Stevie-winner ThreatModeler™ is a collaborative platform where security experts or non-security professionals alike can visualize design flaws within a few hours or minutes instead of weeks. ThreatModeler software was created to address the shortcomings of data flow diagrams, bring threat modeling capabilities in-house, and make it scalable. The vision for ThreatModeler software is to be able to model ALL the threats, automatically, with no security expertise required.

ThreatModeler provides 100+ Fortune 1000 companies to secure highly sensitive, regulated, complex, specialized, and global environments with a holistic view of the entire attack surface to minimize overall risk.

Traditionally, threat modeling was a resource and time heavy process – manual and non-collaborative. ThreatModeler is a collaborative platform where security experts or non-security professionals alike can visualize design flaws within a few hours or minutes instead of weeks.

For example, imagine a threat model that is more representative of today’s complex architectures. One that depicts how a hacker moves through a system, identifying where they’ll attack, and more importantly, what controls are required to mitigate it. Now imagine if your developers could use this threat modeling tool in-house, with little to no security expertise, little to no learning curve and without the needleless expense of an outside security consultant.

How is that possible? By using the same language and diagrams to model threats that developers already use. By making threat modeling just another step in the software development lifecycle. Data flow diagrams don’t do a good job of modeling threats in modern system architectures. And hiring outside security consultants to create custom threat models doesn’t scale. That's where ThreatModeler software comes in. Their unique methodology automatically and seamlessly integrates security within existing agile and DevOps workflows.

ThreatModeler is also innovating in threat modeling for cloud, with automation capabilities delivering instant, threat model-building functionality to save organizations vast amounts of time and enable collaboration—people can work on DevOps with security built in.

In line with these security principles, ThreatModeler released the CloudModeler in 2022, its flagship product in securing cloud infrastructure from design to deployment. Their CloudModeler software earned a Silver Stevie Award for New Product & Service - Cloud Platform in The 2022 American Business Awards.

CloudModeler Release
Optimizing ThreatModeler’s automated capabilities, CloudModeler enables organizations to implement true DevSecOps, providing actionable insights through continuous monitoring, empowering teams to discover unknown flaws in real-time. Designed with cloud migration in mind, CloudModeler enables DevOps teams to now detect security flaws before they become code vulnerabilities, enabling instant remediation, mitigating risk, and ensuring compliance post-deployment.

Through its integration with CI/CD and ALM toolchain, ThreatModeler empowers security architects, developers, and operations to keep track of mitigation progress until the architecture threat modeled is production ready. ThreatModeler also enables DevOps to scale with its patented Threat Model Chaining feature—entire or part of threat models can be nested as their own components into other threat models. Any changes to the threat model are reflected in the models in which they are nested.

ThreatModeler empowers enterprise IT organizations to map their unique secure requirements and policies directly into their enterprise cyber ecosystem – providing real-time situational awareness about their current threat portfolio and risk conditions.

Since winning their Silver Stevie Award, ThreatModeler has been working hard to bring a new version of the product to market. They have also invested heavily in their people and are making great strides in educating and working with customers.

ThreatModeler Software Inc. won a Silver Stevie Award for New Product & Service - Cloud Platform in The 2022 American Business Awards.

Interested in entering The 2023 American Business Awards?

Raffetto Herman Strategic Communications (RH Strategic) is a leading public relations (PR) agency working to introduce the world to the next generation of innovators in technology, cybersecurity, government, and healthcare.

Based in Washington, DC, and Seattle, Washington, USA, the firm combines deep market expertise with creative storytelling and communications strategy to deliver meaningful, measurable PR results for clients.

John Raffetto and David Herman founded RH Strategic in 2008 with the belief that tying great work to business objectives drives results and transforms companies into industry leaders. Their team has extensive, professional backgrounds in technology, government, and healthcare. Over time, RH Strategic has grown into a national firm of over 40 dedicated PR professionals with east and west coast offices.

RH Strategic won two Gold Stevie Awards in The American Business Awards® 2022 competition for Communications or PR Campaign of the Year in both the Healthcare and Public Affairs categories. Both Gold-winning campaigns were developed on behalf of two companies who are disrupting industries within their services: PlushCare and CYBER.ORG.

