News

DELL Announces 2009 National Winners

by Michael Battaglia

Dell Honours Most Innovative Small and Mid-Size Businesses in 13 Countries as Part of 2009 Global Dell Small Business Excellence Award

Founded in 2004 by Dell, the Small Business Excellence Award recognizes companies using technology to better serve customers and grow. Just as Michael Dell did 25 years ago in starting his own small business, award honorees understand that listening and delivering on behalf of customers is instrumental to business success. Today, the award has expanded to 13 countries worldwide, honoured more than 370 companies, and is an important source of inspiration given today’s global economic crisis.

Listed below, the 13 national winners selected from each participating country including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States will receive consulting time with Michael Dell and USD$25,000 in Dell technology solutions. Furthermore, each national winner will be considered for the 2009 global Dell Small Business Excellence Award worth $50,000 in Dell technology and services and benefits from global partners International Council for Small Business and Endeavor. The global winner will be announced in fall 2009. 2008 global winner Wiggly Wigglers, a rural, England-based natural gardening company, was awarded for its innovation and leadership in social media. Using tools like Facebook, podcasting and blogging, Wiggly Wigglers has grown to serve 90,000 customers worldwide while cutting their advertising budget by 80 percent.

Australia

QSR Internationalis the world's largest qualitative research software developer and an innovative leader in its industry. Privately owned, QSR has over 400,000 users spanning more than 150 countries and an estimated 49% share of the global qualitative research software market. QSR's NVivo software allows customers to manage, shape and analyse non-numerical information - including Word and PDF documents, audio recordings, videos and digital photos - allowing them to quickly and easily glean insight and deliver informed, robust findings. NVivo is used by decision makers and researchers in every field, from health and market research, to sport and criminology.

Brazil

WAY2 Serviços de Tecnologia S.A.- company specializes in the development of innovative information systems solutions for the energy industry. Founded in 2004, the company provides solutions in the form of projects and as updating and automation services for a wide array of processes, ranging from data gathering by electronic measuring meters to energy trade. Headquartered in the state of Santa Catarina, Way2 has customers from all over Brazil, and since 2008 the company has started exporting, and has already delivered two projects in Colombia.

Canada

RIGHTSLEEVE, Toronto, Ontario-promotional design agency that uses creative design, promotional products and technology to deliver marketing results for its clients. Through its internally developed open source customer/vendor relationship management and employee collaboration system, the agency benefits from real-time feedback and input from internal and external stakeholders.

China

Global Industrial Supply Co., Ltd.- established jointly by Beijing Jingcheng Mechanical & Electrical Holding Co., Ltd. and ILB International Logistikbertriebe AG. It provides professional industrial logistic services, which for matters arising in centralizing procurement, machining, logistic distribution, international trade and full industrial logistic solution for the manufacturing industry companies.

France

IMPLANET- company based in Bordeaux (33) which designs and manufactures “Gold Standard” implants, namely benchmark products in the medical world, for the orthopaedic surgery market at discount prices, thanks to an innovative model of direct sales and an automatic and optimised logistics chain. IMPLANET aims to provide solutions to continue to treat just as well and even better an ever increasing population. The vocation of the company is to be socially responsible.

Germany

SRS-Management GmbH- software producer with a focus on trendsetting mobile business solutions. Our core product is SRS PaperDynamix®. Clients optimise their business processes around the capture of handwritten data with digital pens and our software. SRS solutions support business processes successfully in the segments services, sales and administration via making information directly utilisable for all IT systems.

India

Ekgaon- socially committed information technology service provider for communities in rural India. Company's goal is to create solutions for rural clients that best meet their livelihood needs and facilitate robust interaction with financial, medical and agricultural services. Ekgaon has a history of pioneering innovative interface design for semi literate populations through image capture, numeric and audio input. They see a convergence in rural service provision where access to services are not only technologically driven but also community owned and it is our responsibility to create these solutions in an environment of trust and understanding.

Italy

A.C.R. di Romano Livio & C. s.n.c.- specializing in the construction of Theatrical Machinery and Scenographic Machines specifically designed for Traditional Theatres and Theatres on board of Great Cruise Ships, design and manufacturing of elevation platforms for yachts and other locations. Design and manufacturing of Theatrical Machinery is a very ancient manufacturing, since the Italian theatrical tradition in the architectural, scenographic and teorical aspects, started since Renaissance.

Japan

Mitsumoto Rasenkan Kogyo Co., LTD-design and manufacturer of metal flexible tubes (flexible hoses) and bellows such as plumbing and gas tubes and accordion fold pipes. Mitsumoto develops bellows using special materials such as hastelloy, inconel alloy, titanium, nickel, and monel metal and sell these products to nuclear power, aerospace development, and semiconductor facilities. All products are produced based on special order as to allow for highly specific needs of great variety and small lots. Mitsumoto has created a system of certification that nurtures development of multi-skilled workers with various certifications to enable delivery of products in a short time period. They have assembled a development team that conducts research daily and that is capable of meeting the varied demands of customers.

Mexico

Mercadotecnia La Lotería, S.A. de C.V.- utilizes top of the line MP3s to offer tourists a multimedia tool that will allow for better information exchange such as the cultural heritage in a didactic, entertaining and interactive way. The company now offers two products in the tourist market: 1) A free Pocket Guide that the tourist may download from the internet. 2) Pre-charged MP3s rental, including guiding tours of the main tourist sites, using multimedia resources to get a visualization of the past.

Spain

S.A.V. Serralleria i alumini Vilaro-company focused on the design, re-engineering and manufacturing of metallic pieces for different applications. It is a familiar company based in the province of Barcelona, and which started as a locksmith's shop in the 70’s. At the end of the 90’s, the company started manufacturing pieces for industry, without forgetting about the past, continuing the manufacturing of pieces for the construction, the architecture and sculptures.

United Kingdom

A Suit That Fits.com-The world's first online hand-tailored suit-making company. Customers can use unique web technology to individually design suits and buy them at off-the-peg prices.

United States

BusinesSuites- much like the soft-ware-as-a-service model,BusinesSuitesoffers clients subscription-based office space and services to free them of the burden of traditional long-term leases. BusinessSuites credits their investments in IT and people with saving the company and enabling them to deliver a superior customer experience.