Innovative technology is one of the key elements the
judges looked for in selecting the winners for the Project
Excellence category of theBCS
IT Industry Awards, says Steve Markwell, chief
executive at NCC and chair of the judges for the Project Excellence
Awards. "We were looking for exciting projects that delivered
evidence of real business results or social benefits, and we were
not disappointed. It was a real challenge to select these winners
and medallists."
Mobile Technology
A potentially life-saving mobile patient care reporting system
won the Mobile Technology Award supported by the CMA. Siren ePCR,
CSC's emergency care system for ambulance services, is used by the
NHS in the North, Midlands and East of England. The system is
delivered with software developer Medusa.
Siren ePCR, which is installed on touch-screen tablet PCs used
by ambulance staff, records patient information such as blood
pressure and ECG statistics using wireless technology. This gives
paramedics the ability to access a summary of the patient's notes
to help them determine the best course of treatment, often negating
the need to take the patient to A&E.
Already in use by three of the six ambulance service trusts
under the CSC NHS contract, it is hoped the system will be deployed
to all 2,500 ambulances and up to 20,000 staff in the North,
Midlands and East of England in two to three years.
Markwell says, "Although it is still early days, this project is
overcoming traditional boundaries with proven mobile technology and
giving enormous long-term potential to save lives and money."
Through its CSC Alliance, CSC has combined the skills and
capabilities of a world-class group of companies, each with a track
record in public sector and healthcare IT, to deliver the NHS
National Programme for IT, of which this project is part.
Medallists in this category were Mobyko.com by Mobyko and Tesco
Next Generation Network by Deloitte.
Research & Development
A one-man company collected the first Research & Development
Award for tackling the problem of rendering convincing real-time
simulated weather effects - a longstanding challenge in computer
graphics.
The Simul Weather SDK by Simul Software renders real-time,
volumetric, dynamic clouds and weather effects for games and
simulations. The software offers the possibility for the first time
to have convincing 3D clouds and weather effects, constantly moving
and changing as they do in real life on the computer screen as part
of a computer game or simulation. The clouds can reflect
time-of-day changes on a frame-by-frame basis as physically correct
lighting is calculated from time of day, year and global
location.
The software has been developed to offer high-performance and
visual quality with limited use of CPU and graphics hardware
resources.
Markwell says, "This is a highly creative and innovative
solution to a well known and difficult computational problem. It is
applicable in a wide range of graphics-based industries, such as
simulation games and movies."
Simul Software was founded in 2007 by Roderick Kennedy. He
operates the company with a determination to compete in the
international market and show the world that Britain is leading the
way in research and development.
Medallists in this category were BT Intelligent Video Delivery
and BT Real-time Platform Analysis Dashboard.
Information Security and Data Management
Information has become one of the currencies of modern society,
moving information assurance from the IT department and onto the
agenda in the boardroom. One threat for many organisations is loss
of information through e-mail systems. One stray e-mail can give
competitors a potential source of vital facts or seriously damage a
reputation at the press of the send button.
MessageLabs collected the Ricoh Information Security and Data
Management Award for helping organisations to combat this threat
with its Policy Based Encryption (PBE) service.
MessageLabs' PBE service enables organisations of any size to
create highly flexible and sophisticated rules for the encryption
of outbound e-mails, preventing the loss of confidential data
through either accidental or deliberate e-mailing activity,
facilitating regulatory compliance. The service provides easy
access to encrypted e-mails through a wide choice of delivery
mechanisms, including push and pull methodologies, and recipients
do not require specialist knowledge or tools to read their
mail.
Judge Louise Bennett, chair of the BCS Security Forum, explains,
"This service gives businesses the ability to take responsibility
for the security of all personal and sensitive data that they
transmit in e-mails. At the same time, it enhances the confidence
of message recipients, be they individuals or organisations,
because their data is protected without having to invest in, or
understand, high-quality security technology."
PBE is the only service to offer encryption that integrates with
three leading encryption suppliers. This integration allows for a
seamless service, which can ensure complete and secure delivery of
encrypted e-mail to any recipient, whatever their operating system,
device or location.
Medallists in this category were Norwegian e-Health
Infrastructure based on XML by Xenos Europe and Mobile Stop and
Search by Arrk Group and Airwave.
Social Contribution & Business to Business
An innovative application from Concentra, C-PORT (Chemotherapy
Planning Oncology Resource Tool), was a double winner at this
year's awards, walking away with the project excellence awards for
Social Contribution and Business to Business, sponsored by IBM.
C-PORT applies advanced modelling techniques to tackle the
problem of chemotherapy capacity planning. It uses leading-edge
techniques in simulation to forecast how each patient will
experience care, how long they wait, whom they see, and when. It
creates, in simulated form, real life events that influence
treatment, such as equipment breakdowns, phone calls, meetings and
absenteeism.
Markwell says, "This project was a clear winner in both
categories. C-PORT was voted winner of the Social Contribution
Award because it represents a major contribution to cancer care and
NHS reputation. It gives real world analysis to help the NHS
improve quality of care and save lives."
The project brings a wide range of benefits for all those
involved, especially patients, who benefit from shorter waiting
times on their chemotherapy treatment and improved access to new
therapies.
In addition, the project allows the NHS to have a standardised
way of evaluating the impact of new drugs, plan resources, manage
its business planning and change working practices
The web-based tool is available in more than 160 hospitals
across 34 NHS networks. As well as gaining endorsement at the top
of the NHS as an essential tool to improve cancer service delivery,
it has been welcomed by clinicians, pharmacists, nurses and
managers.
A landmark level of co-operation among an extensive team of
stakeholders ensured the project was a success. Organisations
involved in delivering this project ranged from pharmaceutical
companies, NHS Cancer Networks, the NHS Cancer Services
Collaborative and the Cancer Action Team of the Department of
Health through to the IT sector, supported by consultants AT
Kearney and primary technology partner Concentra.
Chris Sharp of IBM explains, "One of the reasons IBM sponsors
the Business to Business award is to raise awareness of the
positive impact that technology can have on our lives. C-PORT is an
excellent example of this.
"It is impressive how advanced mathematical modelling has been
brought to bear on the complex scheduling problem of chemotherapy
capacity planning, in a way that can empower everyone involved in
the delivery process, from NHS planners to the nursing staff
working with the patients, to help improve the delivery of care. It
is an excellent example of a project that has a real business and
social benefit."
Social Contribution medallists were Emotional Support through
SMS by Samaritans and Charity Technology Exchange by Charity
Technology Trust.
Business to Business medallists were the LINKFresh solution for
Produce World by Anglia Business Solutions and Greenstone Acco2unt
by Greenstone Carbon Management.
Web-based Technology
C-PORT was not the only double award winner in the Project
Excellence section.
Garlik's DataPatrol
project collected the Web-based Technology Award and the
coveted
BT Flagship
Award for Innovation. DataPatrol is the world's first semantic
technology platform that aims to give consumers power over their
privacy and identity online.
Medallists in the Web-based Technology Award were the
StrategyEye Subscription Platform by StrategyEye and Used Vehicle
Search Implementation by Trader Media Digital.
Photos from the awards ceremony
Photos of the
BCS IT Awards 2008 winners (part 1) >>
Photos of the
BCS IT Awards 2008 winners (part 2) >>
Photos of IT folk enjoying themselves at the BCS awards dinner
>>
Profiles of award winners
BT Flagship
Award for Innovation winner >>
Individual Excellence
Award winners >>
Organisational Excellence
Award winners >>
Green Award
winners >>
More information about the BCS IT Industry Awards can be found
on the
BCS awards
website.