PlushCare
San Francisco-based company PlushCare is a virtual primary and mental healthcare company that grew exponentially during the COVID pandemic. Rather than focusing on technology, PlushCare takes a people-first approach. The company only hires physicians from the top 50 medical institutions in the country and empowers patients to choose their own PlushCare doctor, who then becomes their “go-to” doctor for ongoing care. This allows for more trusted, personalized patient and provider relationships, leading to better care.

PlushCare tasked agency partner RH Strategic to help the company raise its visibility among consumers and potential investors to continue its rapid growth trajectory. In pursuit of this, the team set the following activities into motion:

• Identified spokespeople
• Developed messaging
• Developed a robust media list, reaching key audiences
• Targeted high-profile consumer publications to educate readers
• Leveraged key spokespeople to develop thought leadership platforms
• Conducted broad research on the media landscape
• Hosted discovery calls with subject matter experts
• Conducted a competitive analysis

RH Strategic reached its objectives and secured nearly 2 billion potential monthly readers with 31 key placements in publications such as HuffPost, Shape, Livestrong, and more, with 110 syndications reaching nearly 1.4 billion additional readers. They also secured 15 articles reaching a total of 606 million potential monthly readers in top US business publications such as Forbes, Business Insider, TheWall Street Journal and others.

Through the work of this campaign, PlushCare was able to earn the attention of Accolade, which acquired PlushCare for $450 million dollars in June 2021.

CYBER.ORG
A nonprofit funded by the US Department of Homeland Security, CYBER.ORG’s mission is to provide a free cybersecurity curriculum to K-12 educators nationwide by inspiring students to pursue careers in cybersecurity.

CYBER.ORG spearheaded the development of the first ever K-12 Cybersecurity Learning Standards to introduce uniform standard cybersecurity curriculum across all 50 states and provide educators with a roadmap for teaching cybersecurity to all students.

In partnership with RH Strategic, CYBER.ORG was able to elevate its thought leadership on the national stage and create visibility for its National K-12 Cybersecurity Learning Standards over a 12-month period via the following strategies:

• Researching the industry landscape
  
• Developing press advisories, messaging, pitches, and bylines
• Highlighting support of the standards with over 70 social media posts
• Drafting testimony for Congressional hearings and promoted through blog content
• Developing a robust influencer engagement program
• Examining legislation

Through a variety of tactics, including media engagement, social media, events, and influencer engagement, RH Strategic reached its objectives and generated visibility of CYBER.ORG’s National K-12 Cybersecurity Learning Standards among policymakers, government agencies, federal and state government, and cybersecurity and education experts.

Current Focus
Since winning the Gold Stevie for “Healthcare Campaign of the Year,” RH Strategic continues to position its healthcare clients—payers, providers, pharma/biotech, and health IT companies—
as leaders pushing the healthcare industry forward. Most recently, the RH Strategic team has focused storytelling on how the pandemic has permanently changed the patient experience and where innovation is still needed to improve health outcomes and lower costs.

RH Strategic and PlushCare continue to work together to inform patients about the benefits of
virtual primary care and mental health care. Through proactive media outreach and creative content development, the team has secured opportunities for PlushCare executives, primary care doctors and therapists to be featured in The New York Times, Business Insider, STAT, NPR, U.S. News & World Report, and several community-based media outlets. 

Since winning “Public Affairs Campaign of the Year,” RH Strategic continues to position its public affairs clients—technology, cybersecurity and healthcare companies—as leaders advocating for meaningful change inside the DC Beltway and beyond.

Recently, RH Strategic has focused its public affairs efforts on helping guide policies that improve nationwide response to cybersecurity incidents and encourage policymakers to prioritize legislation that further develops the technology workforce.

The RH Strategic team and CYBER.ORG continue to work together to help improve K-12 cybersecurity literacy nationwide. Through meaningful stakeholder engagement, messaging and strategic storytelling, the team helped CYBER.ORG launch the first-ever National Cybersecurity Education Month in June 2022, which was introduced in Congress.

RH Strategic won Gold Stevie Awards for Communications or PR Campaign of the Year in both Healthcare and Public Affairs categories in The 2022 American Business Awards.

Interested in entering The 2023 American Business Awards?

