Kloud, Data#3, Empired, Readify lead Microsoft award nominations

Microsoft has revealed the finalists for its annual partner awards, with winners set to be revealed at its conference later this month.

Kloud leads the charge with four nominations. The Melbourne-headquartered is a perennial favourite at Microsoft awards – it's one of only four Australian companies to win a global award this year, and also picked up two Australian wins last year.

Data#3, Empired and Readify all have three chances to win. Rounding out the dual-finalists are Avanade, SoftwareOne, UXC Eclipse and Velrada.

[Click here for the full list of finalists]

This year, the Microsoft Australia Partner Awards (MAPA) have been revamped with new award categories and a strong focus on customer stories.

Philip Goldie, director of partner business at Microsoft Australia, has previously told CRN that each partner's entry would be aligned to a specific customer case study.

In a blog post, Goldie wrote, "It’s very apparent that when customers have a stronger connection with their trusted partner, they also demonstrate a stronger commitment to products like Azure, Office 365 and CRM Online. Most importantly, together we’ve achieved the ability to delight our customers with product and solution offerings that better meet their needs."

This year's MAPAs will also recognise the Australian Partner of the Year, Readify, which received the accolade during Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference last month, where BizData, Kloud and UXC Eclipse also picked up global awards.

CRN is media partner of Microsoft APC. Find out more and register for the conference, which takes place on the Gold Coast, 31 August to 3 September.