Benelux Power Excellence Awards 2020

 I. Announcement

BeNeLux Power Excellence Awards, started in 2016, is the cradle of IBM i customer stories. JORI, Deknudt Frames, Fibrocity, Immo Bonehill, Crass Wood, just to name the few were all discovered in the last four years). The winners and finalists are honoured during Benelux Power, the annual flagship joint event of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. 

We are pleased to open nominations for the 2020 Power & IBM i Excellence Awards. We wish to give extensive visibility to clients and BPs/ISVs/Consultants to showcase their best solutions. Individuals and organizations that have crafted innovative ways to utilize their Power Systems and/or IBM i platform are in luck. Now is the time to nominate you as a client or a BP/ISV/Consultant on behalf of its client — for one of the Benelux Power Excellence Awards. The nomination deadline for the 2020 awards is Wednesday, 11 November 2020, 23:59 hours CEST. 

 II. Brief explanation

  • The solutions should already exist and if submitted by a BP/ISV/Consultant should be easily implementable at other locations. The judges will be industry experts and IBMers. 
  • There are 2 categories
    • Infrastructure & Security
    • Application Development & Database Solutions
  • A jury of representatives of IBM and industry experts will select the winner and the nominees. Their decisions are final. 
  • There will be 3 nominees (one winner and 2 finalists) in each category and they will be announced in the closing session of Virtual Benelux Power 2020 conference, 25 November. Client nominees present their solutions themselves. The BP/ISV/Consultant showcases their solution preferably through a client. 
  • There is no fee for clients and students and the awards are exceptionally free for all BPs, ISVs and Consultants. 

 III. What will the winners and finalists receive (for each category)

All the winners and finalists will be announced and honoured during a special session of Awards. They will receive: 

  1. An award + Certificate for the winner, 
  2. Certificates for the two finalists, 
  3. Wide publicity in Social Media and in IBM and industry national and international press 

IV. Award Categories explanations 

1. Infrastructure or Security Excellence 

This award demonstrates the versatility of Power Systems and/or the integrated IBM i platform. Nominees need to demonstrate cost-effective server management, virtualization, high availability, security or other overall IT infrastructure excellence achieved with the Power Systems or IBM i. 

2. Application development or Data Base Excellence 

Nominees in this category should demonstrate innovative implementations of industry, business applications, mobile computing or innovative data base solutions running at least in part on the Power Systems or IBM i platform. 

IV. Timeline

  1. Fourth week of October 2020 – Awards website open for submissions, 
  2. Wednesday, 11 November 2020, 23:59 hours CEST – Submission Deadline, 
  3. 12 to 18 November – Judges’ review for the 3 finalists and the winner in each category, 
  4. Benelux Power virtual edition special awards session on 25 November – Winners and nominees honoured. 

V. Guidelines 

  1. Submission deadline is Wednesday 11 November, 23:59 hours CEST. 
  2. IBM i clients submit their applications directly. IBM Business Partners, ISV’s or Consultants, will submit on behalf of their client. 
  3. All mandatory questions on the submission form must be completed. 
  4. Submission link http://www.common.be/Benelux_Power_2020_Excellence_Awards_Submission. 
  5. All submitted nominations are considered final unless a re-submission is requested before the deadline. 
  6. In case of re-submission(s), the last nomination form before the deadline will be considered final. 
  7. Nominations are permitted in more than one category by each submitter (client or BP/ISV/Consultant on behalf of a client). However the solutions must be different in each category. 
  8. Clients must indicate their company’s consent to submit the nomination by providing the name, title and e-mail of an authorized representative from their company. 
  9. Business Partners, ISVs or Consultants must provide the client contact details. If needed, Benelux Power will verify the solution existence and the satisfaction of the client. 
  10. By consenting to the nomination, submitters are also consenting to all promotional activity as described in the Terms and conditions on the submission tab on the web site. 
  11. Do not forward any information which is considered confidential by you, your company or any related third party. 
  12. Benelux Power and IBM Benelux decisions are final. 

VI. Entrance fee (to cover organization expenses)

1. This year, due to COVID difficulties for all, submissions are FREE for the whole community. 

VII. Judging criteria

Judging will be done following these guidelines: 

1. Each entry will be judged on its thoroughness and completeness. The size of the entry does not influence how the entry is judged. 

2. Entries will be considered based upon the award category description including, innovation, uniqueness, repeatability and the inclusion of current Power Systems and IBM i products and offerings. 

3. Each category will have three finalists (including the winner). In the event of a tie, the decision will be handed over to a third party judge (IBM, COMMON or industry expert chosen by Benelux Power or IBM Benelux). 

VIII. Terms and conditions

By submitting your nomination for the 2020 Benelux Power Excellence Awards, you agree to have your submission materials reviewed by a jury composed of industry experts, Benelux Power and IBM representatives. If your nomination is chosen as a nominee/winner, you agree to the terms outlined below. 

Benelux Power plans to promote the winners and nominees of the 2020 Excellence Awards. These promotional activities may include, but not limited to, promotional materials such as print media, the web, video, and press releases. If you are chosen a nominee/winner, you are consenting to: 

1. Listing your company information – Company Name, Logo, Product Name (if applicable), URL, and Award Name. 

2. Use of your nomination submission materials for evaluation and promotion. 

3. Recording, photographing, and/or videotaping testimonials regarding your nomination. 

If you are a Solution provider (BP/ISV/Consultant) submitting a nomination for a project conducted by your customer, you are responsible for securing all releases from that company listing Benelux Power, including, but not limited to, the items described above. 

IX. Submission link

http://www.common.be/Benelux_Power_2020_Excellence_Awards_Submission 

X. Contact

  1. Shrirang “Ranga” Deshpande, Vice President and Events Organizer, COMMON Belgium, Ranga at ComEur dot Org. 
  2. Philippe Vanden Bussche, COMMON Belgium, philippe dot ggnoor at gmail dot com. 
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