Stevie-winner CIS Bayad Center, Inc. (Bayad) is the largest multichannel payment platform in the Philippines. Formerly known as Bayad Center, Bayad takes pride in having the largest billing network, serving more than 500 billers, including basic utilities, government contributions, loan payments, tuition fees, online shopping, insurance, and many others. To date, 80% of banks and financial institutions in the country are likewise powered by Bayad for their bill payment acceptance.

With more than 20 years in the industry, Bayad continues to be a trailblazer as it evolves from an over-the-counter payment center into a full-service fintech company, offering a whole suite of financial products & services available to both consumers and businesses.

Bayad won the Bronze Stevie Award in the Innovation in Rebranding category, where it articulated its brand transformation in an essay entry titled "Meralco's Bayad Center to Bayad: How a traditional bills payment brand authority in the Philippines adapted to the digital age."

Transforming the Digital Financial Experience

With technology continuing to develop in leaps and bounds, and with COVID-19 pandemic still in the equation, businesses big and small were pushed to undergo digital transformation to automate their services for their customers.

Through the use of real-time electronic payments and user-friendly mobile applications, transactions like bills payment, money remittances, and online shopping can now be done in the comfort of one’s home – something that Bayad makes possible. With the main goal of connecting, empowering, and providing customers with seamless relevant, and secured financial services, Bayad has aligned its initiatives with the goal of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in achieving 50% increase in digital financial transactions in 2023.

In line with this, the company has rebranded itself as a "Bigger, Better, and Younger Bayad" to introduce more payment channels and services, and to capture a significant chunk of the younger and internet-savvy market.

Anchored on its “Pay Anywhere” stance, Bayad has clinched and maintained partnerships with various billers, utility companies, government institutions, and remittance companies, enabling a network of establishments, agents, online and mobile applications, financial institutions, cooperatives, and fintech companies.

To date, 80% of the banks and financial institutions in the country are likewise powered by Bayad for their bills payment acceptance. More importantly, their extensive connections have resulted in successful partnerships with multinational financial services corporations such as VISA and Mastercard, empowering more customers to pay online.

Bayad has also opened opportunities to entrepreneurs to generate additional income for their existing businesses through its franchise model, enabling the company to receive various recognitions for its service excellence.

Scaling Innovation for the Future

According to Bayad, constant innovation is the linchpin in their development as a fintech institution. They continue to launch new and supportive services and solutions for customers.   

• Bayad has launched Bayad Asenso, a retail trade app that aims to provide opportunities for MSMEs to generate additional income for their existing businesses. This solution can be embedded within the business feature of the Bayad App, where business owners can register and manage their accounts, enabling them to become Bayad Agents, offering Bayad’s financial services in their respective communities.
• Apart from Bayad Asenso, Bayad also introduced the Bayad Checkout, a payment check-out solution that is integrated in an enterprise’s website or mobile app, allowing its customers to choose their preferred payment method.
• Lastly, Bayad has also successfully launched Bayad Express, a one stop shop payment solution that is also embedded in a merchant’s website or mobile app, which enables customers to access other billers of Bayad, apart from the merchant’s primary payment offerings.

As Bayad continues to create positive strides by maintaining dominance in payments, it advances its cyber security measures, enabling the company to obtain its Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Certification (PCIDSS), an information security standard for all business entities that handle card information.

With its ongoing efforts in security compliance, Bayad also utilizes fraud detection tools making them confident in expanding its user base as it continues to develop value-added services and additional revenue streams to community establishments and online businesses.

Bayad won a Bronze Stevie Award for Innovation in Brand Renovation / Rebranding in the 2022 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

Interested in entering the 2023 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards?

Stevie-winner Anuvia Plant Nutrients manufactures high-efficiency, sustainable bio-based fertilizers for the agriculture, turf, and lawncare industries. Located in Winter Garden, Florida, USA, the company developed and uses a unique technology that not only optimizes nutrient availability and efficiency for plants, but also improves soil health, preserves natural resources, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

Feeding the World, Starving the Landfill
By harnessing regenerative agriculture, Anuvia Plant Nutrients has developed a high-efficiency, sustainable bio-based fertilizer that not only optimizes nutrient availability and efficiency for plants, but also improves soil health, preserves natural resources, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

The company’s proprietary technology effectively re-uses organic materials, such as food or livestock waste. Anuvia upcycles this waste into bio-based plant nutrients that work with the ecosystem, not against it, to maximize agriculture production now and for the long term. Its products improve the health of the soil and reduce the environmental impact of fertilization while empowering farmers to implement sustainable practices that benefit the environment.

