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The Channel Innovation Awards (CIA) are an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of IT solution providers who have developed innovative products and services that help their customers thrive.
Computer Dealer News (CDN) invited channel players from across Canada to submit nominations for 11 awards to showcase the amazing work done by a broader cross-section of new technology leaders serving the channel.
Nominations are now closed and with the judges for evaluation.
The awards will be presented during a special celebration on September 24. Celebrating the Innovation Journey will featue networking, awards and a special discussion. Valerie Fox, Chief Innovation Consultant, The Pivotal Point, Jonathan Moneta, Founder and Creative Director, MakeLab Studio, and Suzanne Stein, an Innovation Professor at OCAD University, will offer guidance on how to stay innovative as the speedp of technology advance continues to accelerate.
A special workshop looking at The Challenge of Selling Technology Solutions in Canada will be held just prior to the gala. Tony Olvet, Group President of Research, IDC will present the findings of a recent ITWC/IDC survey for the first time.1
NOMINATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED – THANKS TOALL WHO MADE SUBMISSIONS
EVENT DETAILS
When: Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Where: Universal Eventspace | 6250 Highway 7, Vaughan, ON L4H 4G3
Agenda:
| Time | Item |
|---|---|
| 4:00pm to 4:15pm | Workshop registration |
| 4:15pm to 5:15pm | The Challenge of Selling Technology Solutions in Canada: Tony Olvet, IDC |
| 5:15pm to 6:15pm | Gala registration & networking |
| 6:15pm to 7:30pm | Awards presentation |
| 7:30pm to 9:00pm | Networking reception & dinner |
Nominations are now closed
Innovative Solutions
This award recognizes the most innovative implementation of security in either an on-premise or cloud environment. Nominations of a physical security hardware solution are welcome. The winning entry will demonstrate how the customer’s operation became a safer place to do business, or prevented data leakage. Evidence can range from resolving a single crisis to vastly improving the overall security posture of a company.
Top Data Management Solution
This award recognizes a state-of-the-art data management solution that enables end users to integrate, cleanse, migrate, analyze, and manage data across platforms to produce accurate, consistent information in a clear and precise manner.
Top Collaborative Solution Transforming Workspaces
Workspaces are changing. As AV and IT networks converge, businesses need to accommodate the evolving communication needs of mobile and tech-savvy employees that are demanding more in exchange for their commitment to corporate service. This award recognizes the most innovative solution that increases collaboration, communication, and productivity in the workplace. The solution can involve any part of the workspace’s transformation from the reconfiguration of physical environments to the development of collaboration platforms or AV/IT solutions supporting connectivity, security, productivity metrics or associated processes.
Open Source tools and software are changing the way companies build applications, operate their datacenters, and run their businesses. The Top Open Source Solution will honour the company that has developed the best open source project that drives innovation by enabling developers, operators and security professionals to provision, secure, run and connect cloud-computing infrastructure.
Top Solution Supporting Business Agility
This award honours the most innovative and problem-solving hardware, networking, mobile, cloud, big data or software-defined solution that has helped a company or organization improve their business agility.
Top (Federal/Provincial/Municipal) Government Solution
This award recognizes the most innovative and problem-solving hardware, networking, mobile, cloud, big data or software-defined solution for a federal, provincial or municipal government, or crown agency.
Business Leadership
Top Solution Provider Supporting Sustainability
This award honours a solution or solution provider that supports efforts that have a sustainable impact on our communities. Solutions that allow companies to go paperless, reduce their use of packaging or contribute to a reduction in e-waste are just a few examples. Qualifying initiatives can be internal, external or both.
CDN Award for Diversity and Inclusion
The award recognizes an organization that excels in providing unique service and solutions to help solve diversity and inclusion challenges. The organization’s nomination must demonstrate a commitment to equity, inclusion, social justice, or community and social responsibility and a record of acting on that commitment. This commitment, which includes thought leadership, is not limited to a single project and may be expressed in many areas of the nominee’s operation.
Next Generation Channel Innovator (under 3 years in business)
This award is presented to an up-and-coming channel business that has been operating commercially for three years or less. he winning company will have documented successful results in digital innovation. This could include successfully deploying digital technology or a digital transformation; improving how it approaches digital; delivering effective digital strategies; creating business value, efficiencies and cost savings, or improving services through the use of digital technology; or helping a company handle the challenges that come with digital.
This award recognizes the solution provider that has disrupted a business, industry, market, or long-held way of doing something through the innovative use of technology. This could be disruption at an internal, operation level, or disruption at a customer-facing level. Judges will examine how disruptive the solution/service has been as well as the business results and innovation it has generated.
Solution Provider of the Year (selected by judges)
The Solution Provider of the Year is awarded to an organization that has demonstrated excellence by adapting quickly to the ever-changing tech space, providing quality service, and providing its customers with solutions proven to make their businesses more efficient.
Any questions? Please contact Desere Cowin or Sophia Khan
All award nominations are evaluated by an independent panel of experts from within the Canadian technology scene. The selection of winning solutions is based on a variety of considerations, including innovation, design and user experience, and customer service as well as the overall technological advancement for their respective categories.
Note: Judges reserve the right to not designate a winner in a given category if none of the submissions are deemed sufficiently innovative.
JUDGING CRITERIA
Category winners will be chosen based on the following criteria:
| Innovation: How original is the application of the IT solution to solving the business problem? |
| Improved sales or revenue: Is there evidence that the solution benefited the customer by growing sales, improving revenue, or reducing costs? |
| Improved efficiency: Is there evidence that the solution brought about greater efficiency? |
| Customer service: Is there evidence that the solution benefited the client by improving internal and/or external customer service? |
What you missed if you didn’t attend the Channel Innovation Awards
2018 Winners and Editorial coverage
Put your company in the national spotlight
CIA winners and all finalists will be recognized at CDN’s Channel Innovation Gala. Submitting solution providers will be invited to a VIP pre-event partner workshop featuring a noted industry expert. All qualified nominations will be posted on the CDN website. Winning solutions will be profiled in CDN Magazine and Direction Informatique, ITWC’s a French language publication devoted to the Quebec marketplace. Winners will also receive a digital badge for use on their websites and in social media to help gain industry-wide recognition and end-user exposure.