Enterprise apps should stop forcing people to think like machines. That’s what Skuid believes and has been working on since they were founded in 2013. They believe apps should behave more like the humans who use them, so everyone can thrive in a digital world. With Skuid’s simple-to-use but incredibly robust tools, anyone can build highly complex, bespoke enterprise apps. More than five million users in 32 countries use Skuid to engage with each other, with data and with new customers in meaningful ways—all without writing a single line of code. That’s why they won a Stevie Award in a New Product of the Year category of The 2017 American Business Awards.

More Human, Less Machine

Skuid helps customers quickly build a user experience and adapt it on their own, without expensive code or engineering resources. Instead of coding a unique solution for every customer, Skuid empowers the customer to customize. Skuid CEO Ken McElrath is a designer and an entrepreneur. Ken's background in design has a significant impact on how Skuid operates.

“Skuid is founded on the belief that software should be more human and less machine—that software should work the way people work instead of forcing people to behave like machines.”

Skuid gives customers the individual components to create the impressive structures of an app, while at the same time making the structure easy to change and to scale.

Consistent Results

Skuid recently commissioned Forrester Research to do a study on the value customers get from using Skuid. The study found that Skuid delivers an ROI of 365%, has a payback period of just one month and has a 73% faster development time than other solutions. Ken says they quickly grew into a platform that would give anyone (not just an IT professional) the power and ability to assemble bespoke apps without writing code.

“Companies are demanding better ways to develop apps and employees are demanding that their enterprise apps be as intuitive and easy to use as the personal apps on their iPhone. Skuid has been successful because we deliver solutions that work. That's why we're working with 10% of the Fortune 100.”

Major Validation

Skuid believes they’ve been successful because they consistently deliver results. These results have attracted attention from Fortune 100 companies to SMBs and non-profits. Skuid has over five million users across 30+ countries and in various verticals. Skuid’s customers are diverse in many ways, but they’re united by a dedication to greatness. When the Stevie Awards caught wind of Skuid, Ken says they also helped validate their hard work.

“A Stevie Award has helped add to Skuid's third-party recognition and validation. Having won such a prestigious award and up against more than 10,000 entries from other organizations is a huge honor. The fact that more than 190 professionals worldwide, including industry analysts, journalists and other industry experts, participated in the judging process is major industry validation.”

They don’t settle for “good enough” in the way they do business, which is why they use Skuid—to create exceptional user experiences that accelerate sales productivity, supercharge customer service and amplify efficiency.

Not Like Anything Else

When it comes to enterprise software, one size doesn’t fit all. No company is exactly like another, and each company needs different systems to support their unique business process. Those with the resources spend millions to try to customize with code, but this slows everything down and creates significant maintenance overhead. Writing code to customize a generic solution is expensive, inflexible and far from optimal. Ken believes Skuid has figured out how to service this intricate challenge.

“Because apps built with Skuid are bespoke—made to order—they align to a user’s business needs perfectly. This means that rather than forcing a user's business processes into an off-the-shelf enterprise software solution, Skuid users can tailor their business apps to unlimited degrees without writing code.”

Because each app is tailored to user needs, Skuid customers have seen massive productivity gains to drive success. Skuid is perfectly positioned to meet this need. 

Top Sales Awards and Customer Service Awards Winners to Be Recognized in Las Vegas

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards programs, has issued a call for entries for the 2018 (12th annual) Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Entry kits and complete details on the competition are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

All customer service, contact center, business development and sales departments, teams and professionals worldwide are eligible to be nominated, in addition to new products and services and solution providers used by those professionals. The 2018 awards will recognize achievements since July 1, 2016.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE. 

The early-bird entry deadline with reduced entry fees is October 18, 2017. The final entry deadline is November 15, but late entries will be accepted through January 11, 2018 with payment of a late fee. Finalists will be announced in mid-January, and the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award placements revealed during a gala awards banquet on February 23 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service feature more than 135 sales awards, customer service awards, business development awards, new product awards and solution provider awards categories. Entrants may submit any number of nominations to any number of categories, which include:

•         Sales Individual categories such as Senior Sales Executive of the Year and Sales Representative of the Year
•         Sales Team categories like Global Sales Team of the Year and Online Sales Team of the Year
•         Sales Achievement categories such as Sales Turnaround of the Year and Sales Training or Coaching Program of the Year
•         Sales Distinction categories in 13 industry groupings
•         Customer Service and Contact Center Individual categories such as Front-Line Customer Service Professional of the Year and Customer Service Leader of the Year
•         Customer Service and Contact Center Team categories like Contact Center of the Year and Back Office Customer Service Team of the Year
•         Customer Service and Contact Center Achievement categories such as e-Commerce Customer Service Award and Award for Innovation in Customer Service
•         Customer Service Department categories in 11 industry groupings
•         Customer Service Success categories in five industry groupings
•         New Product and Service categories like Best New Business Intelligence Solution and Best New Marketing Solution
•         Solution Provider categories such as Sales Consulting Practice of the Year and Incentive, Rewards or Recognition Provider of the Year
•         Business Development categories such as Business Development Professional of the Year and Business Development Achievement of the Year - Hospitality & Leisure

New categories for the 2018 competition include several in the New Product and Service section.  Among them are Best Sales Enablement Product - New, Best Sales Enablement Product - New Version, Best Sales & Marketing Mobile Application - New and Best Sales & Marketing Mobile Application - New Version. Several of the legacy sales and customer service categories have been split into multiple categories based on industry.  These include Sales Support Team of the Year, Sales Training or Coaching Program of the Year, Award for Innovation in Sales, Back-Office Customer Service Professional of the Year and more.

2018 will see the return of the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service, a popular feature of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service in which the general public may vote for their favorite providers of customer service, from among all Finalist nominations in the Customer Service Department of the Year categories.

Winners of the 2017 edition of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service included 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc., Adobe Systems, Inc., Aflac, Dell Technologies, Delta Air Lines, Deutsche Post DHL, Guidewell Connect, IBM, Inci Akü GS Yuasa, VIZIO, Inc., and Wyndham Vacation Ownership among others.

The 2018 competition will be judged by more than 150 professionals around the world.

Turkey’s Migros Tic. A.S. Big Winner of the Competition

Winners in the 2017 Stevie® Awards for Great Employers, an international competition, were announced on Friday, September 22 during a gala event in New York City. The awards recognize the world’s best employers and the human resources professionals, teams, achievements and HR-related products and suppliers who help to create and drive great places to work.    A complete list of Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners by category is available at www.StevieAwards.com/HR. 

A diverse group of organizations and individuals around the world are among those recognized. The leader among Stevie winners is Migros Tic. A.S. of Istanbul, Turkey. The market leader in the Turkish retail sector was awarded five Gold Stevie Awards, five Silver Stevies and four Bronze Stevies in a variety of categories.  Migros also earned the Grand Stevie Award trophy as the most honored organization in the 2017 competition.

Other leading winners of Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevies include the Istanbul (Turkey) Gas Distribution Company, with two Gold, one Silver and nine Bronze wins, and ej4, a leading video e-learning producer based in Missouri, USA with three Gold, one Silver and three Bronze Stevies.

Samsung Electronics’ operations in Turkey won three Gold Stevie Awards.  Winners of two Gold Stevies each include BenefitMall (USA), Creative Lodging Solutions (USA), Elements Global Services (USA), Haier Group (China), KIND Snacks (USA), McAfee (USA), and UST Global (USA).

KIND Snacks’ Gold Stevie-winning nomination for Employer of the Year in the Food & Beverage industries was also awarded the Grand Stevie Award trophy as the highest-scoring nomination in the competition.

More than 500 nominations from organizations around the world were evaluated in this year’s competition. Winners were determined by the average scores of more than 50 professionals worldwide, acting as judges.  Stevie Award winners in the 35 Employer of the Year categories were determined by a unique blending of the ratings of professionals and the votes of the general public.

The Stevie Awards for Great Employers recognize achievement in many facets of the workplace. Category groups include:

•    Employer of the Year
•    HR Achievements
•    HR Individual Awards
•    HR Team Categories
•    Solution Provider Awards
•    More than 60 New Product & Service Categories

The awards are presented by the Stevie Awards, which organizes several of the world’s leading business awards shows including the prestigious International Business Awards and American Business Awards.

Entries for the 2018 Stevie Awards for Great Employers will open in March.  The entry kit will be available then at www.StevieAwards.com/HR.