To add context, up to now, commercial agriculture has relied on synthetic inputs to feed crops, which add no organic material back into the soil. Nature’s natural process to break down plant and animal waste into usable form can take up to two years. Anuvia’s technology achieves this in minutes.

Achievements & Growth
Anuvia negotiated a partnership with one of the world’s largest companies in the agricultural sector, Novozymes, the world leader in biological solutions. The collaboration with Novozymes will bring advanced technology to plant nutrition by marrying Novozymes microbial solutions to Anuvia’s sustainable bio-based products and proprietary delivery system. This technology will further increase yield and ROI at no incremental cost to the grower while reducing nutrient loss and farming’s environmental footprint.

In February 2021, Anuvia announced a $103 million Series C capital raise led by TPG ART and Pontifax Ag. Anuvia used the financing to increase the production capacity of its new, environmentally friendly facility in Plant City, Florida, and expand commercialization to meet growing demand.

The facility now has the capacity to expand to 1.2 million tons, enough to service over 20 million acres of agricultural crops and meet the growing demand for sustainable products. This facility is a one-of-a-kind, state-of-the-art plant. Its manufacturing forms a closed loop in which no waste stream is created—only clean air and finished product. For every ton of organic material used, approximately a ton of fertilizer is produced.

US farmers are responsible for creating the most abundant food supply in the world––a need that will continue to grow as the population climbs to more than 9 billion by 2050. As a result, food production will need to increase from the current 8.4 billion metric tons annually to nearly 13.5 billion metric tons per year (FAO, Building a common vision for sustainable food and agriculture).

At the same time, there is growing demand by consumers and retailers for environmentally sustainable practices and products. To meet these demands, pressure is now on commercial agriculture to not only increase productivity using the same acreage, but to do it more sustainably. Enter Anuvia: by simply swapping traditional synthetic fertilizer for Anuvia’s organic-based nutrients, commercial growers can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 35%. What’s more, Anuvia’s products significantly increase yield while also improving long-term soil health.

According to estimates, for every million acres that uses Anuvia’s unique technology, the reduction of greenhouse gases is equivalent to removing 20,000 to 30,000 cars from the road. If applied to only the US corn crop, which is 90 million acres, this greenhouse gas reduction would conservatively translate to 1.8 million cars removed from our roads in perpetuity.

Since winning their Gold Stevie Award, Anuvia has raised a significant round of new funding from Piva Capital and Riverstone, allowing them to rapidly scale US production of their bio-based fertilizer. This funding is needed to meet the increasing demand for sustainable solutions for commercial agriculture and is a testament to the immediate impact Anuvia is having on farmers and the industry.

Anuvia Plant Nutrients won a Gold Stevie Award for Company of the Year - Food & Beverage - Small at The 2022 American Business Awards.

Interested in entering The 2023 American Business Awards?

We invite business professionals, thought leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, and more from
around the world to apply to judge in the following 2023 Stevie® Awards programs: Middle East & North Africa Stevie® Awards, Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards, German Stevie® Awards.

Being selected or nominated to become a jury committee member is an honorable and
distinctive position. It not only reflects one’s expertise in a certain profession, but also reflects that this person has high ethical standards and is well-recognized and trusted within their business community. Qualified applicants will be placed on judging committees for Marketing, Entrepreneurship, New Products, Technology, Thought Leadership, and much more.

Each year, more than 1,000 professionals participate in Stevie Awards judging. The average scores from judges determine the winners in each Stevie Awards category. As this is a critical component of the Stevie Awards competitions, we take great care to maintain the integrity of the judging process. The judging team ensures that jury members are experts and professionals in their industry and conducts regular monitoring and auditing of the entire process. The judging team is available to guide new judges, and hosts meetings to explain proper judging protocols.

Benefits for Stevie Awards Judges
As a judge, you will learn how other organizations and individuals are achieving success and confronting challenges. Below are the exclusive benefits of being a judge at the Stevie Awards:

• Recognition - During the judging process, jury members are recognized on the Stevie
  Awards website, Stevie Awards blog, and receive a hardcopy and PDF judge certificate suitable for framing.
  
