Shortlist revealed for DigiTech Awards

The ScotlandIS DigiTech Awards judging panel. Picture: contributed

The awards are organised by trade association ScotlandIS, and chief executive Polly Purvis hailed the “fantastic” response to this year’s call for entries.

She said: “Scotland’s digital technologies industry continues to grow year on year. Our latest industry survey findings show that nearly 87 per cent of technology companies anticipate growth this coming year, with over 65 per cent advising they are forecasting growth of over 10 per cent. A buoyant industry in a buoyant mood indeed.

“The sheer volume and strength of the award applications was fantastic. I believe that celebrating the industry’s variety and success is one of the best ways to encourage people to consider a career in our sector.

“This awards shortlist is a powerful testimony to the opportunities available, from setting up your own start-up to international marketing for one of the many firms with their sights set on going global.”

ScotlandIS introduced several new categories this year to reflect the changing IT landscape, with Best Business to Business (B2B) Technology Product or Service proving the most popular.

“We want to encourage excellence in business as well as in technical innovation so we have created a new award to recognise outstanding marketing performance,” Purvis said.

“More and more of our members are achieving growth through exports so our new International Technology Star category will celebrate those performing extremely well on the world stage.”

Cooper Software, Edge Testing Solutions, FanDuel and Kotikan are in the running for the title of Digital Technology Business of the Year. Previous winners include Amor Group, Craneware, FanDuel and FreeAgent.

The awards are now in their fifth year and the winners of the ten categories will be unveiled at The Arches in Glasgow on 18 June. The event is being held in association with business analysts Be-Positive, technical writing specialist doc Department and recruitment firm Hudson.

The 2015 judging panel includes former Pinnacle Group chief executive Alan Bonner; Paul Neeson, assistant director with Scottish Equity Partners; Andrew Ralston, director IT operations at Cirrus Logic; Rebecca Heaney, consultant and former managing director of RAPP Edinburgh; Kenny Fraser, former global telecoms partner with PwC; BBC Scotland head of technology John Maxwell Hobbs; and Martin Mutch, former chief executive of Rocela. Alastair Balfour, chair of the panel, said: “This year’s judging process was very tough because we had so many excellent entries to choose from. I have been involved with these awards since they launched in 2011 and I never fail to be bowled over by the level of innovation and best practice on show in Scotland. All of our finalists have beaten off stiff competition and proved they are at the top of their game.”

2015 finalists:

DigiTech Business of the Year - Cooper Software; Edge Testing Solutions; FanDuel; Kotikan

International Technology Star - Calnex; Hutchinson Networks; Skyscanner

Best B2B technology product/service - Calnex; Edge Testing Solutions; Speech Graphics

Best B2C technology product/service - FanDuel; MorphCostumes; Swipii

Digital agency - Screenmedia; Storm ID; Waracle

Best public sector product/Sservice - Atos – The City of Edinburgh Council; PDMS & Police National Legal Database; Sitekit/Maverick TV

Investment deal of the year - FanDuel; Occa-Home; we are AD

Best financial services product/service - iDelta; Float; Nucleus

Outstanding marketing performance by a tech company - FanDuel; FreeAgent; Mallzee; Nucleus

Star Performance of the Year - Shortlist for this category to be announced on the night