The UK IT Industry Awards 2012

The UK IT Industry Awards 2012 – also known as the Oscars of IT – will be held on Wednesday 14 November at the Battersea Park Events Arena in London. Following a record-breaking number of entries, the shortlist of nominees has been announced.

The benefits of winning include improved staff morale, motivation and retention, not to mention the commercial and marketing opportunities in being able to tell both current and prospective clients that your company has been placed ahead of its rivals in such a rigorously judged event.

Adam Gerrard, CIO of LateRooms.com, told Computing that he wanted his team to have more recognition for their work, placing entries and then being shortlisted in multiple categories, including IT Department of the Year. Gerrard is himself shortlisted in the CIO of the Year category.

“In the last 12 months we have achieved so much at The LateRooms Group that I really wanted the team to have the opportunity for some external recognition of their achievements,” he said. “We have transformed the way the IT team works and the value that it delivers to the business.

“We have delivered significant business transformation projects and many smaller, yet value adding, projects at what I considered to be a phenomenal pace, especially given the dynamic, challenging environment in which we operate.”

David Todd, head of commercial business solutions at PepsiCo told Computing that his company’s entries were part of its employee recognition programme.

“As part of our Reward & Recognition programme, we were looking at how we could celebrate our significant achievements and continue our journey of making PepsiCo IT a great place to work,” he said. “We had seen other functions participate in external industry awards with great success, and wanted to repeat that within IT.”

Gerrard described his pride at being shortlisted for so many awards.

“[I felt] elated. I was amazed to find that we had been shortlisted in 5 categories,” he said. “We have built one of the best IT teams in the UK today, we have delivered some of the most challenging infrastructure projects at pace and on top of that we are a fantastic organisation in which IT professionals can come to develop their careers and stretch themselves to achieve their potential.

“From a personal perspective, to be shortlisted for CIO of the Year is fantastic news and it’s a further indication that I have a great team around me.”

Charles Ewen, technology leader at the Met Office, explained that being shortlisted helps his team to understand how it is performing against its peers.

“We are delighted to be shortlisted,” he said. “The Met Office is working hard to benchmark against other public and private organisations and reaching the shortlist for such well-known and hard-fought awards as these shows that we are doing well.”

Gerrard added that winning one of the awards would cap an already positive year for his team.

“A win in any category or even a medal position would be the icing on the cake in a year which has been extremely challenging yet highly rewarding,” he said. “I hope that The LateRooms Group IT team leave the awards night knowing full well that they are an exceptional team, with great execution capability and are a team that many professionals in the UK would want to be part of. I am exceptionally proud that my team and I are included in such an esteemed group and we are looking forward to a great evening at the awards dinner in November. Good luck to everyone involved.”

Todd said that winning an award would be an endorsement of the entire IT function at PepsiCo.

“We’re really excited about attending the awards ceremony, and a win on the night would be a fantastic result not only for the individuals nominated but for our total function,” he said. “To know that what we are delivering has been judged and recognised by industry panellists and leaders would be a great endorsement of the capability we have within PepsiCo.”

To book your place at the awards, or for more information about the event, go to www.ukitindustryawards.co.uk.