• Profile - Qualifying as a judge is an honor and a privilege. The mention of serving in this role can be added to your professional profile.
  
• Self-Development & Awareness - Judges learn about strategies, tactics, and best practices of others in the industry as their review entries, giving them a unique opportunity to spot new market trends as they happen.
• Award Ceremony - All jury members are welcome to attend the award ceremony, which takes place at the end of each competition. Enjoy a spectacular night socializing and networking with award winners and other judges.
• Invitations to Judge Future Competitions

Before You Apply to Judge
Judging positions are open for the following Stevie Awards competitions. Those interested in serving as a judge should follow the below links for more information on each respective competition:

• The Middle-East & North Africa Stevie Awards
• The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards
• The German Stevie Awards

Prospective judges should make sure their LinkedIn profile is up-to-date and that it reflects your most current experience and demonstrates a competitive edge.

Judging  Criteria
Individual criteria differ by category, but the emphasis is on the overall quality of the entry: the merits of the claims to innovation, integrity, effectiveness, creativity, growth, etc. claimed in the entry, relative to the judges' experience and their knowledge of the participant's industry, as well as the quality of the entry's content itself.

Judges tend to value well-written entries that: (1) are heavy in facts, figures, and concrete outcomes; (2) come close to the word-limit for their categories (i.e. that aren't perceived as being too short); and (3) are supported by attachments, such as a links to a corporate website, press clippings, work samples, etc.

We recommend that prospective judges request an entry kit to the competition for which you want to judge, so that you can familiarize yourself with the criteria and submission requirements.

Gold Stevie-winning nominations are linked on the Stevie Awards website. This is a good tool for prospective judges to learn what a top-rated Stevie nomination looks like.

Judging Process
All entries are first reviewed by Stevie Awards staff to ensure that eligibility requirements are met, that entries are formatted properly in order to go forward to be judged, and that entries have been submitted in appropriate categories.

All judges receive written instructions about how to score entries. Judges are asked to score the achievements portrayed in each entry based on: (a) their own experience; and (b) their understanding of how organizations and individuals in the nominee's industry performed in the eligibility timeframe, given the condition of the economy in general and the nominee's industry in particular. 

For entries in creative media categories, judges are asked to read the brief submitted about the entry’s communications objectives, and to review and score the submitted media (web site, video, live event, etc.) based on their originality, creativity, production values, and how well they believe the media meet the stated communications objectives.

All judging is done online, within a two-to-three-month window. Judging for the Middle East & North Africa Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, and the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards is open now.

 

Premier awards competition for sales and service professionals accepting nominations from organizations around the globe.

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards programs, has announced that ValueSelling Associates will sponsor the 2023 (17^th annual) Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service for the 16th consecutive year.

ValueSelling Associates are again sponsoring the Sales Individual Categories, which include Woman of the Year in Sales, Senior Sales Executive of the Year, Virtual and Pre-Sales Professional of the Year, Sales Representative of the Year, and Sales Training or Education Professional of the Year, among others. ValueSelling has been a sponsor of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service since 2008.

Entry kits and complete details on the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service are available at StevieAwards.com/Sales. The final entry deadline for the 2023 competition is January 11.

Eligible nominees for this competition include departments, teams, and professionals from around the world who work in customer service, contact centers, business development, and sales. New products and services and solution providers used by those professionals are also eligible. The 2023 awards will recognize achievements since July 1, 2020. Explore the full list of categories.

ValueSelling Associates is the creator of the ValueSelling Framework®, the sales methodology, training and toolset that aligns your revenue engine with a common language to enable sales professionals to compete on value, not price, and saves time in all selling scenarios. Since 1991, ValueSelling Associates has helped thousands of sales professionals realize immediate revenue growth and achieve results they never thought possible. They offer bespoke training to FORTUNE 1000, mid-sized, and start-up companies to drive sales results.

Stevie Awards President Maggie Miller commented, “ValueSelling has sponsored the competition almost since its inception, and the program has grown tremendously over the years with their support. We are thrilled to work with ValueSelling once again to put a spotlight on the amazing sales professionals and organizations around the world. The Stevie Awards depends on engaged leaders like ValueSelling who understand the value of workplace recognition.”

