Microsoft names ANZ Partner of the Year award winners

Microsoft has unveiled the Australia and New Zealand winners for the 2022 Partner of the Year Awards.

"Celebrated as part of our largest annual partner event, Microsoft Inspire, these prestigious awards recognise partners across the globe for their innovative use of Microsoft technologies to help customers succeed," says Rachel Bondi, chief partner officer, Partner Solutions Group, Microsoft Australia - New Zealand

This year's awards were the most successful for ANZ partners. Collectively, they won a record five awards, and a further 14 companies were finalists.

The 2022 awards were hotly contested – more than 3900 Microsoft partners from over 126 countries submitted nominations. The 58 awards given out recognised everything from partner excellence in cloud to edge technologies, to entrepreneurial spirit and social impact.

"Our ANZ partners' success highlights their ability to help customers build new capabilities and achieve true innovation by applying creative thinking and leveraging the latest technology. Their achievements are deserving of recognition on the global stage," says Bondi.

EY Australia was chosen as Microsoft's Partner of the Year for Australia. 
"EY's commitment to increasing the diversity of talent in the STEM workforce across all service lines and sectors, with a focus on women in technology, was exceptional," says Bondi.

"Its use of AI to monitor water drainage and vegetation growth using satellite imagery proved the power of technology in shaping the future and redefining the human experience. In addition, EY's Document Intelligence Platform can extract insights quickly and automatically from relevant data in all types of documents, while helping to avoid fraud that is now also being explored with banks in Australia, Singapore and beyond."

DEFEND was named Microsoft's Partner of the Year for New Zealand.

"The cybersecurity specialist has reshaped the security landscape in New Zealand, working in true partnership with organisations on their cyber resiliency so they can continue to operate, innovate, and adapt securely to new ways of working," says Bondi.

"DEFEND helped Foodstuffs North Island (FSNI) build a best-in-class, modern and secure supply chain. This enabled FSNI to ensure that food was on shelves during COVID-19 and spend more time focusing on higher-value areas of the business."

Barhead Solutions won the Community Response award in the Social Impact category. The specialised consulting firm worked with NSW Police to develop an application called RISEUP that streamlines police and case workers' engagement with disaffected and at-risk youth. Barhead also worked with not-for-profit organisations to deploy the By-Name List (BNL) 2.0 app, which is designed to combat rising homelessness across the state, as part of the End Street Sleeping Collaboration. RISEUP and BNL 2.0 leverage Microsoft Power Platform and Microsoft Dynamics 365. Use of the solutions has enabled local teams to reach over one million youths in NSW and assess the needs of people sleeping rough in more than 120 local government areas.

Data#3 was named Device Partner Distributor/Reseller of the Year. The company is one of the world's largest Microsoft device resellers and ANZ's largest Microsoft Surface Hub 2S reseller. While Data#3 has been impacted by supply shortages over the last 12 months, it has achieved 53 per cent year-on-year growth in PC sales. The company has also established a team of Surface Sales Specialists to drive additional business growth and introduced its unique Device as a Service in Australia.

Engage Squared claimed the Employee Experience award in the Modern Work category. The company has completed 232 projects for 136 clients over the past 12 months, as it continues to support organisations on their digital transformation journeys. Engage Squared has maintained its position as the number one Microsoft Teams partner in Australia. It is also the go-to partner for Microsoft Viva in ANZ and Asia, having helped the likes of Cricket Australia, The Star and Transport for NSW deploy the platform to enhance their employee experience.

Modis took home the Inclusion Changemaker award in the Social Impact category. The global technology and smart industry solutions business uses Microsoft products and services to drive digital transformation for its customers. Modis developed the Yarning app to improve communication between law enforcement officers in Western Australia and Aboriginal communities across the state. Using Microsoft Power Platform, the app allows officers to select and play key messages to Aboriginal people in their first language. Yarning also helps users to grow the database of supported languages, phrases and regions. The app empowers Aboriginal people in Western Australia to engage with community and better access services.

Myriad Technologies won the Defense - Intelligence award in the Industry category for its Secure Search and Information Exchange (S2IX). The commercial, off-the-shelf product provides a common pattern for defence organisations to deliver decision superiority across enterprise and battle operations. S2IX uses an array of Microsoft technologies, including Azure, PowerBI, Office 365 and SharePoint, as well as third-party tools. By driving digital transformation from fixed networks to the tactical edge, and addressing the modern-day challenges of defence organisations, Myriad has unlocked several significant global opportunities.

"A big congratulations to all of this year's global award winners for your brilliant and ingenious work," Bondi says.

I'm so proud to be celebrating the success of Microsoft's ANZ partner community. Their unwavering commitment to deliver impactful solutions for customers is truly inspiring," she says.

"I look forward to continuing our relationship with these incredible organisations as they drive a stronger innovation agenda in Australia, New Zealand and across the globe."

ANZ partners that were finalists in their respective categories:

ASI Solutions – Surface PC Reseller
BizData – Healthcare - Life Sciences
Eighty20 Solutions – Modern Endpoint Management
Enlighten Designs – Power BI
FiveP – Modern Workplace for Frontline Workers
Flintfox – Dynamics 365 Finance
Generation-e – Meetings, Calling - Devices for Microsoft Teams
Lynkz – AI
Quorum – Security
Rapid Circle – Community Response
Resolution Technology – Modern Workplace for SMB
rhipe – Operational Excellence
Velrada – Dynamics 365 Customer Service - Field Service
Vodafone Next Generation Services Limited – Meetings, Calling - Devices for Microsoft Teams