It was a huge honour for Enlighten Designs to receive the Microsoft New Zealand Partner of the Year Award as part of the ceremony and celebrate our achievement, as well as the achievements of other local partners.
It was also a widely acknowledged privilege to be able to celebrate in person, in a year where we’ve all become accustomed to working from home and so much of the globe is still having to cancel in-person events and celebrate milestones in isolation.
As well as the Partner of the Year announcement, there were 10 winners in other categories on the night praised by Microsoft for “the outstanding ways they are continuing to empower customers through clever use of Microsoft technology.”
Winners included Datacom, Fusion 5, Dicker Data, Equinox IT, Interactive, Rocos, Spark, Tasman District Council, Valocity and Zespri.
Datacom and Fusion 5 both walked away with multiple awards. Fusion 5 was awarded the Business Applications and Transforming Products Awards, and Datacom took home the Cloud for Good and Azure Migrate awards.
Enlighten Designs was a finalist in the Transforming Products category for our work with Collective Upside (previously Hey Mama Movement), a wellness technology that makes home workouts fun and motivational, creates accountability and helps build positive and lasting habits for women.
We were also finalists in the Cloud for Good category for the work we’ve been doing with Our Power, a fully automated power retailer committed to delivering simple, cheap power to the community to fulfil the vision to end energy hardship in the Waikato.
Other award winners from the night included:
Azure Innovate Award
Winner: Equinox IT – Fulton Hogan
Azure Migrate Award
Winner: Datacom – Financial Markets Authority
Highly Commended: LANcom Technology – MMC
Highly Commended: The Instillery – Watercare
Business Applications Award
Winner: Fusion5 – Higher Education Centre of Excellence
Channel Development Award
Winner: Dicker Data – Microsoft Azure Cloud Solution Provider Growth
Cloud for Good Award
Winner: Datacom – Ngā Maunga Whakahii o Kaipara.
Highly Commended: Softsource – Youth Horizons
Empowering Employees Award
Winner: Information Leadership – Tasman District Council
Engaging Customers Award
Winner: NV Interactive – Te Puni Kōkiri
ISV Partner Award
Winner: Valocity – Valocity Connect
Highly Commended: Theta – EVA Check-in
Modern Work & Security Award
Winner: DEFEND – Zespri
Highly Commended: Vodafone New Zealand Limited – Bank of New Zealand
Highly Commended: UNiFY NZ Limited – Ministry of Education
Highly Commended: Lexel Systems Ltd – Alliance Group
Optimising Operations Award
Winner: Rocos – Robot Operations Platform
Surface Partner Award
Winner: Spark New Zealand – Kāinga Ora
Transforming Products Award
Winner: Fusion5 – Manawanui