Microsoft announces winners of the 2010 Partner Awards

The winners of the 2010 Microsoft New Zealand Partner Awards were announced this evening at an awards ceremony in Auckland.

Held at the Langham Hotel, the annual awards offer Microsoft Partners the opportunity to showcase work to their peers, as well as helping them improve brand recognition, recruitment and staff retention.

“We are thrilled to recognise a number of our partners tonight. The entry calibre was exceptional and it is pleasing to see a number of first-time winners, such as OA Systems, Markinson, Appserve and Serko Online starting to make their mark and creating a real impact within the industry. We have over 3,500 partners and this is one way we are able to thank them for the work they do – it is a very exciting evening,” says Misti Landtroop, Director Small, Midmarket Solutions and Partners at Microsoft New Zealand.

Twenty awards were presented this year from four sub-categories – Solution, Individual, Partnering and Supreme. The Partners Choice CIO of the Year, MSN Advertising Partner of the Year and Business Impact Solution of the Year Awards were introduced for the 2010 Partner Awards.

As the first Partner’s Choice CIO of the Year, Rob McNaughton from Mighty River Power was thrilled.

“The Microsoft Partner community is a great asset and represents an incredibly talented network of companies. To be recognised by them as a leader in IT is truly humbling and a great honour,” he said.

Hamilton based Enlighten Designs had an exceptional night after picking up two awards, one of which included the Supreme Business Impact Solution of the Year award. Damon Kelly, CEO of Enlighten Designs lauded his team after the double success.

“To win one Partner Award is an achievement, but to win two is testimony to the world class standards we set ourselves and our ongoing commitment to customers. What’s more, the industry recognition of all the hard work these awards represent makes the night even sweeter. We’d like to thank Microsoft for the fantastic support.”

“We are absolutely rapt Rob McNaughtan won CIO of the Year – as one of our long-standing customers it is great to see him awarded for his commitment to gaining a competitive advantage through IT for his company,” adds Damon.

Other companies to win multiple awards this year include Intergen for Portals and Collaboration Solution of the Year and Citizenship Solution of the Year, Gen-i for Reseller of the Year and Platform Value Partner of the Year, and Provoke for Online Services Partner of the Year and Citizenship Solution of the Year (co-winner with Intergen).

The full list of winners from the Microsoft New Zealand 2010 Partner Awards is below.

Microsoft Partner Awards 2010 Winners

Solution Awards

Application Platform Solution of the Year

Winner: Datacraft (www.datacraft.co.nz)

Enterprise Content Management Solution of the Year

Winner: Enlighten Designs (www.enlighten.co.nz)

Portals and Collaboration Solution of the Year

Winner: Intergen (www.intergen.co.nz)

Core Infrastructure Solution of the Year

Winner: Datasouth (www.datasouth.co.nz)

CRM Solution of the Year

Winner: OA Systems (www.oasystems.co.nz)

ERP Solution of the Year

Winner: Koorb Consulting (www.koorb.co.nz)

Unified Communications Solution of the Year

            Winner: Integral-Axon (www.axon.co.nz)

Small Business Solution of the Year

Winner: Kinetics (www.kinetics.co.nz)

Citizenship Solution of the Year

Winners: Intergen (www.intergen.co.nz), Provoke (www.provoke.co.nz)

Individual Awards

Solutions Architect of the Year

Winner: Carl Whitehead (Datacom) (www.datacom.co.nz)

Partners Choice CIO of the Year

Winner: Rob McNaughtan (Mighty River Power) (www.mightyriverpower.co.nz)

Partnering Awards

MSN Advertising Partner of the Year

            Winner: Spark Phdiq (www.sparkphd.co.nz)

Distributor of the Year

Winner: Express Data (www.expressdata.co.nz)

Reseller of the Year

Winner: Gen-i (www.gen-i.co.nz)

Online Services Partner of the Year

Winner: Provoke (www.provoke.co.nz)

Partnering of the Year Award

Winner: Markinson (www.markinson.co.nz) & Appserv (www.appserv.co.nz)

Learning Solutions Partner of the Year

            Winner: Auldhouse (www.auldhouse.co.nz)

Supreme Awards

Business Impact Solution of the Year

Winner: Enlighten Designs (www.enlighten.co.nz)

ISV Solution of the Year

Winner: Serko Online (www.serko.co.nz)

Platform Value Partner of the Year

Winner: Gen-i (www.gen-i.co.nz)

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realise their full potential.