Award Schemes – worthy or worthless? by Pat Costello ICT Cluster Manager & Principal Lecturer, School of Computing and IT, University of Wolverhampton
Author: Pat Costello
Last Updated: 10/1/2009 5:12:55 PM
Summary
How can you earn respect from business peers, increase sales and boost team morale all in one go? One way is by winning an industry award. There’s no question that it requires an investment of time, but if you believe your company is a potential winner, then the rewards really are significant.
Article
How can you earn respect from business peers, increase sales and
boost team morale all in one go? One way is by winning an
industry award. There's no question that it requires an
investment of time, but if you believe your company is a potential
winner, then the rewards really are significant.
The benefits range from increased visibility and positive
perception of your company, products and services to the creation
of a valuable marketing and sales tool offering reassurance to
customers and prospects. The endorsement can be used on
everything from the website, to sales collateral to invoices.
It's not just the winners that can take advantage of the
recognition but any organisation that becomes shortlisted or a
finalist.
There are a whole host of schemes worth entering run by
professional bodies, publishing companies and government
organisations. Searching the internet is a good starting
point or it's possible to subscribe to a specialist awards alert
service which will notify you when a relevant scheme is
launched.
There are technology focused schemes including the ' UK IT
Industry Awards', run by the British Computer Society, and vertical
market awards for IT being used in sectors such as manufacturing,
retail or finance. They generally include categories for
private and public sector, innovation, growth and usage.
In addition to technology awards, there are a range of national
and regional business awards as well as schemes focused solely on
recognising the achievements of small businesses and start-ups.
One of the biggest regional IT award schemes is the ICT
Excellence Awards run by Advantage West Midlands. It's free
to enter and includes categories for Best Innovative Product, Best
Innovative Service, Best Added Value Product, Best Added Value
Service, Best Added Value Project, Best Knowledge Transfer Project
and Most Improved Business. The deadline for entry is 2 October
with the overall winner receiving £2,000.
In 2008, 29 local companies were recognised at the awards
including Wolverhampton-based W3 Insights which won the Best
Private Sector Project Award and was highly commended in the Best
Innovative Service Award category for its 'Cassandra' service to
education. Some of the previous winners of the ICT Excellence
Awards have also gone on to receive recognition in other events
including Rapide Communications, the Overall Champions in 2008, who
became National winners of the Chamber Awards 2008 and were
finalists in the 2009 National Business Awards.
There's no question that competition in many of the awards can
be fierce so it's important to spend time on your entry to give
yourself the best chance. Firstly, read through the
categories and find the one that best reflects your achievements.
It may even be worth entering more than one. Check the
entry criteria to ensure you qualify, otherwise there's no point in
going any further.
Entry forms are generally straight forward and require a clear
and simple explanation of why you deserve to win. The crucial
thing is to be concise and factual and, wherever possible, provide
evidence of your achievements. Depending on the category entered
this could include sales figures, proven service or product
benefits, customer testimonials, business partnerships and company
growth. It's always worth getting an unbiased opinion on your
entry to ensure it reads clearly and portrays your organisation to
its best effect.
Analysing why your company deserves to win is a useful exercise
in itself and may provide useful input for marketing and sales
collateral or highlight areas for development.
Entering awards may seem like a lot of work but the potential
rewards justify the effort. There are numerous schemes
encompassing all the different sizes and sectors of the business
community. Success can be recognised in many ways from
product design, to customer service to environmental concern.
In short there is something for everyone.
Building up a successful business from scratch takes an enormous
amount of dedication and effort. Everybody appreciates
recognition so why not demonstrate your pride in your achievements
and see what you can win.
The Author
Pat Costello is the ICT Cluster Manager
& Principal Lecturer at the School of Computing and IT,
University of Wolverhampton