President and Chief Executive Officer of ValueSelling Associates, Julie Thomas, said, “The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service is an excellent platform for recognizing the accomplishments of our customers and business partners. We look forward to celebrating those sales professionals who found ways to connect, secure new business, and propel their companies forward in this tough selling environment.”

Finalists will be announced January 24, and the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be revealed during an awards banquet on March 3 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

View full details for the 17th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service at StevieAwards.com/Sales.

About ValueSelling Associates
ValueSelling Associates, a leading global sales training company, offers a practical methodology for selling on value, not price. The ValueSelling Framework® is a proven formula that simplifies the complex B2B sale, and the Vortex Prospecting™ program provides a repeatable process that increases connections and conversions to the revenue pipeline. Once trained on the ValueSelling method, organizations grow revenue and increase productivity. Since 1991, thousands of professionals around the world have chosen ValueSelling Associates for customized training, reinforcement, and coaching to drive sales results. Learn more at ValueSelling Associates, Inc.

Entries in this special Ethics in Sales Award category are welcome through January 25

Nominations for the 2023 (17^th annual) Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service, considered the world’s top honors for customer service, business development, and sales professionals, will be accepted through January 11 at StevieAwards.com/Sales.

For the fourth year in a row, Sales Partnerships, a leading provider of outsourced sales solutions, will sponsor the Sales Partnerships Ethics in Sales Award in the competition. The award will recognize outstanding examples of ethical sales practices since the beginning of July 2020. The entry deadline for this special category, for which there are no entry fees, is January 25.

Complete details and the nomination form for the Sales Partnerships Ethics in Sales Award can be found at https://stevieawards.com/sales/nominate-2023-sales-partnerships-ethics-sales-award.

Fred Kessler, Sales Partnerships founder and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Recognizing excellence in sales has never been more important than today. These awards judge the best of the best ranging from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses. It is the highest recognition in the field of selling for both performance as well as systems and support of world-class selling organizations. We take pride in sponsoring the Ethics in Sales Award. Recognizing the best of the best who sell ethically and are responsible to their communities aligns with Sales Partnerships' guiding principles. We find the organizations that are the most productive tend to also have a focus on doing the job ethically—spotlighting this helps the industry as a whole."

Stevie Awards President Maggie Miller said that she looks forward to having the longtime Stevie Awards sponsor present this award again. “We are thrilled that Sales Partnership wants to recognize those who not only succeed in sales at their organization, but who do so with integrity and through ethical practices. The judges are eager to read through these Ethics in Sales nominations.”

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service recognize achievement in business development, customer service, and sales worldwide.  Eligible nominees include departments, teams, and individual professionals. New products and services and solution providers used by those professionals are also eligible. The 2023 awards will recognize achievements since July 1, 2020. Explore the full list of categories.

View full details for the 17th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service at StevieAwards.com/Sales.




About Sales Partnerships      
Sales Partnerships, Inc. is a contract sales organization founded in 1997 with the mission to combine best practices in sales recruitment, training, management, quality assurance and selling technologies into a complete services platform that consistently delivers exceptional results for our clients. The firm has been recognized and awarded multiple times as the best sales outsourcing firm in North America, for innovation in the fields of applied sales technology, best service offerings, one of the best places to work, and for the individual accomplishments of its sales professionals and key leadership team members. Learn more at SalesPartnerships.com.

Stevie-winner Meg Languages uses technology to transform language programs in schools, creating culturally aware, multilingual global citizens for an increasingly globalized and interconnected world.

Australia-based Meg Languages offers live, interactive language programs in Mandarin and Spanish to over 50,000 school students all over the world weekly. By live-broadcasting native language teachers directly into the classroom, Meg Languages helps nurture language proficiency while immersing students in a new culture.

Second-Language Learning in Australia
In an increasingly interconnected world, students need to become culturally aware. Global citizenship is more important than ever, and yet the study of languages in schools is increasingly under threat. In fact, Australia has seen a steady decline in foreign language proficiency over the last 60 years.

About 40% of Australian students studied a language in the 1960s; now it’s closer to 10%. One of the key reasons for this is a serious shortage of local language teachers. For schools, it’s become increasingly challenging to introduce a sustainable language program. 

