This year's BCS IT professional award winners range from
a door-to-door blinds retailer using smartphone technology to an
effective online rail booking service
Successful IT comes in many guises, as was shown by the parade
of winners at last week's British Computer Society IT Professional
Awards, held at the Hilton on London's Park Lane.
The winners ranged from a door-to-door blinds retailer, which
won for its use of smartphone technology to link up its salesforce,
to an online national rail booking service that has proved truly
reliable and effective.
The awards, which honour IT innovation and personal ingenuity
across every part of public life - business, academia, government
and public service - spanned five headline categories: business
achievement, technological innovation, professional development,
individual excellence and, rather more narrowly, successful
adherence to the e-Government Interoperability Framework
(e-GIF).
Charles Hughes, the society's president-elect, said this year's
awards had proved more demanding than ever to judge, reflecting an
"increase yet again in the number and quality of entries from every
sector".
He said he was pleased the judging process had highlighted "a
clear thread of professionalism which strongly supports the BCS's
current programme on professionalism in IT".
Hughes singled out the mobile sector as one characterised by
striking developments and innovations for the business community in
the past 12 months. This was reflected in the BCS's inaugural
mobile computing award - a category that produced "a great deal of
debate", said Martin Ballard, director at the Mobile Computing
Association and a member of the award judging panel.
Ballard said the four shortlisted medallists were "strong and
worthy category winners in their own right", but the prize went to
eCourier, which was described as successfully blending the best of
mobile technology with the web to offer an innovative
parcel-tracking service.
Hughes said the awards process had "acted as a vivid reminder
that information and communication technology underpins everything
we all do across every sector".
The BCS has enjoyed a strong upturn in membership numbers, with
newcomers adding to its 50,000-strong membership at the rate of
more than 1,000 a month. Hughes said IT had to be seen to be ever
more inclusive to build on its recent gains and to lay to rest the
negative image the industry had once had.
David Morriss, president of the BCS, said it had been a "tough
challenge" given the quality of the 300-plus entrants to arrive at
the final shortlist of 94 medallists. He hailed the winners as "a
shining example of how the UK is driving European technology
innovation and professionalism".
PRESIDENT'S AWARDS
The Symantec Mobile Computing
Award
eCourier
Women in IT Award
Sopra Newell & Budge
BUSINESS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
These awards
consider the impact, effectiveness and management of IT projects
undertaken in UK organisations:
Flagship Award
Post Office (Network Banking II - Chip & PIN)
Public sector & not for profit
Rail Settlement Plan (National Reservations Service)
Financial and related services
Post Office
(Network Banking II - Chip & PIN)
Commercial and industrial
Hillarys Blinds
(Sales Advisor Mobilisation (SAM))
The Microsoft Business Achievement Award - Small
Organisations
Mothersbliss.com(Business Process
Automation)
TECHNOLOGY AWARDS
The BCS Technology
Awards 2005 highlight excellence in computing within the context of
business development and social benefit
The BT Innovation Flagship Award for
Technology
Vulcan Solutions (Vulcan)
Applications Category
Vulcan Solutions
(Vulcan)
Services Category
Hillarys Blinds(Sales
Advisor Mobilisation (SAM))
Systems Category
Parallel (Developing
SatManage)
The Ramesys Technology Award for Social
Contribution
LogicaCMG (Instant Energy)
INDIVIDUAL EXCELLENCE AWARDS
These awards
recognise the talent and leadership of individuals who are helping
to make a difference to their companies and clients, as well as to
the UK IT industry at large
IT director of the year (249 or fewer
employees)
Lee Hendricks, Anite Public Sector
Capgemini IT director of the year (250 employees or
more)
Ailsa Beaton, Metropolitan Police Service
Young IT practitioner of the year
Andrew
McAnulla, BTL Group
IT trainer of the year
Andrew Driver,
Parity Training
IT consultant of the year
John Webb,
Xantus Consulting
The PMR project manager of the year
Beverley Dunn, Post Office
The JPMorgan business analyst of the year
Phil Swallow, The Royal Bank of Scotland Group
IT developer of the year:
applications
David Carty, Wizdome
IT developer of the year:
infrastructure
Gary Wass, Abbey
Marval IT service manager of the year
Tony Palmer, Yell
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AWARDS
These
awards highlight excellence in developing working practices and
raising standards in UK businesses
Best newly implemented scheme
West
Dumbartonshire Council
Best established scheme
Deloitte
THE e-GIF ACCREDITATION AWARDS
These
awards highlight excellence in adherence to the e-Government
Interoperability Framework (e-GIF)
e-GIF Accreditation Authority public sector
award
Department for Education and Skills - Data
Services Group
e-GIF Accreditation Authority private sector
award
Lorien Public Sector
www.bcs.org/awards/professional