Microsoft NZ calls for entries to 2016 Partner Awards

Microsoft NZ calls for entries to 2016 Partner Awards

Microsoft introduces new ‘Innovative Software Product of the Year’ category for 2016 – a category unique to the New Zealand market

AUCKLAND, 10 December, 2015 – Entries are now open for Microsoft New Zealand’s 2016 Partner Awards, with the winners to be announced live at a gala evening in March next year.

Now in its ninth year, the annual Partner Awards exist to recognise excellence in the IT sector from companies that integrate Microsoft solutions into their products and services to accelerate innovation and go above and beyond customer expectations.

Brent Kendrick, Director of Small and Midmarket Solutions and Partner Group at Microsoft, says the Partner Awards celebrate the company’s best-in-class partners and the great work they do every day to optimise productivity and platform solutions for mutual customers.

“Whether you’re a finalist or a winner on the night, the Partner Awards bring prestige and respect in the IT community. We anticipate a high calibre of entries again this year, and encourage our partners to enter before Thursday, 11 February 2016,” says Kendrick.

Organisations have the option to submit more than one entry in any category and can be chosen as a finalist and/or winner in more than one category.

Kendrick continues: “We’re excited to introduce a new award category in 2016 – Innovative Software Product of the Year – which is all about recognising ISVs that have built an innovative product on the Microsoft stack which utilises the power of the cloud. It might not be an app though – it could be a service accessed over the internet which drives value for customers in a compelling way.”

For the 2016 awards, the ‘Pre-Sales Technical Specialist of the Year’ has been incorporated into the ‘Sales Specialist of the Year’ and Microsoft has introduced a ‘Partner Seller of the Year’ award.

Submissions for the Microsoft Partner Awards close on 11 February 2016, and finalists will be announced on Thursday, 3 March 2016. The winners will be announced at the evening event on Thursday, 31 March 2016 which will be held at The Langham in Auckland.

A full list of the 22 awards categories follows:

Cloud Awards

• Cloud Small and Medium Business (SMB) Partner of the Year

• Cloud Enterprise Partner of the Year

• Cloud Platform- Azure Partner of the Year

• Hosting Partner of the Year

• Innovative Software Product of the Year

Competency Awards: Core Infrastructure

• Devices and Deployment Partner of the Year

• Datacenter Partner of the Year

Competency Awards: Application Platform

• Data Analytics Partner of the Year

• Windows App Developer Partner of the Year

Competency Awards: Business Productivity

• Collaboration and Content Partner of the Year

• Communications Partner of the Year

Competency Awards: Business Applications

• Customer Relationship Management Partner of the Year

• Enterprise Resource Planning Partner of the Year

Individual Awards

• Sales Specialist of the Year

• Partner Seller of the Year

Segment Awards

• Marketing Partner of the Year

• 'Rising Star' Partner of the Year

• Distributor Partner of the Year

• Education Partner of the Year

• Innovative Technology for Good Citizenship Partner of the Year

• Learning Partner of the Year

• Volume Licensing Partner of the Year

For more information on the Microsoft Partner Awards, visit http://www.microsoft.com/nz/partnerawards/

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