Meg Languages Learning Model
Recognizing that learning should not be restricted to the four walls of the classroom, Meg Languages tries to simplify the initiation and maintenance of a foreign language school program. Their language programs are purpose-built for state curriculums and involve live, interactive virtual lessons with native language teachers streamed directly into the classroom. Not only does this solve the teacher shortage issue, but it also serves to deliver a more equitable education experience, with those in disadvantaged school districts gaining access to tier-one language programs.

With an enthusiastic and highly skilled team of 90 native language teachers based in Columbia and Beijing, this learning model creates a fully immersive and authentic language experience, which plugs the student into the context of the language. Students get to regularly speak to a native speaker on the ground in Latin America or China, which is the next closest thing to being there. Students get real-world insight into what life is like in that part of the world by connecting with someone who lives and breathes that language and culture every single day. Students can enjoy the Beijing cityscape out of their teacher’s window or join their teacher for a virtual meal in a Bogota restaurant, which increases student excitement and curiosity, and engagement and motivation by extension.

Meg Languages is driven by its purpose to create a more interconnected, peaceful, and empathetic global community. This can only occur with cultural education, an accommodating outlook, and respect for the shared human experience. Language study can be powerful, especially when grounded in cultural context. Meg Languages rigorously pursues this purpose through its mission of creating global citizens via language and intercultural experiences.

Additional Support Services
Complementary to its Mandarin and Spanish language programs, Meg Languages’ Going Global offering supports schools to become globally competent through a variety of initiatives such as festivals, language competitions and virtual excursions. A core part of Meg Languages’ ethos is to recognize that learning is more effective when meaningful communities are created and engaged with purpose. By facilitating cross-border and inter-school connections, they are building strong communities of global citizens.

Meg Languages’ achievements in the past two years include:

• Largest provider of online Mandarin language programs
• Expanded offerings to Spanish language programs
• Continued expansion across Australia, New Zealand, USA and UK
  
• Partnered with school networks to expand teaching services 
• 50,000 students now taught weekly 
• 20% growth achieved in the last 12 months

Looking Ahead
Developing global citizens has never been more important, and schools across the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly looking for ways to use technology to expand the classroom beyond physical limits.

Since winning their Gold Stevie Award, the team at Meg Languages has continued to innovate their World Language programs and provide access to languages for a growing number of schools that have typically struggled to employ language teachers.

Meg Languages has spent the last 12 months developing a program of Virtual Excursions that will take students on live journeys through the Forbidden City in Beijing as well as other exotic places throughout the world. These activities are designed specifically to provide context to students about why learning a language and learning about culture are important.

Meg Languages won a Gold Stevie Award for Excellence in Innovation in Business Product & Service Industries - Up to 100 Employees in the 2022 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

Interested in entering the 2023 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards?

Stevie-winner Home Credit Philippines is digitizing as many human resource tasks as possible to better support employees professionally and personally.

Home Credit Philippines is part of Home Credit Group, which focuses on responsible lending primarily to people with little or no credit history.  Home Credit endeavors to promote the principles of financial inclusion and safe lending, providing world-class financing services to customers, who are often first-time borrowers.

So far, their 77.4 thousand employees have served 56.5 million customers through their vast distribution network comprising 195,379 points of sale, loan offices, branches, and post offices.

In the years since Home Credit Philippines began operations in October 2013, they have modernized their human resources (HR) practices and platforms to adapt to the evolving financial and social environments. The Covid pandemic, in particular, prompted rapid digitization of many services and sectors worldwide, which Home Credit Philippines fully embraced.

Home Credit Philippines leaders seek to consistently support the creative thinking of their more than 12,000 employees. An effective leadership style, they assert, should magnify the strengths and potential of their team members, making their weaknesses insignificant. They believe there are no small roles, and that everyone’s contribution is important. Leading a large, diverse group of people means there is no one size fits all. However, one thing common to all is the need to be appreciated.

Enabling Human Connection
The COVID pandemic underscored the importance of reliable communication systems and software. In 2022, they deployed an internal HR chatbot to provide 24/7 service to employees, which can connect employees with HR even if there is no intranet access. They hope that HR will no longer be just a department but a culture that will be embedded in each employee. You don’t need to be an HR department to be a human resource, according to Home Credit Philippines.

Nurturing employees’ talent and development requires thorough understanding of their skillsets, functions, and background. Home Credit Philippines believes that data is power; gathering and deciphering actionable insights from that data can transform people systems.