From identifying the target audience, to planning the event concept and preparing the logistics, Parker Sanpei loves creating promotional events to help companies broadcast their message effectively. They’re a luxury, lifestyle firm focused on public relations, advertising and marketing, celebrating their 10th anniversary this year. They focus their creativity, ingenuity, integrity and energy into positive results for clients. This work ethic led them to win the Silver Stevie Award for Travel and Tourism in The 15th annual American Business Awards.

A Complete 360° Approach

Finding the right audience for product promotions with diverse ideas for each product can be a satisfying challenge. Vanessa Igel is the Account Executive at Parker Sanpei—she leads strategic media relations campaigns across multiple industries, including the food and beverage, travel and lifestyle industries. She’s excited about her team’s win in the Travel and Tourism category for the International Chardonnay Symposium project that was a smash success.

“International Chardonnay Symposium has allowed us the opportunity to re-engage with many local community partners, and this award could possibly allow us approval from the board to host another event of its kind in 2018.”

Parker Sanpei’s expertise in media outreach lead to widespread pre-event coverage of the Symposium and of the Alliance as a whole. The firm measured 28.6 million media impressions in nine months and reception into regional and national publications such as: Examiner.com, The Modesto Bee, The Press Democrat, WineBusiness.com, Wine Enthusiast, Wine Industry Advisor, Food & Beverage magazine, Napa Valley Register, The SOMM Journal, The Tasting Panel magazine and others. As a result of these efforts, the second year Symposium sold out within a month of opening registration.

Meaningful Success

The Parker Sanpei team knows that passion drives performance and it is this knowledge that compels them to seek a partnership with select clients. Vanessa used an example to speak to their strategy to make meaningful connections in their community.

“With the International Chardonnay Symposium: we took a dead, one-day event and turned it into an international, must-attend, three-day event, partnering with the local community for lodging, food, etc.”

For Parker Sanpei, communication is as much about hearing what’s being said as it is about saying something. Whether you’re referring to public relations, marketing, website design or account management, success is only achieved with open dialogue.

10 Years of Shared Success

Parker Sanpei has been advancing the standard of lifestyle, public relations and marketing since 2007. They’re now excited to be celebrating their 10-year anniversary with interactive and educational events. Vanessa details how you can get involved with their upcoming workshops.

“In celebration of our 10-year anniversary, we're giving back to the community with 10 communication workshops in 10 months. Seating is limited, so register early to participate in these interactive and educational events.”

Winners were announced today in the 2017 People’s Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Companies, a feature of The International Business Awards, the world’s only international, all-encompassing business awards program which is now in its 14^th year.

The worldwide public vote was conducted this summer, with the highest number of votes deciding the winners in a variety of industries. More than 14,000 votes were cast. All Stevie Award winners in the Company of the Year categories of this year’s International Business Awards were eligible to be included in voting for the People’s Choice Stevie Awards.

The crystal People’s Choice Stevie Awards will be presented to winners at The International Business Awards banquet on Saturday, 21 October at the W Hotel in Barcelona, Spain. Tickets for the event are now on sale. The winners of peer-adjudicated Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards will be presented with their awards along with the People’s Choice Stevie Awards. Stevie winners were selected from more than 3,900 nominations received from organizations and individuals in more than 60 nations.

The winners of the 2017 People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Companies are:

• Advertising, Marketing & PR: MWWPR
• Banking: Odeabank
• Computer Services: Datapipe
• Computer Software: Syncron
• Consumer Products/Services: davero dialog GmbH
• Financial Services: Union National Bank
• Health Products/Services: NMC Healthcare
• Insurance: PJ Lhuillier Group of Companies
• Legal: Property Exchange Australia Ltd
• Manufacturing: Australian Innovative Systems (AIS)
• Non-Profit or Government: Dubai South
• Real Estate: Stockdale & Leggo
• Telecommunications: Globe Telecom, Inc.
• Transportation: IETT General Directorate
• Other: PT Petrokimia Gresik

The 2018 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service are accepting entries. These are the world's top honors for customer service, contact center, business development and sales professionals. All organizations and individuals worldwide are eligible to submit entries to the 12th annual competition.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE

The early-bird entry deadline, with discounted entry fees, is this October 18. The final entry deadline is November 15, but late entries will be accepted through next January 11 with payment of a late fee. 

