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.

 

“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” – 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.

The Microsoft Partner Awards 2021 winners:

• Data & AI Award: Winner – PwC New Zealand; Highly commended – Datacom
• Azure Migrate Award: Winner – CCL; Highly commended – Unify Solutions
• Business Applications Award: Winner – DXC Technology; Highly commended – Fusion5
• Modern Work Award: Winner – Vodafone New Zealand; Highly commended – Spark Business Group
• Security Award: Winner – Defend; Highly commended – Unify Solutions
• Digital & Application Innovation Award: Winner – Aware Group; Highly commended – Enlighten Designs
• Surface Award: Winner – SecureCom; Highly commended – Acquire and Mobile Mentor
• Channel Development Award: Winner – Ingram Micro NZ
• Cloud for Good Award: Winner – Theta; Highly commended – Delta Insights
• SaaS Award: Winner – Volpara Health; Highly commended – Cin7
• Emerging SaaS Award: Winner – LawVu; Highly commended – FlexiTime
• NZ Growth Partner of the Year: Auror
• NZ Partner of the Year: Fusion5