Their team uses a tool called Power BI, an analytics platform powered by Microsoft. Power BI is a collection of software services, apps, and connectors that work together to turn users’ unrelated sources of data into coherent, visually immersive, and interactive insights. 

Home Credit Philippines also uses the CliftonStrengths assessment for personal and team development. The CliftonStrengths assessment is a performance-based tool that builds self-awareness and strength. It helps individuals discover their top five strengths and can help organizations improve company culture and performance. The underlying philosophy of this assessment design is that all individuals can be more engaged and successful when we are able to use our strengths to achieve personal and professional goals. 

Where They Are Now
As Home Credit Philippines looks for new opportunities to strengthen its HR support for existing and future employees, the company continues to trust in the latest technology to further improve operations.

Since implementing the above and other digitization efforts, Home Credit Philippines has increased its Talent Acquisition rate from 56% to 89%. They also reduced the average time to fill positions across all levels by an average of 44%.

Improvements have also been made within Operations. Through its automated employee verification tool, HR document control center, SharePoint Automation, JIRA Deployment, and PIP automation, Home Credit Philippines reduced its transaction rate by 26%, having all important materials and documents readily available to employees. They also improved their received rate by 9%, increased service level attainment by 24%, and decreased total processing time by 22%.

Home Credit Philippines won a Gold Stevie Award for the Innovative Use of Technology in Human Resources - Financial Services Industries in the 2022 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

Interested in entering the 2023 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards?

 

Stevie-winner OfficePartners360 (OP360) is a specialized outsourcing company focused on providing custom back office and customer service solutions for small to medium-sized businesses and Fortune 500 companies.

US-owned and managed, OP360 was founded in 2006 by entrepreneurs with strong experience in technology, HR, IT, and finance. Today, they are a full-service, fast-growing solutions provider with thousands of global employees and clients ranging from mid-sized corporations toFortune 500 firms.

Because the owners have been clients of offshore and outsourced services, they understand first-hand the benefits of outsourcing. For clients who require personnel, OP360 ensures the outsourced team not only performs but also operates as an extension of the client’s existing teams with the same shared values, training, and culture. In addition, OP360 operates out of premium facilities in tier-two cities thereby reducing client costs.

Principles in Action
OP360 leaders are committed to building and maintaining a transformative, high-performing culture. They hope to do this through effective communication, genuinely caring about their team (and the communities where they live and work), ensuring rapid career development for strong performers, and providing well-above-average compensation. Their methods seem to work, as they consistently have an exceptionally high management retention rate.

When the pandemic thrust the world into a state of disarray, leaders in the Philippines office responded by tapping into OP360’s core values of compassion and cooperation, as well as its ability to stay agile and adaptable to changing circumstances in order to guarantee employee health and well-being. 

By March 2020, 99% of staff were successfully pivoted to remote work. Computers and portable WiFi kits were sent home with employees, and those who did not have a suitable home office were housed in hotels from where they could work. A corporate telecommuting package was also offered for staff to have wired internet at home. Remote IT support was available 24/7, and when needed, IT staff were deployed to homes to swap out or repair damaged assets. A resiliency hub was also maintained to cater to employees who, due to emergencies, were unable to continue working remotely. 

When onsite work resumed, staff were shuttled to and from the offices to limit exposure to the commuting public. Free meals were provided to limit the need to leave the offices during breaks. A stringent office sanitation and disinfection schedule was maintained; more staff were certified in first aid and safety; and additional clinic nurses were hired to ensure safety. A mental health program was also launched to support employees’ mental well-being. Employees who tested positive for Covid-19 were given paid time off and received a care kit.

As soon as vaccines were available in 2021, OP360 rolled-out its vaccination campaign, “Together & for Each Other.” Joining a public-private venture, OP360 offered free vaccination to employees and their dependents. Within 3 months, 78% of staff were fully inoculated through the company’s efforts, exceeding the Philippines’ then-national average. The company also extended its care externally by distributing face masks and vitamins to 5 beneficiary-schools of its philanthropic arm, OP360 Cares. 

While the situation exacerbated vulnerabilities, OP360 never stopped operating with the health and safety of its community in mind.

OfficePartners360 won a Silver Stevie Award for Most Valuable Corporate Response to COVID-19 in the 2022 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

Interested in entering the 2023 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards?