As hardware and communications technologies become a commodity, software applications are becoming increasingly important for organisations trying to gain the maximum return on their IT investments.

The following award categories are designed for ISVs to show how they are addressing the need for software solutions that enable organisations to improve their efficiency and effectiveness.

The judges are not looking for the cleverest software product. They are looking for specific deployments of the applications where the ISV can show an exceptional business advantage gained by the customer.

Vertical Market

Organisations across all industry and government sectors have benefited over the years from software applications specifically tailored to the needs of their business. Solutions in this category must be innovative and have given the customer a business advantage in their sector.

Business Intelligence

As organisations struggle to keep up in the fast modern business environment they are looking more and more to the software industry to help them understand their business better and make more informed decisions. This category is for Business Intelligence and Knowledge Management applications that have enabled businesses to gain an advantage from understanding and capitalising on the information they already possess in the organisation.

Information Management

Information that was traditionally held on paper and in filing cabinets is now increasingly being stored digitally. Recording, cataloguing, managing, reporting and integrating this information into real business systems is a massive issue to all businesses. This award category looks at software applications that help businesses manage digital information through its lifecycle.

Enterprise Application

Fundamental to all organisations are applications that underpin their operations. These ‘back office’ type of applications such as ERP & HR are changing rapidly as organisations strive to be more flexible and adaptive to change. This award category is designed to enable ISVs to showcase how they have developed and deployed innovative enterprise applications that make their customers more responsive and competitive.

Communications and Mobility

Communications and mobility are changing the way organisations and individuals work and interact. Underpinning this communications revolution are software applications that help service providers to deliver and bill these services, organisations to mobilise their work force and individuals to access their critical applications wherever they are located. This award is looking for the most innovative communications or mobility software solution across any industry sector.

SaaS Solution

With more and more software applications being delivered using an SOA architecture and the Software as a Service business model, this award category is designed to recognise ISVs who have most successfully adopted the SaaS model. ISVs should describe a solution for one of their customers and how it transformed their business.