Kloud, Empired, Mexia and Rhipe are leading the charge in this year's Microsoft Australia Partner Awards with multiple nominations apiece for each.
Kloud leads the way with as a finalist for five awards including excellence in enterprise social, excellence in managed services, excellence in solutions sales specialisation – where it is one of two finalists alongside Datacom Systems – along with the Technology for Social Impact Award, and the Excellence in Cloud Platform award.
Empired meanwhile is a finalist in four categories: Excellence in Cloud Customer Relationship Management, along with Excellence in Business Insights and Data , Excellence in Marketing and Excellence in Technology Solutions Specialisation, where Empired solution architect and specialist for Dynamics CRM, Guy Riddle is in the running.
Mexia is vying for the Excellence in Managed Service award – taking on Kloud and XCentral, Excellence in Regional Areas Customers award and the Excellence in Technology Solutions Specialisation Award.
Rhipe is also in the running for three awards, going head to head with Dicker Data and Ingram Micro for the Distributor of the Year gong and also vying for awards for Excellence in Licensing and Excellence in Marketing, where it will be up against UXC Eclipse and Empired, both of whom are finalists in several categories.
Microsoft Australia says it received almost 200 nominations across the 20 award categories.
“These partners and their award nominations were truly exceptional, demonstrating excellence in business and commitment to deliver cutting edge products and services built on Microsoft technologies,” Microsoft says.
Mark Leigh, Microsoft Australia SMS-P director says Microsoft's partner ecosystem is the vendor's market differentiator, with the awards program celebrating the 'transformative' solutions created by partners for customers across Australia.
"We are incredibly proud of all the finalists and the role they play in helping our customers have great experiences with Microsoft products and services," Leigh says.
Award winners will be announced at the MAPA Presentation at Australian Partner Conference 2016 in September.
MOQ Digital has already been named the Australian Country Partner of the Year winner as part of Microsoft's Worldwide Partner of the Year award program earlier this year.
The full lists of finalists is:
Emerging Partner Award: Engagis, Quorum, SixPivot
Excellence in Business Insights and Data: BizData, Empired, Expose
Excellence in Cloud Customer Relationship Management: Empired, Oakton Services, UXC Eclipse
Excellence in Cloud Platform: Ignia, Kloud Solutions, Satalyst
Excellence in Cloud Productivity: Ensyst, Readify, Thomas Duryea Consulting
Excellence in Customer Lifecycle Management: Adopt - Embrace, EPM Partners, Sensei Project Solutions
Excellence in Enterprise Social: IComm Australia, Kloud
Excellence in Learning: DDLS, MGT, New Horizons Learning Centres, Sensei Project Solutions
Excellence in Licensing Award: Data#3, Insight Enterprises Australia, Rhipe
Excellence in Managed Service: Kloud, Mexia, Xcentral
Excellence in Marketing: Empired, Rhipe, UXC Eclipse
Excellence in Mobility and Devices Award: Dilignet, iCareHealth, Thomas Duryea Consulting
Excellence in Regional Area Customers Award: Advance Computing, Mexia, Xcentral
Excellence in Small and Mid-Market Cloud Solutions Award: GCITS Technology, ONGC Systems, TTS
Excellence in Solution Sales Specialisation Award: Datacom Systems, Kloud
Excellence in Surface Reseller Award: Data#3, Datacom, Ethan Group, Staples
Excellence in Technology Solutions Specialisation Award: Empired, Ignia, Mexia
Excellence in Wholesale Distribution Award: Dicker Data, Ingram Micro, Rhipe
Technology for Social Impact Award: Avanade, Kloud, Readify
Winning Together Award: Avanade / Sitecore, Modality Systems / Telstra, Velrada Capital Pty Ltd / Sodexo Remote Sites Australia
In addition awards will be presented in September for Excellence in Industry and Platform Innovation, with four winners being announced at APC.