The 2019 Pipeline Innovation Awards
CloudSmartz simply summarized it by stating "Innovation is the single most important thing that drives and evolves our success and strategic direction..."
Most Innovative Technology Provider
We certainly have saved the best for last, as the Most Innovative Technology Provider category is unique in that it looks at more than the innovation or advancement of technology. This
category evaluates the company itself, its culture, and how it embraces innovation as a whole—as well as its growth, potential, products, solutions and how well it serves its customers. It also
looks at how the company is moving the industry forward and how it helps foster additional internal and external innovations—among many other factors, including the tools, methodology and
technology used to embrace and promote innovation.
Many companies entered this category with the hopes of winning, and only half a point separated the finalists from the next semi-finalist. But the finalists came down to two leading
competitors: Intraway, which had already won in Innovations in OSS, and CloudSmartz, which had won in Innovations in Data Aggregation.
In its submission, in addition to providing a detailed illustration of how CloudSmartz embraces and facilitates innovation within its company and with its partners and customers, CloudSmartz
simply summarized its case by saying "Innovation is the single most important thing that drives and evolves our success and strategic direction...". In addition to providing remarkable examples
of innovation, solving customer problems and collaborating both internally and externally, Intraway also provided a concise summary by stating: "Intraway’s entire culture is based on innovation
from the day the company was founded." In the end, however, the CloudSmartz submission won the judges' votes, the title of "Most Innovative," and the Grand Prize, making Intraway the runner-up in
this category.
Retrospective and a look ahead at the Pipeline Innovation Awards
As you can tell from the length of this article, there simply isn't enough space to write about all the competition, categories, innovators, inventions, or innovations that were submitted in this
year's program. All of the Pipeline Innovation Awards contestants are clearly leading the industry forward
with advanced technology—and are worth exploring. The semi-finalist scoring was so close, and difference between semi-finalists and finalists so narrow, that we have decided to expand the number
of finalists for each category, as many of the semi-finalists were worthy of the same level of recognition. From within the finalists, selecting a winner and runner-up can come down to
splitting hairs—as illustrated by both the scoring and the judges' votes. Runner-up should by no means be viewed as second place, as both finalists have achieved such a high level of
sophistication in technology that both are, in fact, the industry's top innovators.
And while the 2019 Innovation Awards encompassed the industry's biggest and brightest minds, and included some of the newest market entrants as well as established industry veterans, some other
players remained on the sidelines. These companies missed their chance to compete, promote their innovations to those that buy, recommend and invest in innovative technology solutions; be
recognized in the most industry's most credible awards program, and be validated by the most objective recognition of innovation in the world. They also missed their chance to mingle with the top
innovators from around the globe, dine on a four-course meal, and enjoy an incredible evening overlooking the French Riviera.
If you were one of the companies that missed your shot, don't fret. Nominations are open and you can now enter the awards simply by filling out the Nomination Form on Pipeline's website. The
Pipeline Innovation Awards program is all-inclusive and the logos (for nominees, semi-finalists, finalists, winners and runners-up), recognition, promotion, trophies (for both winners
and runners-up), tickets to the awards banquet, and the Grand Prize (for Most Innovative Technology Provider) are all included for everyone who competes. Contestants can now also pay as they go,
entering the program for as little as $495 and then only paying as they progress in the program, at the time of advancement.
For those companies that competed this year, we extend a heartfelt thanks from all of us at Pipeline and from the 2019 Innovation Award judges to you. It's truly remarkable to see the
continued evolution of technology in this industry, the innovation that each of you embrace, and how you are collectively changing the world. Now perhaps, would be a good time to stop—if
only briefly—to smell the roses.
