locations globally
Identification of sensitive information from the millions of files spread across the globe
Ensure data protection for sensitive data identified and plan remediation for enhanced data compliance and governance

RUNNER UP

A10 Networks.

Turkey’s leading integrated telecommunication operator, Türk Telekom, has deployed A10 Thunder TPS® from A10 Networks to deliver DDoS protection services for its business customers. The service is protecting critical infrastructure from DDoS attacks, enhancing service access reliability for subscribers using on-premises DDoS protection solution from A10 Networks.

As one of the first ISPs to invest in cyber security service offerings in Türkiye, Türk Telekom aims to protect its business customers with a full range of service options. With its hybrid protection model in managing DDoS services, Türk Telekom is the only service provider in Türkiye that provides backbone-level protection against application-layer attacks with its DDoS 7 services.

In today’s world, where the number of DDoS attacks rise continually at a significant rate, Türk Telekom started offering an advanced DDoS protection solution, capable of separating legitimate traffic from illegitimate, to provide consistent and reliable service availability for customers. With this solution, the company achieved enhanced protection of its own network backbone, automation and high capacity.

“As a leading cyber security service provider in Türkiye, we understand our customer’s needs and improve our product portfolio continuously to ensure strong security and resilient infrastructure with our unique managed security experience,” says Zeynep Özden, Türk Telekom marketing and customer experience assistant general manager.

“A10’s superior detection and mitigation capabilities supporting a DDoS scrubbing service, in addition to high performance and scalability, is very attractive to Türk Telekom. Türk Telekom is protecting its customers’ critical infrastructure from cyber security threats and maintaining service availability with a resilient infrastructure built on A10 technology,” said Dhrupad Trivedi, president and CEO of A10 Networks.

Digital Transformation Project of the Year

Sponsored by

WINNER

Daisy Corporate Services

Digital Transformation has become an imperative for organisations to stay relevant in today's economy and Daisy Corporate Services has been helping many of them on this journey. This raises the key question: What makes one transformation project stand out above the rest?

There's the scope of course, as well as evidence of improved efficiencies and other tangible benefits - but how about economic impact outside of their organisation? I think so. That's why I'm nominating Daisy's work with logistics company Culina group as Digital Transformation Project of the Year.

If it wasn't clear already, lockdown heavily emphasised the importance of logistics companies in our everyday lives. From stocking our supermarkets, to delivering essential medicines and everything in between, we rely on companies like Culina Group to act as a critical link in the UK supply chain, ensuring the flow of goods. That's why it benefits us all for them to be at the top of their game - leveraging digital technologies to play that role efficiently, sustainably and flexibly.

That's where Daisy comes in. Culina wanted to reduce costs to improve the stability of their business, allowing their staff to do more with less effort. Naturally, they faced a number of challenges in order to achieve their digital transformation goals, and they brought us on board to overcome them:

- Part of their transformation involved setting the foundation for a move to cloud and Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions. The first brick in this foundation involved improving their internet performance and that would involve introducing a more robust and reliable network. We did this by transitioning them to SD-WAN, providing direct internet access, traffic prioritisation, performance monitoring, active/active redundancy, security enhancements and by conducting capacity planning to ensure the network remains performant even as usage grows.

- They wanted to enable remote working, reducing the need to send teams to various sites in response to issues and requests. The goal here was to improve operational efficiencies, improve work-life balance and reduce costs. In this case, this involved implementing SD-WAN technology, providing reliable direct internet access, offering secure connectivity options, monitoring and prioritising performance, reducing network outages and delivering training and support services.

- Scalability and simplification of their existing network was another challenge. As a company focusing on growth, they wanted something that would seamlessly onboard new sites and acquisitions. The new SD-WAN offers centralised control and visibility. Instead of manually configuring each new site, templates can now be applied, ensuring consistency and reducing the effort required for site setup. Zero-touch provisioning is a feature of SD-WAN that allows new network devices to be automatically configured and added to the network without manual intervention. This feature streamlines the onboarding process for new sites and acquisitions.

- They also wanted to consolidate the number of suppliers they use, while also saving time and effort by dealing with a single point of contact.

- Finally, a key challenge was around workload. They needed a simplified environment that would free up the network team's time and capacity and in turn improve staff retention. Some of the things we've mentioned previously impact on this, but to avoid repetition, we also provided training and support, as well as simplifying their environment overall, including providing them with a single user-friendly interface for configuring, monitoring, and troubleshooting the entire network.

So those where the challenges, but what was innovative about the solution? Quite a few things in fact - particularly that the solution was a holistic transformation, which recognised that digital transformation encompasses more than technology. It also addressed employee wellbeing, cost savings and sustainability, highlighting the multifaceted nature of transformation.

The solution we offered was innovative in it's use of state-of-the-art networking technologies, focusing on a comprehensive transformation that prioritises sustainability, resilience and enables implementation of cloud-based procurement strategies now and in the future.

Core to the transformation was implementation of SD-WAN. The transition from their traditional Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) was a groundbreaking move that delivered enhanced flexibility, cost-efficiency, and network management capabilities, showcasing a commitment to embracing innovative technology solutions. This also gave Culina bolstered network resilience, minimising and mitigating potential downtime - something which is crucial in the logistics industry.

Beyond the technical delivery, the project's focus on reducing Culina's carbon footprint aligned with global sustainability goals. It demonstrated innovation in addressing social responsibility and long-term sustainability through cloud-based solutions.

However, as much as I'm sure we all agree on the importance of increased flexibility, wellbeing and simplicity, it's hard to measure some of these empirically, we have number of measurable benefits Culina has seen since the implementation, however due to confidentiality we are unable to publish that information on this public website. These did include:

They have since seen substantial cost reductions, such as both immediate and ongoing. One immediate saving was on phone lines. They also saw savings from optimising the network infrastructure and transitioning to SD-WAN, which is typically more cost-efficient compared to traditional MPLS setups. Our SD-WAN's efficient routing and management of network traffic eliminated the need for expensive dedicated connections for every site.

By enabling remote working, they also reduced travel costs.

The transition to Cloud and Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions allowed Culina Group to minimise CAPEX related to hardware replacement.

As an added bonus, the project's focus on sustainability and reduced carbon footprint indirectly leads to potential long-term cost savings. By adopting eco-friendly practices and reducing the need for frequent hardware replacements, Culina Group aligns with environmental objectives and is likely to benefit from reduced environmental compliance costs in the future.

Beyond cost savings, Culina also saw improved network performance, allowing them to expedite adoption of cloud and SaaS solutions. Daisy is even offering sustainable recycling and repurposing for their traditional equipment, ensuring electronic waste is dealt with in an eco-friendly way through our WEEE recycling centres.

Overall, the collaboration between Daisy Corporate Services and Culina Group epitomises the essence of digital transformation excellence. It addresses critical challenges, embraces innovation, and delivers tangible benefits that enhance operational efficiency and sustainability.

Chris London, Head of Sales Specialists at Daisy Corporate Services said 'This new project will see us roll out SD-WAN across the Culina Group that focuses on security, with enhanced application control and performance. A flexible Enterprise Agreement will allow Culina Group to remain agile and expand critical infrastructure at pace. The new network supports the cloud first strategy, consolidates suppliers, and provides them with a strong foundation for future growth.'

RUNNER UP

HCLTech

Simplifying XLA pathways for a Canadian energy company
Enabled Co-existence of CSAT and View on Enterprise User Experience
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Summary
The customer is a global integrated energy company. It specializes in the extraction and production of energy from a mix of sources, ranging from oil sands to renewable fuels. The customer was recently struggling with continuous service line fluctuation and witnessing challenges like a very low response rate, inability to strategize IT initiatives due to lack of visibility on the Voice of Employees, difficulty in reaching out to a multilingual user base, apprehensions around coexistence of two different survey models and Chaos of rollout under multi GSI model. There was absolute non-availability of User Experience data due to poor survey response rates and the absence of an Experience Management platform. Moreover, the lack of visibility on user experience data, prevented the identification of bottlenecks, leading to the formation of remedial actions and initiatives based on non-standard parameters. With multi GSI model, it was difficult to measure the respective performances, thus ending up with an unclear roadmap to improve the happiness of the employees and reduce productivity losses from the environment.
HCLTech transformed and supported the end-user experience journey in the customer environment by leveraging eSense (Digital Experience Management Platform) to Measure and Manage Perceptions of Users with Digital Surveys. The introduction of the solution has enabled the survey base to be increased to 100 percent and digital surveys are now being sent on 100% of resolved Incident and Request tickets, leveraging the existing ITSM platform.
The Challenge
• The implementation of eSense was planned to be taken up in the Service Transition phase of the client environment. As is the general norm during such a phase, response rates and satisfaction scores were very low. Therefore, the biggest risk here was to introduce a new user-experience program and also ensure that the critical satisfaction SLAs are met.
• The baselining process of the enterprise had to be carried out from scratch as the previous system had no visibility of the different personas of the end-users.
• A multilingual user base of 30,000 was a prominent challenge which was demanding similar support services in French along with English.
• The Multi GSI (Global System Integrator) model was creating chaos and proving to be ineffective in having a unified end-user experience program across all GSIs.

objectives
• To deliver 90% on an NPS-based survey scoring system. This was a competitive target to achieve along with improvement in both the quantity and quality of survey responses.
• To ensure the Co-existence of CSAT as a contractual obligation with a unified view of End-user experience management within the enterprise.
• To Simplify pathways to XLAs with a variety of end-user experience indicators (XI’s).
• To help identify employee personas at the enterprise level and accordingly adapt to data-driven improvement initiatives to effectively increase the happiness score while reducing user productivity loss.

Solution
• HCLTech implemented its unique digital experience management solution eSense, which is based on the Net Promoter Score (NPS) system that is used to arrive at the \'Happiness Score\' from the digital surveys triggered through the respective ITSM integration. Another critical component of the solution is the Experience Management Platform (XMP) Dashboard that enables real-time analysis of the collected data.
• HCLTech eSense helped customer identify and baseline the \'lost work time\' and \'happiness score\' to estimate their IT experience. baselining helps in understanding the current/existing scenario of the customer environment and defining where we want to be in the future (short/long term), in terms of the performance parameter of the IT department.
• The XLA foundation in eSense has been laid out based on four factors, namely, the 10-point-based Survey Scale, the Happiness Score, the Estimated Lost Time and the Happiness Benchmarks.
Impacts
• Enterprise survey response rates doubled in 2-3 months duration of time and HCLTech survey response rates increased by 200% for the same duration.
• HCLTech satisfaction scores outperformed the set target of 90%.
• HCLTech delivered 82 as the Happiness Score vs. the industry benchmark of 77 and 2hr 11mins of estimated lost time vs. the industry baseline of 3hr 09mins.
• With HCLTech service implementation expertise, we were able to ensure a reduction of 228 Kgs of carbon footprint emission in one year and we are proud to have achieved this sustainability benchmark.
• 50% (approx.) of the enterprise users are classified into four personas, namely - Doer, Prioritizers, Triers and Supported basis the IT usage and IT knowledge, as mapped from the survey questionnaire. With this data, we are now able to propose planned investments around Self-help tools/services as Doers are the highest in the enterprise. Doers, who try to solve problems themselves can effectively utilize self-help and self-service tools. Hence, justified and mapped campaigns/initiatives could be programmed as per the specific parameters at play in the environment.

Digital TransformationCompany of the Year

WINNER

CSL Group

For over 25 years, CSL has been the leading European provider of Critical Connectivity. Today, they have over 2.5 million connections supporting business and mission-critical IoT applications across Europe. Having pioneered the transition from wired to wireless connectivity in the security and health sectors, CSL has a unique heritage and track record in the delivery of Critical Connectivity. They now play a crucial role in the Critical National Infrastructure Ecosystem and are taking their capabilities into the broader IoT market. Having partnered with all European Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), their solutions have been deployed at scale in markets including critical national infrastructure, automotive and retail.

They know that business and mission-critical end users depend on solutions that provide the highest levels of security and reliability. That is why their expert team constantly innovates to provide the most resilient and cyber-secure connectivity solutions on the market. 

CSL has recently won several new contracts with major utility and retail companies. They are running a digital transformation programme with the UK's largest water and wastewater company, transforming over 2,000 remote sites into fully connected, digital operations. All of which can capture and process data for the 2.6 billion litres of drinking water, and 4.4 billion litres of wastewater they process daily.

In addition, CSL was chosen to deliver a UK-wide retail transformation by a leading multinational lottery operator that will enable small to medium-sized retailers to benefit from the digitalisation of their stores and provide Critical Connectivity to power lottery terminals in major retail outlets.

https://www.csl-group.com/uk/news/vodafone-chooses-csl-as-uk-national-lottery-project-partner-.html

https://www.csl-group.com/uk/blog/csl-experts-in-critical-connectivity.html

RUNNER UP

Iceotope Technologies Limited

Iceotope is reimagining data center cooling from the cloud to the edge. Using industry standard form factors, Iceotope's Precision Liquid Cooling solutions offer extreme cooling performance, simplified maintenance, and significant cost reductions. We prioritize simplicity and practicality to craft innovative responses to real-world challenges. The results are impactful, sustainable solutions redefining data center cooling.

Excellence in Service Award

Sponsored by

WINNER

Hyve Managed Hosting

At Hyve Managed Hosting, we host and deliver core IT services, becoming an extension of our customers’ businesses, so that they can focus on the tasks that matter. Headquartered in Brighton, UK, Hyve offers managed enterprise, private and hybrid cloud solutions, dedicated servers and colocation services in multiple data centres across EMEA and worldwide.

A truly global operation

We’ve been operating in the IT services and solutions market in the UK for over 20 years, and have been expanding across the EMEA region for the last 10 years. We’ve grown in tandem with the rapid rise in demand for global IT hosting services and support, with a presence in data centres across Singapore, Dublin, Madrid, Zurich, Geneva and Tokyo. Global by nature, thanks to our partnership with Equinix, we are able to deploy services worldwide, which means that we can provide our best-in-class customer service and support to customers across EMEA and all over the world. Not only are we able to offer customers the cost advantages of dealing with a single provider in multiple territories, but they’ll also have the major boost of an internationally co-ordinated approach to strategy, service and support.

More recently, we opened our European headquarters in Germany in 2021, giving us a base to serve customers across Europe more effectively, while retaining the personalised approach to customer service that we’ve been providing since day one.

Activities across EMEA have been complemented by expansion in the US, where our core values and small team ethos has been recognised in a US market where personalised customer service is key. This has been reflected in rapid growth in the region.

Customer service as our key differentiator

Our customer service has always been our key differentiator. If we were to have any chance of being seen in the vast crowd of competitors, we had to go beyond standard product offerings and service quality to differentiate ourselves somehow. Consequently, we focused on going the extra mile to support our customers.

Bespoke by nature, all our projects and deployments are delivered with service front of mind as we build specific solutions based on customers requirements. While our performance, pricing, and infrastructure features attract customers, it’s the exceptional customer support that makes them want to stay.

To support our claim to quality service, we have a 4.9 rating on Trustpilot and many excellent reviews (see attached) that highlight our extra-mile support. We also have a 96 Net Promoter Score (NPS), which measures the loyalty of customers to a company.

Supporting the National Television Awards

One example of a project that highlights this first-class, personalised service and support is in working with the National Television Awards, hosting their website to handle the increased traffic during peak voting times. We have fine-tuned a bespoke, load-balanced cloud solution for NTAs partner Indigo Television, dynamically scaling resources during multiple rounds of online public voting running up to the ceremony.

As a huge number of votes are cast online during two stages leading up to the ceremony, ensuring both reliability and scalability of the NTAs website during these periods is critical. We hosted two virtual servers for the NTAs on our managed enterprise cloud platform and, through understanding the customer’s specific needs and remaining in constant communication, upgraded cloud resources for their website on demand over the summer, to ensure everyone who wants to vote can, and that it remains a fair and consistent process.

This year, the server resources have been increased by 24 times their usual levels within the two voting windows to accommodate the increased heavy traffic from the members of the British public participating in the votes. Resources are then dialled back to usual levels (providing traffic has subsided again too) in between voting stages in order to cut out unnecessary resources from the cloud solution and lower costs for the customer.

As well as creating a bespoke, scalable cloud solution for the NTAs in order to guarantee 100% uptime, Hyve’s support team is on hand to continuously monitor the servers even after resources have been increased to their new levels. This team sets alert thresholds for the servers and if the NTAs website experiences unprecedented levels of traffic, Hyve can proactively increase resources again. The ability to scale cloud resources dynamically on virtual servers also helps streamline the voting period, as nothing new needs to be introduced beyond their existing hardware, meaning they don’t need new logins or IPs when voting commences.

“We are running a high-profile event where every member of the British public has the chance to vote for the best of the nation’s TV,” said Kim Turberville, Executive Producer at the National Television Awards.

“It’s essential that everyone who wants to vote is able to, so it’s all hands on deck in the lead up to the ceremony. Having Hyve available 24/7 as an extension of our team gives us peace of mind that one of the most important facets of the whole process is going to run without a hitch, and we stick with them year in year out because they deliver a cloud solution that works for us during voting without having to pay for resources we don’t need the rest of the year.”

There are three main aspects to our personalised customer service approach:

Extra mile support culture -

Hyve Managed Hosting offers non-tiered personal service and support through small teams that work with customers one-to-one. Instead of being passed around multiple support tiers with anonymous engineers, our customers have a personal Account Manager and a team of technical engineers to ensure their solutions operate effectively and at full capacity 24/7.

This means that customers never need to deal with automated call centres, scripted replies, or engineers who don’t have the technical knowledge about how our services work. Instead, they talk to qualified Hyve staff.
“The quality of support provided by Hyve has always been particularly impressive,’ said Rafiq, IT Manager at Queen Victoria Hospital, NHS.

I have dedicated account managers who I know and can call if I have questions or any problems. Their responsiveness – even outside of normal working hours is of great benefit.”

Best of breed hosting architecture, industry leading hardware SLA -

Hyve utilises only the very best hardware and software from the world’s leading manufacturers including VMware, HPE, Juniper, and Cisco. We have certified engineers who help plan, migrate, optimise, and manage a platform to perfectly match customer requirements.

Our solutions are also resilient, guaranteeing 100% network and power uptime. Where most hosting companies offer between 1–4-hour hardware replacement SLA as standard, we guarantee an industry-leading 20-minute “rapid replacement” hardware SLA.

Hyve’s helpdesk system is very efficient,’ Rafiq continues. ‘Front line contacts are technical experts and understand us as a customer and the technology we are using. I deal with lots of technology suppliers from many different businesses and Hyve are consistently strong performers – they have a great ‘can do’ approach.

Excellent value for money -

Support comes in many forms, and we consider working with our clients to tailor our solutions to their operations as proactive support. By optimising resource spending and cost savings based on customer needs, we can provide purpose-built infrastructure for very specific requirements at a far lower cost than, for example, paying-as-you-go public cloud.

We always try our best to become an extension of our customer’s team and support their operation from start to finish. Here are some examples of how we’ve supported our customers with their IT infrastructure to ensure maximum performance.

Becky Bone, Website Editor at RSPCA said:

“We’ve been using Hyve for over a year now for a wide range of websites, all with different requirements and issues, and we’ve always found Hyve amazingly fast to respond, incredibly helpful, proactive and enthusiastic, and they’re always willing and able to offer far more than their contract officially allows! And did we mention how fast they are?”

Thanks for considering Hyve for the Excellence in Service award, we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Hyve Managed Hosting

RUNNER UP

on365

On365 is one of the UK’s leading providers of resilient and energy efficient critical physical infrastructure and utility services, working from the desktop to the server room to the data centre. Founded in 1984 its business was predominately around UPS and secure power solutions, and it wasn’t until the turn of the century when they moved into the market for critical IT and Data Centres. Their first clients in this space included the likes of Harrods, focusing on UPS and cooling solutions. Following on from Schneider Electric’s acquisition of APC in 2008 and customer demand increasing exponentially, their business has grown into a market leader for data centre and uninterruptible power systems.

As one of Schneider Electric’s key UK service partners to date, and the country’s only ‘dual partner’, where on365 achieved ‘Elite Partner’ and \'EcoXpert Power Services Partner’ status, the company has access to the people, the resources and relationships to meet the needs of large facilities customers, including major hospitals, life sciences hubs and universities.

It is a partnership which has enabled on365 to service their clients in several unique ways:

• Taking a holistic view: Being recognised as a specialist in both secure power and power infrastructure expands the on365s offering, a true USP being the first Schneider Electric partner who can take this overarching view.

• Increased efficiency: Using on365s dual-partner capabilities also benefits the organisation’s customers in terms of efficiency - dealing with fewer people and building a closer relationship with a single partner.

• The most local global company: Well-rounded partners like on365 help Schneider Electric maintain strong, local customer relationships, whilst using the company’s global resources to explore new areas and innovations.

David Pownall, VP Services at Schneider Electric UK&I, commented on the relationship: “The team at on365 is a stellar example of how combining local expertise with Schneider’s global reach can unlock new efficiencies, innovations and opportunities for partners and their customers. Their goals of providing a truly holistic view of customers’ electrical infrastructure and using this to meet their sustainability and efficiency goals align so closely to those of Schneider Electric. This dual partnership truly shows the rare and unique capabilities on365 possesses, and the ways Schneider Electric can help take our partners to the next level.”

Throughout this year, on365 has worked to deliver excellence in service for multiple customers, including Loughborough University, a world leader in sporting academia. Having begun their relationship with the institution over 12 years ago, on365 worked with Schneider Electric to modernise the universities IT infrastructure with new energy efficient technologies.
They delivered the project in two phases which saw on365 firstly modernise the Haslegrave facility by replacing an outdated raised floor and deploying an EcoStruxure Row Data Center solution – an integral part of Schneider Electric\'s EcoStruxure™ for Data Centers architecture an IoT-enabled system. The deployment of this, integrated row-based data centre solution has significantly improved the overall structure, enabling an efficient data centre design.

During the upgrade, on365 also brought other parts of the infrastructure under the IT department’s control, using new InRow DX (direct expansion) units to deliver improved cooling reliability and provide it with greater ability to cope with unplanned weather events, including heat waves, which had adversely affected its IT and cooling operations in the past.

Use of Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Row Data Center solution also created new space for future IT expansions and extended a ‘no single points of failure’ design throughout the facility. This made the environment more suitable for a new generation of compact and powerful servers, and the solution was replicated at Holywell Park thereafter. Further improvements in resilience and efficiency were also achieved by replacing legacy UPSs with Schneider Electric’s Galaxy VS UPS with lithium-ion batteries, which offers up to 99% energy efficiency, without compromising availability.

“At the foundational level of everything which is data-driven at the university, the Haslegrave and Holywell data centres are the power behind a host of advancements in sports science, and our transition towards a more sustainable operation,” said Mark Newall, IT specialist at the University of Loughborough. “Working with Schneider Electric and on365 has enabled our data centre to become more efficient, effective and resilient.”

Alongside the new EcoStruxure Row Data Centre, which are Pre-engineered, configurable and scalable row solutions encompassing racks, power, cooling and management systems the university upgraded the software used to manage and control its infrastructure. An early adopter of Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Data Center Expert software, Loughborough has now deployed the company’s EcoStruxureTM IT platform, providing it with enhanced levels of visibility and data-driven insights that quickly help to identify and mitigate potential faults before they become critical.

This, in conjunction with a new three-year Schneider Electric services agreement delivered via on365, has given the university 24x7 access to expert maintenance support, reflecting its ongoing commitment to protecting the investments in its new infrastructure, and ensures the equipment is fully operational, reliable, and quality maintained. The university also utilises a large distributed, edge network environment, which has in-excess of sixty APCTM Smart-UPSTM single-phase UPS’s protecting it. As part of its services agreement, all critical power systems are monitored and maintained via EcoStruxure IT management and monitoring data centre infrastructure software providing real-time visibility and helping IT personnel to manage the campus’ network more efficiently.

“As a passionate advocate for sports and academia, I’m proud to see this complex project delivered successfully with our partners at on365,” said Mark Yeeles, VP, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric, UK and Ireland. “Loughborough has a prestigious reputation and prides itself on its students’ experience. Through its EcoStruxure Data Centre Solution, Schneider Electric and on365 will have played an important part in future-proofing its critical infrastructure, helping improve the reliability and sustainability of its IT operations.”

Looking forward, Schneider Electric and on365’s work with Loughborough University has been invaluable and will play a key role in its future IT sustainability strategy. By modernising its infrastructure with the latest in resilient and energy efficient technologies and harnessing the power of both data analytics and predictive maintenance, the university has futureproofed its campus to support new breakthroughs in sporting research.

It is for this reason we believe 0n365 should be awarded SDC’s Excellence in Service Award.

Infrastructure-as-a-Service Innovation of the Year

WINNER

PeaSoup Cloud

We are excited to present PeaSoup, the UK-based cloud provider, as a nominee for the prestigious Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) Innovation of the Year award at the SDC Awards. PeaSoup has truly redefined the landscape of cloud computing through its innovative approach to IaaS, leveraging cutting-edge technology to deliver exceptional performance, sustainability, scalability, security, and cost savings. Find the attached document for further details. Thank you!

RUNNER UP

CITIC Telecom CPC

Introductory video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ywllJ08FX4

What is your product\'s / solution\'s key distinguishing features and/or USP?
The AI-enhanced SD-WAN TrueCONNECT Hybrid gives enterprises unprecedented SD-WAN advantages. It offers an easier and more efficient way to manage and optimize complex modern topologies linking diverse business sites, systems, and mission-critical cloud platforms. AI enhancement is significantly boosting network reliability, crucial to the smooth functioning of a company reliant on mission-critical real-time financial transactions.
TrueCONNECT Hybrid AI-enabled SD-WAN utilizes AI, Big Data analytics and Deep Learning methods to proactively recognize and predict abnormalities, with dynamic event-based probability calculations that identify subtle changes and timings, continuously and automatically. Benefits include application experience-oriented analysis (end-to-end application performance), intelligent early warning and prediction (proactively identify anomalies to continuously maintain excellent network quality) and better business intelligence analysis (by assessing global optimal data flows).
As the first VMware Sovereign Cloud Partner, CITIC Telecom CPC’s AI-enhanced TrueCONNECT Hybrid builds upon the SD-WAN solution’s strong foundations, embraces the benefits of top-security cloud computing services and applications, formed through a partnership with VMWare.

What tangible impact has your product/solution had on the market and your customers?
The AI-enhanced TrueCONNECT Hybrid network transformation achievement was developed internally by CITIC Telecom CPC’s engineers and Information Technology Services & Data Science Team to enhance SD-WAN technology. It offers three areas of significant new values to customers:
The first is application experience-oriented analysis. The AI system dynamically perceives end-to-end application performance, including site responsiveness, link integrity, network paths, data packets, delays, jitter, etc., and intelligently correlates this multi-dimensional matrix of space, time, and applications to discover root causes of network problems and suggest solutions.
The second benefit is intelligent early warning and prediction, using baseline assessment and pattern recognition to proactively identify anomalies, to continuously maintain excellent network quality.
The third enhancement further evolves business intelligence analysis by assessing a global optimal data flow model, actively analyzing the operating status of the business. Using AI techniques, application network traffic and its impact on the customer experience is monitored for optimization potentials.

What are the major differentiators between your product/solution and those of your primary competitors?
The upgraded SD-WAN solution now utilizes various new techniques such as Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), matrix relational operations, identification of relationships and structures between the network and business applications, and other Deep Learning and AI innovations, all to proactively and dynamically achieve behavior prediction and abnormal behavior recognition, offloading the burden from IT staff, while delivering unprecedented SD-WAN status visibility in real-time.
One of the resulting powerful new features is future projection. Customers can set parameters for applications, links, traffic, and services according to expected business changes. The system then shows possible evolution models. For example, prior to deploying a new financial application, IT staff can examine projected operating models such as transmission quality, transmission efficiency, and cost, in order to more accurately plan implementation strategies which maximize business outcomes.
Validated by the excellent market response for the AI-enhanced TrueCONNECT Hybrid, CPC additionally developed JUNO, a hardware device providing even further enhanced network analysis using higher-dimensional algorithm models. JUNO collects detailed data on SD-WAN devices connected on the customer’s LAN, including at the port level, and can initiate access quality tests on the customer’s internal applications systems. These provide additional deep traffic visibility to support the AI-enhanced TrueCONNECT Hybrid with more comprehensive SD-WAN analysis for added prediction ability, giving more specific analyses and finer pinpointing of problematic locations.

Please supply any supportive quotes and/or case study materials to demonstrate the value of this product/solution to your customers/partners.
Direct sales company: “We leveraged the high performance, efficient networking and reduced TCO of AI-driven TrueCONNECT Hybrid to increase bandwidth utilization efficiency by an estimated 30%. TrueCONNECT Hybrid is the foundation of our complicated topology, connecting our distributed points of presence across Europe, including linking up European warehouses, our e-commerce platform, and our cloud-based Warehouse Management systems. The continued enhancement of this critical SD-WAN solution makes it even easier to administer and more instrumental to our success.”
Financial and insurance industry customer:
AI-driven TrueCONNECT Hybrid is ensuring our enterprise operates smoothly and giving us the peace of mind to focus on our business instead of worrying about network performance issues. Our enterprise infrastructure now has much more efficient data transmissions, broadening our connection capabilities and simplifying network management. TrueCONNECT Hybrid is also ensuring excellent business application responsiveness, which is crucial to our field agents who are handling insurance policies and various other paperwork with customers, and they need to have reliable and responsive connections back to our company’s business application and data servers.”
With our industry-specific knowledge and experience gained from our clients confirms that our own developed AI-empowered TrueCONNECT™ Hybrid SD-WAN solution overcomes the challenges of “traditional” SD-WAN, including concerns about quality of service for applications, lack of network visibility and insight into user experiences, securing remote sites from potential security threats, and the limited technical skills and knowledge possessed by an enterprise customer’s own IT staff.

Introductory video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ywllJ08FX4

IT MSP/IT Systems VAR of the Year

Sponsored by

WINNER

HCLTech

HCLTech Digital Transformation Innovation for Frontline Workers

Frontline workers are extremely crucial for any organization, and the pandemic only brought to focus what critical role these employees play in keeping the businesses and serving the communities. They are the backbone of various industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, retail, hospitality, and logistics.

Despite the crucial role they play, frontline workers face many challenges in their day-to-day work, such as lack of proper training, communication barriers, outdated technology, lack of access to important information to inadequate training and support. Hence, equally valid is the fact that despite the criticality, front-line workers\' experience has often been overlooked as companies accelerate the digitalization of products, services, and customer interaction.

The primary reasons are that the traditional workplace transformation approaches have been non-inclusive, siloed and not accommodative of the unique needs of frontline workers who follow different work patterns, and they work in very different kinds of workplaces, stores, factories, rigs, hospitals and so on. Also, it was largely believed only operation tech (OT) and not IT initiatives mattered for these employees.

Challenges Faced by Frontline Workers

Frontline workers are the first point of contact between the company and customers. They interact with customers and perform various tasks that are essential to keep the company running. Frontline workers often face several challenges that can affect their productivity and job satisfaction. Some of the most common challenges faced by frontline workers are:

1. Lack of Proper Training: Frontline workers often lack proper training to perform their duties efficiently. This can result in low productivity, poor customer service, and errors.

2. Communication Barriers: Communication is crucial for frontline workers, especially those who work in multilingual and multicultural environments. Lack of proper communication can lead to misunderstandings, delays, and errors.

3. Inaccessibility to critical information in real-time: In many cases, frontline workers do not have access to the information when required or it\'s not current enough making it obsolete, which can lead to miscommunication and confusion. For example, a healthcare worker may not have access to a patient\'s complete medical history, which can lead to misdiagnosis and improper treatment.

4. Outdated Technology: Frontline workers often use outdated technology, which can slow down their work, decrease productivity, and lead to errors. Also, the technology is too complex for most of the workers, especially in manufacturing where the workers might be less educated.

5. Lack of purpose-built devices: Each job role has a different requirement and provisioning the same type of device to all the users doesn’t help. A user requiring both hands to perform his duty can’t be expected to be able to use the laptop at the same time.

6. Inefficient support: Machinery, devices or handheld computers are business-critical for most industries hence, users must get high-quality and expedited support with devices and software when needed.

How HCLTech helps

To alleviate the challenges faced by frontline workers, HCLTech has come up with a unique innovation that has to address end to the end value chain of a frontline worker experience for many of our customers across the globe. The solution empowers and equips frontline workers with the latest technology contextualized to their unique needs and industry requirements, and efficient communication/collaboration tools, purpose-built devices, frontline support services, and AI, Automation, and NLP-centric platforms to perform their duties efficiently without compromising on safely & security.

Business & Social Impact: Industry Examples

This proposition is already benefiting frontline workers in various industries. Here are some industry examples:

1. Healthcare: Frontline workers in healthcare face several challenges, such as high workload, communication barriers, and outdated technology. HCL’s solution help organizations provide their frontline workers with the latest technology, such as mobile devices and cloud-based solutions, to improve their efficiency and productivity. For example, HCL has helped a leading healthcare organization in the UK to digitize its patient records and provide frontline workers with the latest technology to access patient information on the go within Microsoft Teams itself.

2. Manufacturing: HCL’s solution is helping manufacturing organizations provide their frontline workers with proper training and communication tools to improve their productivity and safety. For example, HCL has helped a leading automotive manufacturer in Europe to provide its workers with Teams based access to various ERP platforms to improve their efficiency and safety. HCL has also provided the customer with specialized rugged devices which can withstand falls and extreme temperatures. HCL is providing user experience quantification and monitoring service and proactively troubleshoots any problem before it happens productivity.

3. Retail: Frontline workers in the retail face several challenges, such as high workload, communication barriers, and outdated technology. HCL has implemented a combination of devices, software and solution that is helping retail organizations provide their frontline workers with tools to enhance the in-store experience of incoming customers while simplifying the collaboration between store employees. Customers are using HCLTech’s platform to capture customer feedback on the Microsoft Teams platform.

Key Benefits:

Eliminate security or productivity issues of a fragmented frontline IT environment.
Provide superior customer experiences when frontline workers have timely and real-time access to information.
Improve engagement and retention of the Frontline workforce with a set of modern digital tools.
Reduce total cost of ownership of devices, solutions and support over 5 years.

The world is starting to see the benefits of our innovation. An inclusive workplace transformation approach is the need of the hour, especially for industries with employees at the forefront of business.

RUNNER UP

NinjaOne

NinjaOne is committed to building high-performance, scalable, secure, and easy-to-use IT management products that monitor, remediate, and enable MSPs and IT professionals to deliver business continuity and drive profitability.

With NinjaOne, businesses can turn IT into a source of growth and innovation.

NinjaOne’s intuitive platform enables a modern IT management experience that supports a distributed and remote workforce, all from the cloud.

By reducing the cost of onboarding and training, proactively identifying and troubleshooting common IT issues, and simplifying complex IT tasks - IT can shift from being just a cost center to being a growth lever for businesses.

IT Operations and Management Innovation of the Year

WINNER

HCLTech

Best digital experience management solution - HCLTech WorkBlaze

Challenges that IT faces today in End User Computing:
• No monitoring of End User Devices from performance and UX perspective
• IT support for end users is usually more reactive than proactive
• Customer Satisfaction Index [CSAT] often fails to capture the true representation of end-user perception of IT
• Difficulty in identifying the adoption of specific services within a specific community
• Inability to accurately measure utilization of technology and inability to directly measure the user experience on the Cloud on a real-time basis

HCLTech Workblaze breaks the vicious cycle in which the IT teams are trapped by providing the real-time analytics, contextual employee feedback, and automated remediation that the organization needs to progress from reactive problem-solving to continuous, proactive improvement.

HCLTech WorkBlaze is a real-time analytics solution for employee experience management that measures, manages and improves the digital employee experience in real time. It continuously monitors business activity metrics, key performance metrics, configurations, and run-time attributes across a broad spectrum of devices in the workplace landscape from the end user perspective. These metrics are collected in real-time, are centrally stored and retained, and powerful analytics solutions are used to mine actionable insights. By correlating technical performance and employee sentiment, organizations can see the true experience of their estate.

It becomes the central experience hub with real-time, actionable insights into every employee – across devices, applications, operating systems, locations, and organizational units that help organizations. HCL Workblaze binds the technical capability with tightly knitted processes and sets up a dedicated “User Experience Office”(UEO) for every customer to transform their workplace from Reactive to Proactive.

Advantages:
• Quantify Digital Experience Score: By uniquely combining technical metrics with employee sentiment data, the Digital Experience Score gives organizations contextual visibility over the key drivers of employees’ routine digital experiences.
• Proactively digital experience: By applying powerful correlations and analytics to detailed event data, WorkBlaze helps you pinpoint the issue, the root cause, whom it’s affecting and how to solve it. It has out-of-the-box automation scripts that remediate issues before they become widespread in the environment.
• Enhanced Engagement: With hyper-targeted employee engagement, WorkBlaze can efficiently gather and correlate sentiment with technical data to discover unreported issues and measure overall experience. WorkBlaze also makes it easy to broadcast messages quickly to large groups and guide employees to solve issues themselves.
WorkBlaze defines success based on employee outcomes, not on IT operational efficiencies. It helps establish experience level agreements(XLA) for organizations that aim to quantify difficult-to-measure, intangible business benefits, such as increased employee satisfaction or enhanced experience.

The Results
WorkBlaze is deployed at Mondelez International which is one of the largest snacking companies in the world. It is deployed as an intelligent PC analytics solution for UX monitoring. (A detailed IDC written case study is attached)
The solution monitors endpoints and proactively identifies anomalies before they cause work disruption. It can also detect problems and issues in the adoption of technology for better end-user experiences. It helps with user profiling and optimizing the workplace stack for different personas.

RUNNER UP

Accenture

We implemented stackstate to deliver 4T datamodel merging topology, telemetry, time and traces in a complex cloud deployment to understand the root cause for the outages and noisy events. The outcome was reduction of incidents from 400 per week to less than 2 per week. This was enabled by inherent capability of stackstate to point out the root cause for the events across complex application clusters. The enablement of self service chatbots also helped to realize the zero tickets target setup by the stakeholder.

MSP/VAR Data Protection Innovation of the Year

Sponsored by

SDC Channel Champion Award

WINNER

Datto - Greg Jones

Greg is a multi award-winning MSP growth-hacking professional and leadership expert who delivers high-energy keynote presentations that challenge audiences to focus on what matters most when it comes to technology and business.

His presentations motivate audiences to think outside the box and challenge the status quo on what can be achieved with the right technology and business processes. Audiences love these pragmatic and practical strategies that can be easily implemented and lead to big business results.

Greg is part of Kaseya's EMEA go-to market senior Leadership Team as Vice President of Business Development. Greg is responsible for expanding and driving the success of Datto's partner program and unique MSP ecosystem across the EMEA region, including community, events, and marketing development funds

Greg's passions extend to the greater MSP community where he serves as Executive Council Leader for CompTIA, as well as acting as an advisor for their Advancing Women in Technology board and their Chair of the UK &amp Ireland Cyber Security committee.

He is also a leader of Datto's Diversity, Equity &amp Inclusion Council and is a Business Ambassador for Alder Hey Children's Charity, whose mission is to support the young patients, families, and the staff at Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust in the UK.

Greg has a strong background in the IT sector and works with MSPs (Managed Service Providers) of all sizes to bring about transformational change, as well as providing assistance in helping them achieve their goals.

Prior to joining Datto in October 2019, Greg was Chief Technology Officer for a large MSP in the Northwest of England. Greg started his management career in IT within the public sector after securing a senior IT management position within the local authority, and later went on to private consultancy for central government.

He was recognised by Channel Futures as one of just 14 top Channel Influencers in EMEA in 2023 for his dedication to the MSP community and was named Cyber Security Leader of the Year at the 2023 IT Europa Channel Awards. He also won the 2023 CompTIA UK&ampI Community Leadership Spotlight Award for demonstrating outstanding leadership and impact to the community.

Greg has become the go-to source on the development of technology and business processes. He is dedicated to driving business results with technology, and he believes we are living in exceptional times with regards to the possibility of what technology and business can achieve.

When Greg is not focused on business, he can be hard to find given his love of travel! You can be sure though that he'll probably be somewhere near a beach or on a mountain.

RUNNER UP

Pax8 - Michael Breeze

As Senior Director of Channel, EMEA at Pax8, Michael drives strategic initiatives to increase its presence within the EMEA IT channel. Michael is responsible for delivering the award-winning Pax8 partner program to new markets, expanding partner enablement programs globally, and building partnerships throughout the IT community. Under his leadership, Pax8 empowers international partners to achieve success with cloud technology through its advanced marketplace of innovative solutions. In his career spanning over 20 years, Michael has helped vendors, MSPs, and IT solution providers gain a competitive advantage and achieve scalable growth. Before Pax8, he spent time at Datto, helping them become an international market leader. Michael holds a B.A. in Business and is a chartered marketer with the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Michael enjoys spending time with his wife and two young children, traveling to festivals in his VW camper, or enjoying his passion for sport. Fun fact about me: When playing cricket I bat left handed and bowl right handed.

Security Vendor of the Year

WINNER

Splashtop Inc

based in Silicon Valley, Splashtop Inc. delivers next-generation remote access and remote support software and services globally, across the Americas, Europe, Asia, Middle East, and Africa. Splashtop's cloud-based, secure, and easily managed solutions serve customers that include everyone from multinational enterprises and academic institutions to small businesses, MSPs, and individuals.

https://www.splashtop.com/products/secure-workspace

https://www.foxpass.com/?utm_source=splashtop.com&utm_medium=referral&menu=1

Social Impact Initiative

WINNER

HCLTech

Enabling Sustainable digital workplaces

The transition from remote work to a hybrid work environment- aided by the deployment of digital platforms and technologies - has opened up a gateway of opportunities for organizational leaders to re-evaluate how business is conducted. Company executives will have to take a long-term strategic view of the issue in front of them by identifying and pursuing sustainability opportunities that hold the highest potential value.
Sustainability has become a top priority among executive leaders and Boards of Directors. A recent study of 301 corporate directors conducted by executive research firm Heidrick & Struggles in association with INSEAD across 43 countries, that was published in the Harvard Business Review, reveals that climate goals are “very important” for 75 percent of the respondents with regards to their organization’s strategic success.

Meanwhile, there’s increased pressure on C-level executives from investors, regulators and other stakeholders to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A recent report from the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control indicates that nations are unlikely to meet agreed-upon goals for CO2 emissions without taking drastic steps.
Taken together, it’s become clear that customers, business partners and investors prefer working with companies that are taking active steps to cut down on their greenhouse gas emissions.
As members of the executive team continue to sharpen their focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG), this is also creating opportunities for technology leaders to identify and execute ways to differentiate their companies through their ESG initiatives. This includes the role that ESG can play in designing the future workplace.
For instance, what do sustainable organizations do differently than others? They strive to balance the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit to achieve long-term success and viability.

Value-creating companies are more likely than others to make sustainability an element of their corporate culture and train employees on how to integrate sustainability into their work.
So, what’s the way forward for enterprises?
The hybrid working model offers an opportunity to reduce carbon consumption by providing employees with the tools and resources they require to be more productive. However, IT leaders must define objectives and set benchmarks to create a sustainable and flexible workplace that benefits employers, employees, and the environment. Embracing advanced technologies such as virtualization, remote collaboration and support, hyper-automation, and UX monitoring also enables organizations to unlock new opportunities to dramatically reduce carbon footprints across the value chain.
Today, 40% of total emissions are coming from offices and commercial buildings. To aim for net-zero offices, enterprises should take positive strides toward low carbon footprint and low energy requirement workplaces that facilitate greener results. Yet these workplaces should be precision-designed to foster productivity, creativity, and collaboration without compromising on user experience.

At HCLTech our ACE framework for sustainable workplace is a 3 step program to get customer organizations started towards building environmentally sustainable workplaces – Assess: identify key contributors towards a shift to a more sustainable workplace Consult on building a roadmap for aligning with the organizational sustainability goals by comprehensively taking into account different workplace technology areas Evolve, where you start executing the initiatives and include employees to contribute towards these initiatives.
We offer a comprehensive consulting service for customers where we do a scientific validation of sustainability initiatives within the enterprise, assess key metrics in an environment that can drive sustainable IT, identify bottlenecks for these initiatives and recommend actionable insights to drive those sustainability initiatives.

The outcome is a sustainable digital workplace that is inclusive of employees/users, workspaces, and devices.
Devices – Carbon-neutral remanufactured devices with enterprise-grade performance
Workspaces – Realtime monitoring of energy consumption and E-waste management
Employees – Persona aligned device profiling & provisioning

There are multiple reasons why enterprises need to be good corporate citizens. For starters, it’s a way of demonstrating the organization’s commitment to the planet’s sustainability. From an environmental sustainability perspective, it can generate heightened brand recognition and improve the company’s reputation among consumers. Being environmentally responsible can also help companies increase customer loyalty, boost sales and accelerate their financial performance.

The economic benefits of an ESG-driven enterprise

One of the most valuable lessons that organizational executives involved in ESG strategies have learned is that sustainability and growth are not necessarily opposing forces that conflict with one another. Research shows that investing in sustainability initiatives provides numerous benefits beyond the environmental impact that’s delivered. Long-term business benefits include:
• Greater loyalty among employees who work for companies that are committed to sustainability (Cone Communications Millennial Employee Study)
• Morale is higher in 55% of companies with strong sustainability programs (Harvard Business Review)
• Employees in green-certified buildings experienced a 26% increase in cognition and 30% fewer sick days on average (Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health)
• Higher profitability - Eighty-eight percent of companies with solid sustainability practices were found to have better operational performance and cash flows than those that don’t (Oxford University)

While ESG is a shared responsibility across the C-suite, it’s clear that the onus is on technology executives to adopt digital solutions that create visibility of real-time GHG emissions and optimally operate energy management systems.

Fortunately, the advent of Green IT and other advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics, automation, and the Internet of Things (IoT) is making it much easier for organizational leaders to monitor, track, streamline and analyze opportunities for improving corporate sustainability efforts. These technologies also help to improve operational efficiency, optimize LEED buildings and construction methods, and decrease resource dependency.

For instance, data generated by the carbon output from data center equipment, office space, factory floors, and other facilities can be analyzed to evaluate changes in operational efficiency and to identify opportunities to optimize operations. Meanwhile, AI and machine learning tools can help identify anomalies in operations that could be exacerbating carbon output along with opportunities for reducing the carbon footprint from workplace technologies, data centers, office spaces, suggested improvements for LED light efficiency, etc.

RUNNER UP

Safe Workplace

Safe Workplace is transforming work culture globally. Our easy-to-use platform empowers employees by providing a confidential, accessible route to report misconduct. Responding to evolving consumer preferences for messaging, we've created a secure space where trust, safety and respect thrive. Endorsed by giants like Amazon, we're proudly redefining HR management, combating underreported misconduct, and nurturing safer, more inclusive work environments

Software-as-a-Service Innovation of the Year

WINNER

iQuila Ltd

In the ever-evolving realm of digital connectivity, the ability to create dependable, secure, and swift connections is paramount. iQuila, standing as a vanguard in the world of Defined Networking, has revolutionized the manner in which devices and global locations interact and connect. At the heart of iQuila's prowess lies our proprietary Virtual Extended Network (VEN) protocol. This state-of-the-art protocol goes beyond the standard boundaries of connectivity. Imagine the stability, speed, and security of a direct physical hardware connection, and then envisage this being replicated to any device or location worldwide. The VEN protocol accomplishes precisely this, forging pathways that recreate the connectivity characteristics of a tangible, direct connection. However, the innovation doesn't stop there. With the majority of modern networks grappling with layer 2 traffic complexities, VEN effortlessly manages this challenge. The protocol deconstructs layer 2 traffic into discrete Ethernet frames, optimizing both speed and reliability. In our continuous pursuit for excellence and broadened horizons, iQuila has aligned its cloud infrastructure with one of the most renowned and resilient platforms in the digital world: Microsoft Azure. This strategic partnership ensures that our clients benefit from unparalleled uptime, robust security measures, and seamless scalability. Today, with our services spanning across more than 14 countries, we are not only providing groundbreaking networking solutions but also cementing our reputation as global leaders in the domain. Our footprint is a testament to our commitment to bridging gaps, erasing borders, and fostering seamless connectivity in a world that demands nothing less. As we present iQuila for this esteemed award, it's a reflection of our journey, innovation, and the relentless pursuit to redefine what's possible in the world of networking. Cradlepoint Partnership iQuila recently announced a Technical Alliance Partnership with Cradlepoint (Ericsson), the world's leading manufacturer of cellular routers. iQuila is now available to all Cradlepoint clients through their Net Cloud portal, featuring a simple 1-click installation process. Cradlepoint routers can connect to iQuila Cloud (public and private). Significance of the Partnership Mobile workers, including emergency services personnel, often encounter connectivity challenges in the field. Latency issues, VPN limitations, and encryption overhead can hinder crucial applications and protocols, impacting load, resilience, and VLAN distribution. These challenges pose serious risks, especially during crisis situations. iQuila's VEN and Cradlepoint routers address these issues by seamlessly connecting mobile workers, IoT devices, and branch locations to the network. iQuila empowers Cradlepoint edge devices to distribute layer 2 connectivity effortlessly, offering comprehensive VLANs, group policies, Active Directory integration, and top-notch security. This joint solution removes the constraints organizations face when operating outside their primary corporate location. Value of the Joint Solution iQuila VEN and Cradlepoint enable organizations to access core services and enjoy enhanced performance, regardless of their location. Branch offices, mobile workers, and fast-moving devices can access data, VLANs, applications, and protocols, transforming edge experiences. Installed on a container within the Cradlepoint router, iQuila VEN bridging software seamlessly extends a layer 2 network to the edge. It efficiently integrates remote networks, maintaining multiple VLANs and local subnets. Advanced AI is at the core of the VEN protocol, managing connections by constructing multiple data threads for greater resilience, higher bandwidth, and consistent performance. Emergency Services Use Case iQuila revolutionizes connectivity delivery by introducing a seamless and comprehensive layer 2 service that extends Q.802.1 VLANs from your infrastructure to the edge. This innovation ensures uninterrupted connections for SSID users, even as they move between vehicles, guaranteeing secure data access. The iQuila VEN protocol securely transmits required VLANs over multiple concurrent threads through an encrypted tunnel, enabling the simultaneous use of multiple SSIDs with varying access levels across your entire fleet. The inclusion of Quantum encryption maintains security, providing peace of mind. iQuila's VEN protocol also seamlessly integrates other blue light, public safety, and third-party services into the network, allowing for the presentation of their respective SSIDs throughout your fleet while maintaining best-in-class security measures. John Nye, VP, Technology Partners & Alliances at Cradlepoint 'Cradlepoint customers are building networks that extend beyond the traditional enterprise or branch networks to environments that include mobile and IoT. Solutions such as iQuila will help our customers remain connected and secure as their workforces continue to evolve.' These edits aim to improve the clarity and impact of your entry for the Software-as-a-Service Innovation of the Year award. Feel free to incorporate them as needed to strengthen your application.

RUNNER UP

Radix IoT, LLC

IoT Platforms proved their indispensable value amidst, and post-pandemic enabling remote management and monitoring of unmanned critical facilities, sustained business continuity while providing uninterrupted connectivity for a range of business applications. With IoT’s global proliferation, Mango OS, coupled with the Radix IoT platform, has become the market’s most comprehensive, “must have” set of tools for creating an inclusive, manufacturer agnostic IoT solution.

Mango’s seamless connectivity enables all technology types, shapes, and sizes–from HVAC components to solar equipment, factory/ industrial automation equipment, water management products and smart building enablement devices, telecommunications infrastructure, data centers, commercial facilities portfolio, renewables, and other verticals. Mango remains as the market’s only platform capable of seamless scaling from one site to thousands–and across geographically distributed locations–consistently vendor-agnostic and free of vendor-lock traps. Mango Series 4 expanded support for private clouds and critical infrastructure by offering massive scaling capabilities that led to the onboarding of 15 million datapoints into the ecosystem across a range of organizations and verticals.

Mango’s “plug-and-play” deployment seamlessly network-enables customers products or systems into a global platform. Remaining as the market’s single point of truth for data, via a single-pane philosophy, Radix IoT’s Mango platform has allowed a 35% reduction in energy maintenance spend for telecommunications customers. It has also enabled preventative maintenance to avoid costly downtime.

During the last two years of the pandemic, Mango’s expanding application base is due primarily to Radix IoT’s continued innovation and development to meet the needs of data centers and energy production customers primarily in the Americas and APR.

The addition of the Radix Cloud offering empowered customers to manage their own infrastructure and leave resilience and managed service concerns to Radix–reducing the need for in-house I.T. staff commitments for clients while assuring that ownership of data remains in the customers' hands.

Radix IoT’s indisputable competitive edge positions it as a leading, global provider of an unlimited, open-source, IoT Platform. As the market’s most cost-effective solution for aggregating, organizing, and harnessing real-time intelligence from globally distributed organizations’ connected systems, customization of Mango dashboards has greatly impacted all aspects of business operations. From enabling commercial property owners to achieve and maintain Green Star Rating verifications via access to real-time metering and reporting of energy consumption with Mango’s advanced alarming and tools for trending analytics through a web interface, to gaining deep data visibility and insight for custom reports to harness and organize data required to facilitate compliance reporting. Customers use Mango:
• To produce customized reports to identify building optimization potentials for reduced operating expenses for portfolios of buildings’ ESG reports.
• To create “bespoke solutions” when needed considering it “the best available solution in the market” noting its flexibility, open-web technology and interoperability with Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms that makes it a powerful solution.
• As a “special secret sauce” for projects demanding not just the standard data center monitoring software but customized to the customer’s specifications.

Mango’s cost-effective platform with unlimited scaling, and easy “plug-and-play” format, aggregates data from existing infrastructure so organizations large and small can collect, analyze, and store the telemetry from across all their connected systems nationwide and across the globe. The data used from within the IoT platform drives a range of outcome-based, real-time and historical insight asset management, production insights, customized reporting and alerting, digital operations and maintenance services among others empower organizations’ data-based business decisions which were not previously conceivable.

South African Water Works (SAWW) integrated Mango to efficiently manage and operate its vast distributed coverage area meeting water shortage challenges and successfully delivering nearly 120 million liters of safe drinking water to 450,000 residents daily. Mango saved the company 100 hours per week, drastically cut fuel cost, and wear and tear on vehicles by reducing in half the 250 kilometers of travel across their coverage area. The more proactive team, is now able to preempt potential problems and outages via Mango alerts across all their sites. We also helped develop a pilot Mango energy conservancy dashboard to help determine and reduce the company’s second largest cost–electricity. This led to the concept being recognized and adopted by additional municipalities–expanding Mango’s footprint in a region most challenged by utility availability.

Another OEM integrated Mango platform as part of its data center infrastructure management (DCIM), data center cooling optimization, monitoring, and facilities asset management offerings across APAC to meet the region’s booming digital transformation demands as DCIM investments continue to grow among the commercial real estate sector with high data storage, speed and power monitoring requirement.

Widening Mango Series 4’s unique features, we enabled OEMs to use the Radix IoT platform to private label deployment to monitor and manage millions of devices on a global basis for customers. Building technology companies and renewable and energy companies integrated Mango to better monitor thousands of solar farms across America, water and waste management sites in South Africa, and green efficiency of property management across Asia.

Integrating Radix IoT platform successfully created IoT network and business revenue streams which further expanded Radix IoT Mango solution's global footprint with five new partnership agreements across the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, and N. America.

Special Recognition for Channel Security Services Award

WINNER

OpenText Cybersecurity

OpenText Cybersecurity provides smart, simplified security that enables trusted, cyber resilient environments for our channel partners, distributors, resellers and Managed Service Providers (MSPs). We help partners reduce risk, preserve trust and minimize disruption. From prevention, detection and response to recovery and compliance, we help partners build cyber resilience via a holistic security portfolio of smarter and simple solutions delivered through our unified end-to-end platform. This modern portfolio of complementary security solutions offers channel partners 360-degree visibility across endpoints and network traffic to proactively identify, triage and investigate anomalous and malicious behavior. The business has many different offerings that help partners to find information, no matter where it is buried, to effectively conduct investigations, manage risk and respond to incidents. Organizations rely on these products to proactively prevent and detect threats across ever-expanding attack surfaces. Our security solutions enable multi-vector data protection against malicious files, scripts, exploits, URLs and guard against phishing, spam, threat, and email compromise through robust M365 email security: - Endpoint Protection: Easily manage clients and secure users across all stages of a cyberattack with effective real-time protection. - DNS Protection: Stop up to 88% of malware at the domain by securing corporate and guest networks. - Security Awareness Training: Keep clients and employees safe by educating them on phishing attacks, malware, data compliance and more. - Email Security: Proactively defend and protect against email-borne threats with email threat protection and email encryption to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. Our data protection and migration solutions provide organizations uninterrupted access to critical business data: - Cloud-to-Cloud Backup: Comprehensive, automatic backup and recovery for Microsoft 365 and other SaaS applications. - Endpoint Backup: Automatic, secure data protection for endpoints - Migrate: Structured, repeatable data migration from any source to any target with near zero data loss and no disruption in service. - Availability: Continuous replication for physical, virtual and cloud workloads with push-button failover for keeping critical systems online all the time. - Recover: Keep a secondary copy of the system in the cloud for instant failover in the event of an outage. OpenText Cybersecurity protects over 95 million end-users and has 45 million endpoint detection and response agents installed, securing over 23,000 MSPs. Innovation highlights for channel partners over the past 12 months include: - When it comes to managing cybersecurity, we understand our MSP partners need vendor solutions that help unify their security tools and streamline the operations of managing their customer base. The expansion of our OpenText Secure Cloud platform combines best-in-class email threat protection, email continuity, email encryption, cloud-to-cloud backup, and more. With our latest update, OpenText Cybersecurity MSP partners will be able to sell and manage endpoint protection, security awareness training, and DNS protection&mdashall from our unified, cloud platform. - The introduction of Webroot Standalone DNS Protection, a solution for DNS Protection that doesn't have any dependency on another product. Our new Standalone DNS Protection is fast and easy to install and delivers protection without requiring a Webroot EPP agent on every system. - New MDR solutions that reduce the risk and impact of ransomware attacks while empowering organizations to become cyber-resilient. - The launch of a new partner program: Accelerate. The Accelerate Partner Program provides partners with all sets of security and data protection solutions, assets, and resources under one single platform. The tiered program rewards higher levels of participation with more benefits, including market development funds and pre- and post-sales support. This was designed to make engagement and business relationships smoother, two factors that contribute to the success of a partner program. With the Accelerate Partner Program, partners have a fantastic opportunity to expand and scale their business. Additionally, Accelerate offers training and certification programs free of charge for partners.

Infinidat

In early 2023, Infinidat launched a series of new initiatives, extensions, and updates to its channel partner program worldwide. Infinidat continues to invest heavily in providing support for partners, with channel revenue contribution up 52% year-to-year globally.

New additions include a significantly enhanced EMEA and APJ channel program and a new sales enablement and training program − the Infuziast Certified Partner Program − along with regional program enhancements, such as channel partner advisory boards. Infinidat has also expanded its channel base with 22 new partners and distributors and extended the Infinidat channel sales team with the addition of seven new channel partner managers worldwide. Furthermore, in EMEA and APJ, Infinidat added a new, very seasoned director of channel sales, accelerating Infinidat’s momentum with its EMEA and APJ channel partners.

The following outlines the major enhancements and expansion to Infinidat’s partner programs going forward:

- Enhancements to the EMEA and APJ channel partner programme - Infinidat is enhancing its EMEA and APJ channel program with new tiering levels for partners an enhanced deal registration process new backend rebates a redesigned criteria for MDF a not-for-resell program redesigned the enablement program on the InfiniVersity partner portal and increased joint marketing efforts.
- Infuziast Certified Partner Program - Infinidat is introducing its major new sales enablement and training program, starting in the first half of 2023 in the Americas and in EMEA and APJ in the second half of 2023. Channel partners, ranging from sales consultants to technical personnel, will be able to earn certification through this new program, which also includes a rewards component.
- Personnel Update - In 2022, Infinidat announced a new leader for the channel across EMEA and APJ, with the appointment of James “JT” Lewis as Infinidat’s Director of Channel Sales for EMEA and APJ. The company also added seven new channel partner managers to the global Infinidat sales team to support the expanding number of partners and distributors around the world. Continuing as the channel sales leader in the Americas is Mitch Diodato, Senior Director of Channel Sales for the Americas.
- Partner Advisory Boards - Infinidat will establish partner advisory boards for the channel in the Americas, EMEA, and APJ in 2023.
- Partner Tech Clubs - Infinidat will set up partner tech clubs for engineers, solution architects and solution advisors in EMEA and APJ.

Infinidat’s channel momentum has steadily grown over the past year, fortified by the following accolades and advancements:
- Gartner named Infinidat a Leader in the Magic Quadrant for Primary Storage
- The Infinidat Partner Program earned a 5-Star Rating from CRN
- Infinidat’s channel leader was named a CRN Channel Chief for 2023
- GigaOm recognized Infinidat as the industry leader in ransomware protection for block storage and file storage
- Infinidat was included on the prestigious CRN 100 list
- InfiniSafe technology was recognized in the 2023 CRN Tech Innovators Award competition
- Infinidat revamped its partner portal to rave reviews.

“Infinidat runs one of the most robust partner programs in the industry. Their program enriches our experience as a partner, and I’m very excited about the company’s new Infuziast sales enablement and training program,” said Dean Jamison, Co-president and Chief Technology Officer at Dynamix. “Infuziast will better equip us to increase our business and reward us in a clear and compelling way. Infinidat is making all the right moves to expand and enhance its support of channel partners, and I look forward to what the company is rolling out for the channel in 2023.”

“We’re proud of the expansion and deepening of our channel partner programs, particularly those in EMEA and APJ, and we know channel partners are very excited about what we are introducing in 2023,” said Eric Herzog, CMO of Infinidat. “2022 has been a banner year for our channel-centric progress that has garnered several industry awards and recognition. However, with the exciting new additions and enhancements we are bringing to Infinidat’s channel partner experience, 2023 will be even stronger.”

“I am very encouraged by what Infinidat is doing to demonstrate its strong commitment to the channel in Germany and around the world. All of the new program elements that the company is introducing in 2023, ranging from sales enablement and training extensions to tiering levels to increased joint marketing efforts, are a win for all Infinidat channel partners,” said Jan Veith, Director of Sales and Business Development at H&G Hansen & Gieraths IT Solutions GmbH. “Infinidat is continually refreshing its multi-dimensional channel partner program, constantly bringing something new and exciting to the table. This is a great time for us to be selling Infinidat’s cyber storage solutions because the level of channel support is more comprehensive than other players in the market.”

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2023

2023 Winners Guide

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