I can’t tell you how delighted I am to share the exciting news about our New Zealand partners who have performed brilliantly in Microsoft’s global Partner of the Year Awards.
The competition for these awards is both intense and international – more than 4,400 submissions from 100 countries – and the calibre of submissions from Kiwi Microsoft partners is testament to our ability to punch above our weight on the global stage.
I’m particularly thrilled about the New Zealand success in modern workplace and health solutions – these are areas where our technology combined with partner smarts and commitment can make such a huge impact for our clients, especially in a year of massive disruption.
As more and more organisations have had to find new, smart and safe ways to work, to meet shifting customer expectations, and also to lay the digital foundations for future innovation, it’s been deeply impressive to see the impact our partners are having across Aotearoa and the world.
We have also announced our New Zealand Partner of the Year and, for the first time, our Growth Partner for New Zealand. Well done to all our winners and nominees!
Fusion5 was named New Zealand Partner of the Year. Fusion5 is a mighty New Zealand partner punching above its weight by blending Microsoft technologies – Dynamics 365, Azure, and Power Platform – to transform customers across many sectors in Australia and New Zealand including the education sector.
Right now, Fusion5 has transformations underway with 90 per cent of New Zealand’s universities, creating frameworks that ensure a strong return on investment and ultimately improve enrolment numbers and student outcomes. Again and again, Fusion5 develops solutions that allow organisations to get past their own operations, in order to properly focus on their own customers’ needs.
In addition, our global category winners were:
- Mobile Mentor was named winner of the Modern Endpoint Management category. When the US Coast Guard, Mayo Clinic, Vanderbilt Health and the New Zealand Defence Force needed an Intune partner – they came to Mobile Mentor. Meanwhile in its engagement with Alive Hospice, Mobile Mentor helped implement Zero-Touch Provisioning – the ability to configure a new laptop, tablet or smartphone, without anyone from IT having to touch the device before the user opens the box – delivering life-saving benefits for the Hospice and the patients in its care during the pandemic.
- Dicker Data NZwas named a finalist in the Indirect Provider category. Dicker Data is a leading distributor of hardware, software and IoT solutions for resellers in New Zealand. After the disruption of 2020, Dicker Data aligned with Microsoft strategy, using a combination of Ascent data, local market knowledge and Microsoft 365 to help its partners deliver digital transformation to small and medium businesses. It’s a win-win-win approach, which benefits partners, their customers, and the sector as a whole.
Congratulations to all the winners for your absolutely outstanding efforts.
I also want to highlight the incredible work of Auror, which is the inaugural recipient of the New Zealand Growth Partner award. This new award recognises significant progress by a New Zealand partner that has demonstrated exemplary values and achievements and serves as a beacon to other partners. Auror is a New Zealand SaaS company doing phenomenally well on the world stage, working with huge global retailers to help protect companies from the $100B worth of crime-related losses every year. The speed of its success is testament to the power of its solution. From four stores in its first year, Auror has now grown to serve more than 10,000 stores in less than a decade.
Our Partner of the Year awards are designed to showcase the importance of the work our partners and their teams undertake and the impact that they have brought to bear. There is impressive momentum across the entire partner community in New Zealand, and I am confident that we can build on this success and continue to grow by delighting clients in the coming 12 months.