Published on the 07/12/2021 | Written by Heather Wright

And the winners are…

Familiar faces and a few newer hands were among those honoured at Microsoft’s New Zealand Partner Awards 2021, as partners’ work at organisations as diverse as Westpac, Internal Affairs, Metroglass and Pāmu Farms was recognised.

In a year of challenging times, Matt Bostwick says Microsoft partners delivered ‘pioneering transformations’ for customers.

“The workplace has continued to see significant disruption from Covid, including some of our largest public and private sector organisations,” Microsoft says.

The Covid factor was seen in some of the awards – not to mention the lack of a physical awards this year thanks to lockdown restrictions – with Defend taking out the Security Award for its work with Foodstuff North Island to protect the food and grocery supply chain, while SecureCom’s winning of the Surface Award came for its work to enable Mercy Hospice to operate more flexibly during lockdown and beyond, using Microsoft 365 and Surface devices.

Microsoft partners delivered ‘pioneering transformations’ for customers.

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 out the Azure Migrate Award for supporting Dunedin City Council by modernising its IT and migrating its systems to Azure, providing ‘modern digital services’ for Dunedin residents, and helping 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. And PwC took out the Data and AI Award for supporting gate Earthquake Commission with data management utilising Azure Synapse.

Meanwhile LawVu’s Azure-based platform for the law sector saw it secure the Emerging SaaS Award, narrowly beating out freelancers offering FlexiTime.

It wasn’t all work though. Aware Group won the Digital and Application Innovation Award after helping Ryman Healthcare design a ‘ground-braking’ Olympic Games style event in July, using HoloLens mixed reality headsets.

Both Fusion5 and Auror we named as big winners at September’s Global Microsoft Partner Awards, with Fusion5 taking out the coveted New Zealand 2021 Partner of the Year, and Auror named the inaugural New Zealand Growth Partner of the Year.

The full list of winners is:

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’ work with Te Tari Taiwhenua the Department of Internal Affairs enabled them to 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 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 Technology
Volpara Health Technology 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 to help them co-develop solutions that empower their people enabling them to focus on what matters.