ASEAN excels as Channel Asia unveils finalists for enhanced Innovation Awards

Channel Asia is proud to announce the finalists of an enhanced Innovation Awards in 2021, housing the largest celebration of technology ecosystem excellence in delivering transformative customer solutions across Southeast Asia.

Set for Thursday 2 December, Innovation Awards will run as a virtual celebration event to bring the ecosystem together under the Channel Asia roof. To register — click here.

Representing the entire ASEAN ecosystem, more than 220 finalists (including 65+ individuals) make the shortlist from a pool of over 90 organisations and more than 300 nominations, spanning partner, start-up, telco, vendor and distributor businesses.

This marks a significant expansion in reach, support and market appeal, outpacing a best effort of over 200 finalists in 2020 to position Innovation Awards as the leading technology awards program for customer innovation and ecosystem excellence in the ASEAN channel.

Reflective of a diverse technology network, more than 55 partners and start-ups are represented and range from large-scale multinational consultancy firms to emerging start-ups, alongside leading system integrators, managed service providers and solution consultants, plus cloud specialists, independent software vendors, boutique agencies and application developers.

This is in addition to over 30 channel-centric vendors and telecommunications providers, plus six supply chain experts in distribution.

Within this standout group, finalists are located across the entire region, spanning Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong.

Aligned to the Channel Asia approach of representing established and emerging technology providers in equal measure, Innovation Awards in 2021 stands tall as the leading forum for setting the industry benchmark for ecosystem excellence across ASEAN.

“ASEAN is once again brimming with inspiring examples of innovation yet crucially, underpinned by stoic levels of resilience,” said Cherry Yumul, vice president of Strategic Partnerships and Innovation at IDG.

“This is a market continuing to overcome ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions — some of which have been in place for more than 18 months — while battling some of the worst outbreaks of infections and encountering the most devastating societal and economic implications in the process.

“Yet this is a market which presses on unperturbed, raising the bar for industry excellence through the deployment of bleeding-edge technologies and solutions. Two words perfectly illustrates the DNA of the ASEAN technology ecosystem — tough and transformative in equal measure.”

In 2021, Innovation Awards will honour the channel across eight categories, spanning Partner Innovation, Tech Innovation, ASEAN-wide Innovation, Start-up Innovation, Personal Innovation, Vendor Innovation, Distributor Innovation and Hall of Fame.

In streamlining the program, the aim is to increase focus on the pace-setters of the local market, those revving up the innovation engine and powering ahead in the delivery of transformative solutions and services.

One new category introduced is ASEAN-wide Innovation which recognises partners headquartered in Southeast Asia delivering customer value and transformation.

“Customer innovation is no longer a marketing slogan, rather a refreshing reality in ASEAN given the wealth of transformative projects and examples of best practice featured in 2021,” Yumul added.

“The strong calibre of submissions is testament to the ecosystem’s innovation and creativity in the face of adversity. We are especially honoured to highlight the solid performance hailing from all markets across the region – we are proud to represent Southeast Asia in its enduring and inspiring entirety.”

Other award additions include Think Differently, acknowledging partners operating beyond transactional engagement to deploy creative and unique solutions in the pursuit of customer transformation.

Specific to distribution, Creativity will acknowledge distributors delivering outside-of-the-box initiatives to enhance vendor value propositions and spearhead partner innovation efforts, aligned to the collective goal of driving ecosystem growth.

In response to a wealth of standout submissions, Personal Innovation has been divided to best acknowledge and highlight the depth of talent in the ASEAN market. Technical Excellence, Sales Excellence and Management Excellence will be segmented into two sub-categories spanning Partner and Vendor / Distributor awards.

This decision was made by the IDG shortlist panel consisting of Cherry Yumul (vice president of Strategic Partnerships and Innovation); James Henderson (Editorial Director) and Julia Talevski (Senior Journalist) with the aim of providing a foundation upon which a broader range of exceptional individuals can be recognised.

In addition to honouring winners, Channel Asia also holds wider responsibility for ensuring as many credible technology providers and individuals are endorsed through this unique awards program, aligned to the collective goal of providing a platform upon which the ecosystem can shine across Southeast Asia.

Finalists will now be selected by an executive judging panel of business leaders from partner, vendor and distributor organisations.

Channel Asia congratulates all finalists and thanks all organisations and individuals for taking the time to submit nominations.

PARTNER INNOVATION

Partner Innovation recognises customer innovation and excellence across the key market segments of Enterprise, Mid-Market and SMB, in addition to pioneering technology specialists and collaborative providers.

Enterprise:

• Blazeclan Technologies
• Cloud Comrade
• Crayon
• Exigo Tech
• FPT Telecom
• Nera (Philippines)
• ViBiCloud
• Mitra Integrasi Informatika (MII)
• Techolution
• TechX

Mid-Market:

• Cloud Comrade
• FPT Software
• ISS Consulting
• Netpluz Asia
• NTT Data Business Solutions
• Mitra Integrasi Informatika (MII)
• Searce
• Techolution
• Telstra Purple

SMB:

• Cloud Comrade
• Logicalis
• Netpluz Asia
• Mitra Integrasi Informatika (MII)

Think Differently:

• Customer Capital Consulting 
• Delaware Consulting 
• DXC Technology
• NTT Data Business Solutions
• Mitra Integrasi Informatika (MII)
• Searce
• Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)

Collaboration:

• FPT Software
• Mitra Integrasi Informatika (MII)