Victorian businesses dominate IT awards
Announcement posted by Excom Education 17 Sep 2009
The smart state is how the Victorian Government likes to promote itself. And with five of the 10 finalists in the 2009 Dell Small Business Excellence Awards being from Victoria may add to the Government’s claim.
The awards recognise IT innovation in the small to medium business sector. The 10 finalists are:
- Connect Language Services (VIC)
- QSR International (VIC)
- Tgarage (VIC)
- Catalogue Central (VIC)
- The Personnel Risk Management Group (VIC)
- Fusion Books (WA)
- Veritas Engineering (WA)
- Flexischool Systems (NSW)
- Sydney Writers’ Centre (NSW)
- BuyaShed.com.au (QLD)
“To have 50 per cent of the finalists from one state is a little unusual, but they had the most compelling entries,’’ said Graeme Newey, Director of Excom Education and one of the award’s judges.
“Small to medium businesses need to be just as technology savvy as larger businesses as it can have an even greater impact on their bottom line. Having well-trained IT employees that are innovative and knowledgeable on existing and emerging technologies in order to succeed in today’s economic climate is critical to that,’’ he said.
SMBs are the lifeblood of the Australian economy with about 1.93 million small businesses, representing 96 per cent of all businesses in the country.[1]
The Dell Small Business Excellence Award is now in its sixth year in the United States and second year in Australia.
Dell is partnering with Excom Education and the Small Business Enterprise Association of Australia and New Zealand (SEAANZ) on the award and to bring together SMB professionals in practice, education and training.
Kym Houden, Managing Director of Task Retail Technology and the inaugural winner of the 2008 Dell Small Business Excellence Award, said winning was testimony to Task Retail Technology’s commitment to IT and training.
“Constant staff training is one of the most important things that an organisation can do for its employees. Ensuring that employees are constantly up-to-date with new knowledge from training and creating new skill sets helps keep them interested in their career with the company, which will ultimately contribute to our company’s ongoing success,” said Ms Houden.
“By doing this, we have been fortunate to retain over 95 per cent of our staff in the past 10 years. We attribute this to the company culture and our long-term commitment to employees.”
This year’s 10 finalists cover a gamut of industries such as education, engineering, software, online catalogues and outdoor products.
“The breadth of entrants and finalists show that innovative use of IT can add value to a successful business in any sector,” said Mr Newey. “The 10 finalists in the 2009 award are a testament to the world-leading use of technology by Australian small business across a wide range of industries and sizes.”
“In today’s economy, these businesses are proof that smart IT investments can not only pay off for the business itself, but for their customers as well,” said Deborah Harrigan, general manager of Dell Small and Medium Business for Australia and New Zealand.”
“This year’s finalists are applying technology in new, innovative ways – often for the first time in their industries – to break new ground and raise the bar. They serve as strong examples for all our customers of the positive impact IT can have on business success and customer satisfaction.”
The winner of the 2009 Dell Small Business Excellence Awards stands to win:
- US$25,000 in Dell products and services;
- Day of best-practice sharing with Dell executives, including Chairman and CEO Michael Dell;
- Training vouchers from Excom Education to the value of AU$9000;
- One year membership to SEAANZ, and registration for 2 persons to the annual SEAANZ conference in Wellington, New Zealand valued at approximately AU$2000
The winner of the 2009 Dell Small Business Excellence Awards will be announced on 22 September 2009. The winner will represent Australia against 12 other national winners from Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States in the 2009 Global Dell Small Business Excellence Award with the global winner to be announced in November this year in the US.
- Release Ends -
Media enquiries to Grant Titmus or Michelle Bong at Red Agency on (03) 9670 8350 or grant.titmus@redagency.com.au / michelle.bong@redagency.com.au
About Excom Education
Excom Education is an internationally recognised IT technical training provider with education centres in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Canberra, Adelaide, Singapore and Auckland. The company employs the largest base of certified trainers in the region and provides an extensive range of IT technical training courses and certification in Microsoft, VMware, Cisco, ITIL, EC-Council, Novell, Linux, SDI and CompTIA technologies to enterprise and commercial organisations as well as government. For more information on Excom, visit www.excom.com.au
[1] ABS Counts of Australian Businesses, Including Entries and Exits, June 2003 to June 2007 – 8165.0, Table 13 p 18.