Software giant Microsoft last week awarded its partners at the annual Partner Network Awards gala dinner in Johannesburg.
Listed information technology provider Gijima hogged the limelight, winning six awards on the night, including the Desktop Partner of the Year, Unified Communications Partner of the Year and Public Sector Partner of the Year awards.
The other big winners on the night were information management specialists Intervate and Karabina Business Technology Systems, who both walked away with five awards on the night - with Karabina also winning the coveted Managing Director's award for Partner of the Year.
The finalists in the nearly 30 categories were chosen from hundreds of entries submitted by partners across the country, and the winners were selected on their dedicated use of Microsoft technologies to provide solutions for their customers' needs.
Intervate won the Services Partner of the Year, Customer Experience Partner of the Year, Content Management Partner of the Year and Portals and Collaboration Partner of the Year awards, while Karabina's other wins included Business Intelligence Partner of the Year and Dynamics CRM Partner of the Year.
Other notable winners were Fox IT's three awards, including ISV/Software Partner of the Year, Dimension Data's Large Account Reseller of the Year award and hosting specialists Global Micro Solutions, whose cloud credentials were underlined by being named Hosting Partner of the Year for a third successive year.
"We're incredibly fortunate to work with outstanding partners that continue to bring incredible value and innovation to not only the companies they serve, but the entire marketplace," said Munir Kundakci, head of the SMB solutions and partners at Microsoft SA.
"The high standard of entries received for the awards demonstrates clearly that our partners are delivering real business solutions to our customers through tight economic times and tremendous change."
Speaking following the award, Migal van As, chairman of Intervate said: "We are extremely proud to have achieved such phenomenal success in 2012. Although this is the seventh consecutive year of Intervate's Microsoft Partner Awards achievements, it is the first time we have won five awards.
"It is testimony to Intervate's dedication to working closely with Microsoft and our policy of ensuring best practice service delivery and customer experience in all competencies".
Meanwhile, Global Micro Solutions, a Johannesburg-based managed services firm and hosted infrastructure IT provider, was recognised by Microsoft in the Hosting Partner of the Year category.
"It is with great pleasure and pride that we receive this award from Microsoft. For us, the acknowledgement from Microsoft signifies that our product focus is well-aligned with that of Microsoft and that we are designing products that suit the evolving needs of our customers," says JJ Milner, MD of Global Micro Solutions.
Global Micro claims it has a strong reseller partner network and, through this, is able to design and customise solutions that meet the requirements of each of the verticals that its resellers work with. Customisation is essential to the success of each implementation.
Nick Keene, cloud sales manager at Microsoft SA: "Congratulations to Global Micro for winning the Hosting Partner of the year award 2012. Global Micro is a strategic partner for Microsoft's Cloud Strategy and has been engaged at multiple levels with numerous projects as we transition into the cloud."
Also awarded was managed ICT services provider, the Integr8 Group, which won the Mid-market Solution Provider of the Year Competency Award.
This award honours partners who use Microsoft technology in innovative ways to deploy critical infrastructure solutions serving customers in the mid-market businesses.
Microsoft says Integr8 demonstrated innovative excellence and proficiency in deploying solutions that leverage the Microsoft technology stack scaled for mid-sized businesses.
"The company's winning differentiator was a clear articulation of how the solution significantly helps mid-market businesses with their unique challenges and save money and be competitive," stated organisers of the award.
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