Technology Excellence Awards - Criteria Information

Presented for innovative new hardware or software products, or generally-available IT services, which make the biggest contribution to business technology or to IT in general.

A product or innovation is classified as an application, service, device, or technology which is widely available; normally (but not necessarily) for a monthly or one-off charge. Bespoke projects are not likely to do well (due to their limited potential for being widely successful) unless they use a technology which can easily be extended to other customers. Free Internet consumer services and mobile apps are eligible.

We are looking to recognize achievement in the development, sales and implementation of new technologies released during the past 12 months that have a substantial base in the UK, or where the product or service is marketed within the UK.
There is a special category for innovative products from organizations whose headquarters and development is in the UK.

The awards in this section will be judged against three key criteria. The appropriate section of the entry form must be completed for each one.

• Innovation: has the product introduced new or leading-edge technologies, created different ways of working, or novel approaches that benefit its users?

• Measurable success: can the team demonstrate significant commercial success for the product during the past 12 months?

• Customer satisfaction: is there evidence of customers using the product successfully to improve their operations and that they would recommend the product to others?

Specific to the UK innovation and entrepreneurship award only: the product or service should be developed or managed entirely in the UK by a startup organization, or a small autonomous team within a larger organization, using the expertise of UK IT professionals. Include the size of the team, and where it works, in the "Summary" section of the entry form.

Entrants should provide:

A maximum 500-word explanation for how they meet each of these three criteria, plus a maximum 250-word summary of why they believe their product or service should win this award.

Each entry, therefore, requires four sections detailing achievements against each of the three criteria above (up to 500 words each), plus the summary statement (up to 250 words), which should include where the product is developed and marketed. A product overview should also be included. Credit is given for each section, so all sections of the form must be completed.

Categories

• Security Innovation of the Year

Awarded to an innovative new product or service that has delivered measurable benefit for customers in areas such as IT security, data protection, information management, risk management, business continuity, or disaster recovery.

• Business IT Innovation of the Year

Awarded to an innovative new product or service that has delivered measurable benefit for business users or customers in areas such as, e-commerce, hosting, web performance, communications, or web-based services.

• Innovative Mobile App of the Year

Awarded to mobile apps that run on mobile phones or other devices with built-in 3G or 4G capability. These apps should show an innovative use of the technology in the phones, and possibly of on-line services. They should be publically available, either free or for a charge.

• Infrastructure Innovation of the Year

Awarded to an innovative new product or service that has delivered measurable benefit for customers in areas such as data centre, networking, systems management, server hardware and software, storage, application development, IT support or other business infrastructure applications.

• UK Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award

Awarded to a new product or service that has delivered measurable benefit for customers, can demonstrate the potential to be an important product for customers worldwide, and has been developed by a small team in the UK. The aim of this award is specifically to recognize innovation and achievement in IT product or service development in the UK. This should be by a startup organization, or a small autonomous team within a larger organization.

• Cloud Provider of the Year

Awarded to a product or service that has delivered measurable benefit to end users in a variety of organisations through the cloud.