SAN JOSE, Calif., October 28, 2003 - A California winery, a Canadian school district, and an Illinois packaging manufacturer are among this year's winners of the Cisco Growing with Technology Awards. Cisco Systems® today announced the winners of its annual awards, which recognize small and medium-sized business (SMB) owners for their unique adoption of networking solutions to drive business success.
One grand-prize winner and two runners-up in each of five categories were selected from more than 500 applications received by Cisco® for this year's contest.
Though all applicants exhibited a distinct level of excellence in the development of their solutions, representatives from Cisco worked with a diverse panel of industry experts to narrow the broad field and select the 15 winning companies."The Cisco Growing with Technology Award program allows SMBs to reflect upon how technology benefits their operations and highlights how they can take advantage of information technology (IT) for greater efficiency and competitive advantage," said Mika Krammer, research vice president at Gartner Group, and one of the contest's judges. "The winners demonstrated that IT investments need not be overly complex, and that some of today's solutions tailored for growing businesses really do deliver added value and greater returns."The winners of the Cisco Growing with Technology Awards 2003 include:
Innovators in Customer Relationship- Grand Prize: D.W. Morgan (47 employees), based in Pleasanton, Calif.
- Runners-up: Pearl Law Group (30 employees), based in San Francisco, Calif.; and Bidz.com (120 employees), based in Culver City, Calif.
Winners in this category are recognized for their creativity in using the Internet and networking technologies to provide greater value to their customers and increase customer loyalty and customer retention through better customer service.
Innovators in E-Commerce- Grand Prize: Corrugated Supplies (110 employees), based in Bedford Park, Ill.
- Runners-up: Coastal Photography (7 employees), based in Greenville, N.C.; and Metrobank (65 employees), based in Farmington Hills, Mich.
Winners in this category are recognized for their creativity in using the Internet and networking technologies to conduct transactions through the Web resulting in increased sales and wider geographical reach.
Innovators in Non-Profit/Public Sector- Grand Prize: School District #67 of Okanagan Skaha (812 employees), based in Penticton, British Columbia
- Runners-up: Compumentor (80 employees), based San Francisco, Calif.; and Dept. of IT, Riverside (267 employees), based in Riverside, Calif.
Winners in this category are recognized for their creativity in using the Internet and networking technologies to provide a broader geographical reach of services, expand or maintain services, or serve their employees, donors, volunteers or clients better.
Innovators in Operational Excellence- Grand Prize: Yurcor (520 employees), based in Delray Beach, Fla.
- Runners-up: World Wide Tech (475 employees), based in Maryland Heights, Mo.; and Rocket Software (210 employees), based in Sudbury, Mass.
Winners in this category are recognized for their creativity in using the Internet and networking technologies to enhance, simplify and improve their internal operations and business-to-business relations, resulting in more productive and efficient processes.
Innovators in Sales and Marketing- Grand Prize: Garrod Farms (5 employees), based in Saratoga, Calif.
- Runners-up: Lathian (34 employees), based in Newport Beach, Calif.; and Pronexus (30 employees), based Ottawa, Ontario
Winners in this category are recognized for their creativity in using the Internet and networking technologies to position their product or service and promote themselves through continued advertising, public relations, marketing and sales efforts.
The winners were recognized during an awards presentation ceremony last night at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. Grand-prize winners receive US$25,000 worth of Cisco networking equipment, and one complimentary Cisco networking assessment and consultation valued at $3,000. The first runners-up receive $15,000 worth of Cisco networking equipment, and the second runners-up receive $10,000 worth of Cisco networking equipment. In addition, winners will receive recognition through post-awards marketing outreach efforts
"We believe that SMBs are looking for the opportunity to use information technology, to make them more productive, efficient and effective, said Peter Alexander, vice president of Commercial Market Segment, Cisco Systems. "The Cisco Growing with Technology Award program recognizes these businesses. The winners are established business leaders and industry role models that have reaped the benefits and realized the value from their investment in IT."
Members of this year's panel of 10 judges include: Josh Hyatt, executive editor, FSB: Fortune Small Business Magazine; Mika Krammer, research vice president, Gartner Group; Ray Boggs, vice president of Small/Medium Business Research, IDC; Sean Burke, director of network operations, inChord Communications; Dan Levin, vice president and general manager, Intuit; Elspeth Jane Murray, assistant professor, Queen's University (Canada); Sam Steinhardt, executive director of Center for Innovations in Learning at Stanford University; Mark Quinn, district director, U.S. Small Business Administration; Rich Riley, vice president and general manager, Yahoo! Small Business; and Joe Diodati, senior director of Commercial Marketing, Cisco Systems.
For further details on the Cisco Growing with Technology Awards, please visit www.cisco.com/grownow.
