Meet the finalists in the 2019 CRN IMPACT Awards

The 2019 CRN IMPACT Awards received more than 130 entries across the 11 categories.

CRN conducted a three-phase judging process to find the three finalists in each category.

First, our editorial team sifted through the entries. Each and every entry was read and rated by at least two of us, and we then debated which deserved to go on a long list of possible finalists.

Next, we convened a three-strong panel to read all the entries on each long list. Those panels comprised two industry experts, plus CRN Editorial Director Simon Sharwood. Panelists were asked to score each long-listed entry out of 25 and to submit their scores.

But because not everyone judges the same way, a third phase saw the panelists and Simon Sharwood convene conference calls to debate the scores they’d calculated, consider whether judge’s weightings did all entrants justice, and generally probe whether the finalists deserved their places atop the big piles of entries.

Some of those conversations were brief, because the finalists were clear. But in some categories, debate was feisty as the judges wrestled entrants’ diverse accomplishments.

After much jaw-jaw, the judges decided on the following finalists.

Customer Experience

• Ericom for a project replacing phones in NSW prisons
• GHO Sydney built a poweful portal for student accomodation outfit Urbanest
• Transpire delivered a dazzling smartphone experience for visitors to the Sir John Monash Center, Australia's World War One memorial in France.

Digital Transformation

• CustomTec took television production house Endemol Shine's tape-based video library and transformed it into an online, accessible tool that makes finding - and selling - assets far easier.
• Idea 11's work for City of Gold Coast has started transforming the Council to a cloud-wielding, data-driven entity.
• Fujitsu Australia created a 'Digital Owl' to monitor endangered species.

Distribution performance

• Ingram Micro drove a $30 million revenue increase for Dell with a complex campaign that encouraged social media activity, extra sales and gave away a Tesla to one lucky partner.
• Synnex's Flexibile Technology As A Service delivered a seamless multi-vendor sales experience to the channel.
• TechData chalked up huge growth for IBM, winning over 45 new reseller partners, $8m in revenue and creating an innovative IoT solution along the way.

Emerging Innovator

• Cogniss has cooked up a low-code dev environment for health and education apps, and quickly won impressive support.
• Gluh created a sales and quoting engine that automates an awful lot of the sales proposal process for MSPs.
• Invarsoft's ITSupportPanel started life as a remote support tool for eNerds. Now it's a fast-growing SaaS business!

Evolving Innovator

• Enable Labs, which used ServiceNow to power 'ToolBox', an app that handles myriad task for construction companies.
• ONGC used Office 365, Veeam and Cylance to create "Reach", a remote working tool that's become popular among real estate agents.
• Powertec created an IoT product for agriculture companies based on the Rayven platform.

Exporting Innovation

• NextTechnick's NextService automates field service and is making waves in the USA thanks to NetSuite integration.
• Wise-Sync and Wise-Pay continue to rack up strong overseas sales, with MSPs everywhere appreciating the way the products streamline their businesses.
• XREF's reference-checking service went from strength to strength in 2018, with plenty of new international success to report!

Modernising Infrastructure

• Data#3 and Dell gave Western Australian council the City of Kwinana a top-to-bottom Dell, EMC and VMware infrastructure refresh!
• Thomas Duryea Logicalis got Melbourne Racing Club past the winning post with Lenovo, Nutanix and Cisco.
• Parallo took the Australian Catholic University from a classic multi-vendor mess to a hyperconverged and resilient rig.

Networking Evolution

• AirBridge Networks scored two nominations, one for work in the Whitsunday Islands and another in the Northern Territory. In both cases the company's wireless networks brought connectivity into very tricky situations and really made a difference!
• Intuit Technologies built a network for fish farming firm Tassal that lets it monitor offshore salmon feeding pens that are more than 20km from dry land!

Trusted Systems

• OBT integrated Australian company Eureka with French outfit AXA-IM.
• Panther Data for its work improving resilience at the Coomera Anglican College.
• SecureCo for extensive PCI DSS compliance work at insurer Auto & General Holdings.

Workforce Empowerment

• LOOKUP delivered a paperless office for its client Elite Traffic, so that remote workers can now access all the documentation they need with ease!
• OBT's work at Niche Environment & Heritage has seen staff pass up the chance to work from home, and instead come to the office in increasing numbers to enjoy the thorough tech refresh on offer.
• Peace of Mind Technology introduced video conferencing to health insurer nib. The project had short deadlines and quickly changed work practices.

Working Together

• Encoo and Systima together delivered vastly improved resilience for food charity SecondBite
• Engage², Insync Technology and Adopt & Embrace - all members of the Modern Workplace Alliance - together delivered a monster Office 365 implementation for the City of Hobart and its 600 staff.
• OBT and Clouds Made Simple worked with Skype for Business and teamed to win a stack of business around Australia.