Avanade, Insync, Advance Computing, Cloud Collective named among Microsoft Australia’s top partners

Microsoft Australia revealed the 2017 winners of its partner award in Sydney this morning.

Six Australian IT firms took home Microsoft Australia Partner Awards (MAPAs) across five new categories: optimising operations, transforming products, empowering employees, engaging customers and cloud for good.

Brisbane geospacial consulting firm GIS People was awarded in the optimising operations category for a Gruntfy solution called Recording Asset Damage and Restoration (RADAR) that was used to collect and share data about the damaged caused during Cyclone Debbie.

RADAR allowed local disaster recovery staff to cut down on form and photo filing time, using the app to asses, photograph and report damage at the site, which is geotagged and communicated back to the office.  

Victoria-based Advance Computing won the transforming products award for its cloud-based water brokering solution for farmers who are part of the Waterpool, a farmer owned cooperative for trading water that farmers rely on when the availability of water is vital but often unable to predict.

Previously, a paper-based trading system meant delays in water’s arrival after purchasing. Advance Computing’s platform, developed on Azure, took the trading platform online, offering transparency, live prices and potential traders.

Brisbane-headquartered Insync won in the empowering employees category for its Azure, Skype for Business, Surface Hub and Office 365 deployment to support the 380 staff working at various sites across for Central Highlands Regional Council in Quensland.

The tools for online productivity, communication and collaboration replaced a disparate legacy Nortel and Avaya system and reduced the need for staff to travel long distances previously required of them in order to services some 30,000 ratepayers.

In the customer engagement category, global IT solutions provider Avanade was awarded for its cloud-based sales and inventory insights solution developed for Treasury Wine Estates.

Avanade integrated Office 365 and other Microsoft services to help the winemaker keep track of resources and communications for its 11,000 hectares of vineyards, 3000 staff in winemaking sales and distribution across 16 countries. TWE sells 30 million cases of wines every year, generating about $1.7 million in revenue.

Microsoft Australia tapped two winners in its 'cloud for good' category, with the Cloud Collective – comprising three companies, Modality, Antares and Quorum – awarded for developing a solution to help Mission Australia’s staff streamline operations and spend more time with clients.

The other winner was Single Cell, which developed an Azure-based contracts and analytics platform for the Centre for Aboriginal Health, delivering clarity of services, patient insights and and offering potential improvements in operations.

This year, Microsoft revamed the MAPAs, rationalising the number of awards from 30 categories down to five.