Showing Excellence, Innovation And Resilience In Their FieldWinners Of Microsoft NZ Partner Awards 2021 Announced

The winners of Microsoft’s 14th annual Microsoft New Zealand Partner Awards have been announced, showcasing an extraordinary depth of creativity and capability within Microsoft’s local Partner network.

The Microsoft New Zealand Partner Awards are presented to outstanding Partners of all sizes who deliver innovative technology solutions that enable their customers to achieve more. Given lockdown restrictions in Auckland, the awards were celebrated a little differently this year with no physical event, but Microsoft wishes to celebrate the achievements of all its winners.

“Year after year our Partners blow us away with the pioneering transformations they deliver for their customers. This year, despite us having to deal with more than their fair share of challenges, they have managed to go above and beyond once again and it’s been another incredibly tough process to choose an individual winner for each category,” said Matt Bostwick, Partner Director at Microsoft NZ.

Our two big award winners were celebrated recently and named at the Global Microsoft Partner Awards in September. Fusion5 won New Zealand 2021 Partner of the Year for creating new Azure solutions, building a SaaS product for HR and payroll, and has ambitious plans to digitally transform 90% of New Zealand’s universities through data and Dynamics 365. Auror was named as the inaugural NZ Growth Partner of the Year, for the fantastic work they do to help protect companies around the world to stop retail crime.

The eleven other category winners were chosen for their outstanding efforts continuing to empower customers through the clever use of Microsoft technology.

The workplace has continued to see significant disruption from Covid, including some of our largest public and private sector organisations. Modern Work Award winner Vodafone NZ helped Pāmu Farms become free range, rapidly adopting a modern working environment through using Teams to create their Vodafone Teams Connect Solution. CCL took away the Azure Migrate Award for supporting Dunedin City Council by modernising their IT and migrating their systems to Azure. This provided modern digital services for Dunedin residents, and helped to reduce costs. DXC Technology was awarded the Business Applications Award for supporting Westpac NZ on its own digital transformation journey, using Dynamics 365 and Power Platform to automate their systems helping them to manage their data more effectively.

PwC New Zealand’s work to support the Earthquake Commission through data management utilising Azure Synapse saw it take out the Data and AI Award, helping Aotearoa bounce back faster from natural disasters and supporting our resilience as a nation.

Some Partners were particularly recognised for their innovation in helping Kiwi businesses of all sizes succeed. Ingram Micro NZ took out the Channel Development Award for its work with a range of partners and resellers, providing support through Microsoft cloud solutions in the new Cloud Marketplace. LawVu’s unique Azure-based platform for the law industry provided a cloud-first future, which saw it secure the Emerging SaaS Award. The Security Award was presented to Defend, who worked with Foodstuffs North Island to continue to protect the food and grocery supply chain within New Zealand.

Other solutions have been less about work and more about fun. Aware Group assisted Ryman Healthcare in designing a ground-breaking Olympic Games-style event that took place in July, using HoloLens mixed reality headsets, which won it the Digital and Application Innovation Award.

Healthcare has also been a strong focus of this year’s winners, particularly in the fight against breast cancer. Theta took away the Cloud for Good Award through its work with Breast Cancer Foundation NZ to create a Virtual Assistant bot who helped with enquiries for the 2021 Pink Ribbon Breakfast events. Meanwhile, Volpara’s SaaS Award saw it develop an AI-enabled platform that supports healthcare providers to improve breast screening through advanced technology, and Surface Award winner SecureCom helped Mercy Hospice digitally transform with Microsoft 365 and Surfaces so it could operate more flexibly during lockdown and beyond.

Matt said reading the submissions had also given Microsoft great pride in the values reflected in its Partner network, from supporting the not-for-profit sector to a focus on diversity and inclusion. The 2021 Awards required entrants to reflect on how their diversity and inclusion policies had impacted their work.

“I feel extremely lucky to be part of a network that is truly dedicated to making the lives of New Zealanders better, whether it’s in the workplace, in care, or in society in general. I want to congratulate all of our winners for looking beyond just the job in front of them and asking what more they could do, then moving heaven and earth to make it happen. With Partners like these, I feel like the future of our industry, and for New Zealand, is in safe hands,” said Matt.

About Microsoft

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more.

The full list of 2021 winners are:

Azure Migrate Award

Winner: CCL

CCL worked with Dunedin City Council to help it migrate to the Microsoft Azure cloud, enabling it to optimise its use of data and deliver more value to ratepayers and stakeholders.

Highly Commended: Unify Solutions

Unify Solutions worked with Te Tari Taiwhenua the Department of Internal Affairs to help them migrate RealMe to Azure enabling greater access to secure government services for more Kiwis.

Business Applications Award

Winner: DXC Technology

DXC Technology supported Westpac NZ with a broad digital transformation, leveraging Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform to streamline business processes and improve employee collaboration and regulatory compliance.

Highly Commended: Fusion5

Fusion5 worked with Metroglass to help them transition to a one-business platform on Dynamics 365 enabling a single source of truth across the business, reducing cost and complexity.

Channel Development Award

Winner: Ingram Micro NZ

Ingram Micro NZ works with partners and resellers to help them offer and support Microsoft cloud solutions to more customers through the new Cloud Marketplace enabling a prosperous and people-centric tech channel.

Cloud for Good Award

Winner: Theta

Theta worked with Breast Cancer Foundation New Zealand (BCFNZ) and FAQ Bot on a pro bono basis to create a Virtual Assistant who helped raise money for the 2021 Pink Ribbon Breakfast events. The chat bot saved BCFNZ’s marketing and fundraising team a huge amount of time and provided valuable campaign insights. It continues to be indispensable many months later.

Highly Commended: Delta Insights

Delta Insights worked with Autism New Zealand to help streamline their business processes using Dynamics 365 so that they have more time to focus on supporting people with Autism and their whānau.

Data and AI Award

Winner: PwC New Zealand

PwC New Zealand worked with the Earthquake Commission (EQC) to optimise the insurance claims process following natural disasters. They helped establish a resilient and scalable Data Platform and Exchange solution and helped EQC transition to a world-first insurance model with a much-simplified claims process, using Azure and Microsoft 365.

Highly Commended: DataCom

Datacom worked with Sealord combining 30 years of historical data covering four million square kilometres of ocean using the Azure Data Platform. This helped them to work towards their sustainability goals, enabling them to fish more sustainably.

Digital and Application Innovation Award

Winner: Aware Group

Aware Group worked with Ryman Healthcare to design a fun games programme that coincided with the Tokyo 2020 Olympics that took place throughout 2021. Sporting challenges used IoT, Surface, HoloLens and other technologies to enable retirement village residents to compete against athletes from villages across New Zealand, in events from lawn bowls to relays, swimming and cycling.

Highly Commended: Enlighten Designs

Enlighten Designs worked with Carters to build a new mobile app on Azure so that they could help with easily supplying building materials for tradies from online to on-site.

Emerging SaaS Award

Winner: LawVu

LawVu created a platform for the very complex in-house law industry, using Azure to help connect in-house teams with the wider organisation to boost collaboration, make compliance and governance easier, and create better business outcomes.

Highly Commended: FlexiTime

FlexiTime works with freelancers and employers worldwide helping to make contracting fair and payroll easy.

Modern Work Award

Winner: Vodafone NZ

Vodafone New Zealand worked with Pāmu Farms to help it rapidly adopt modern working protocols and products throughout the Covid pandemic. The Vodafone Teams Connect Solution gave the state-owned enterprise all the functionality of a traditional phone without the cost and complexity, helping keep New Zealand’s food and fibre sector to run smoothly during lockdown.

Highly Commended: Spark Business Group

Spark Business Group worked with APEC 2021 to deliver a digital solution using Teams for Aotearoa’s APEC hosting year providing global leaders to connect during an extraordinary year.

SaaS Award

Winner: Volpara Health

Volpara Health developed the AI-enabled Volpara Breast Health Platform, working closely with healthcare providers to improve breast cancer screening.

Highly Commended: Cin7

Cin7 works with retailers of all sizes providing an innovative inventory and order management system so that retailers can provide ordering and delivery flexibility in an e-commerce future.

Security Award

Winner: Defend

Using Microsoft’s security suite, Defend worked with Foodstuffs North Island to continue to protect the food and grocery supply chain within New Zealand.

Highly Commended: Unify Solutions

Unify Solutions worked with Fidelity Life to secure their customers’ data using Azure Sentinel and Microsoft 365, providing better protection for their customers’ way of life.

Surface Partner Award

Winner: SecureCom

SecureCom helped Mercy Hospice embark on a journey of complete digital transformation underpinned by Microsoft 365 and Surface devices. This enabled Mercy Hospice to operate more flexibly and efficiently during lockdown and beyond.

Highly Commended: Acquire and Mobile Mentor

Acquire and Mobile Mentor worked with T&G to create a fresh device management experience with Microsoft Surface creating a truly modern workplace.

NZ Growth Partner of the Year

Winner: Auror

Auror works with retailers around the globe to help them use its Retail Crime Intelligence Platform enabling them to avoid over $100 billion in losses every year.

NZ Partner of the Year

Winner: Fusion5

Fusion5 works with organisations big and small to help them co-develop solutions that empower their people enabling them to focus on what matters.

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