There are four new new-product categories:

• Best Sales Enablement Product - New
• Best Sales Enablement Product - New Version
• Best Sales & Marketing Mobile Application - New
• Best Sales & Marketing Mobile Application - New Version

A number of the existing sales and customer service categories have been split into multiple categories based on industry. These include:

• Sales Support Team of the Year
• Sales Training or Coaching Program of the Year
• Award for Innovation in Sales
• Back-Office Customer Service Professional of the Year
• Young Customer Service Professional of the Year
• Customer Service Team of the Year - Recovery Situation
• Customer Service Complaints Team of the Year
• Customer Service Training Team of the Year
• e-Commerce Customer Service Award
• Best Use of Technology in Customer Service

Learn more about what’s new and different in the 2018 edition of the awards.

Humble beginnings, staunch discrimination and a massively successful career—that’s the story of Jenny Q. Ta, cofounder of VCNetwork.co. It’s a startup funding network that has been described as a virtual Shark Tank meets eHarmony.

Its database of independent international venture capitalists (VCs) finds startups who have what it takes to succeed. Facilitating such connections, both large and small, entrepreneurs are given the opportunity to submit their business plan through VCNetwork.co for the chance to be considered by one of more than 1,000 VCs. They won the Silver Stevie Award in the 2017American Business Awards for helping deserved entrepreneurs achieve their goals.

Matchmaking Heaven

So how does VCNetwork.co work? Entrepreneurs create a profile on VCNetwork.co, which includes the founder's and team's information, as well as how much funding the startup is seeking. Once they submit a business plan and select the industry they're most closely related to, VCNetwork.co's intelligent system pairs them with the best business match for their funding needs.

Jenny Q. Ta is the cofounder of VCNetwork.co and former founder of two Wall Street broker-dealers and investment banks. She says VCNetwork essentially plays “the role of matchmaker, bringing together aspiring entrepreneurs who need funding and venture capitalists with the means to provide that funding.” Jenny took everything she learned from her experiences and teamed up with Shinta W. Dhanuwardoyo (founder/CEO of Bubu.com) to create VCNetwork.co.

The Price of Progress

As both tech and finances continue to grow dependent on each other, Jenny and Shinta are seeing huge returns and industry transformations as new companies grow and continue to be profitable. Jenny feels she has had to grow a lot in terms of overcoming unfortunate challenges that many women in her industry experience. She recounts the little to no support received whenever she came across repeated discrimination.

“I was told that as a woman it would take me years to advance and become a broker."

She decided to open her own firm, and promised colleagues better pay if they worked for her instead. It worked—Jenny launched Vantage Investments in 1998 at age 27 with 30 brokers.

Recognition

Both Jenny and Shinta have been recognized for their work in huge ways. Jenny mentions their 2016 win for the Women In Business Award from the Los Angeles Business Journal, and this year they're expected to win in a similar category from the OC Business Journal. She comments on why it’s important to be recognized for their hard work:

“Recognition demonstrates our dedication to quality and innovation in the internet, new media and financial services industries.”

When you’re trying to bridge a gap to dissolve barriers traditional funding models place between VCs and entrepreneurs, if done right, chances are entrepreneurs and companies can avoid common pitfalls of venture funding. Investment banks are always looking for ways to venture into the investment arena due to lucrative fees they stand to collect from investors. These difficult bargaining tactics used by today's investment banks are what VC Network is looking to change, and they’re making a name for themselves wherever missed opportunities need better solutions.

Jill Liberman, Founder of Choose Happy, LLC, in Boca Raton, Florida, USA,has been named the chair of the jury for the individual Entrepreneur categories of the 2017 Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the world's top honors for female entrepreneurs, executives, employees and the organizations they run.

The final entry deadline for the awards is September 20.  Complete details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/Women.

Jill Liberman is a motivational speaker, former radio talk show host, entrepreneur, and published author. She has more than twenty years of television experience, including reporting for national entertainment news shows such as Entertainment Tonight, E! Entertainment, and Showbiz Today.  She was an active member of the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) and a judge for the nationally televised Cable Ace awards. She hosted the number one rated talk show on WAXY radio and co-hosted the television pilot “Thicke and Jill” with actor Alan Thicke.

American Pride, Jill's first book, was published in 2004 and has been nationally featured on television and radio shows, and in magazines. Jill's story was featured on Lifetime Television as one of the country's most inspirational women. The White House has a copy of her book displayed in the lobby. Choose Happy, her most recent book, has helped inspire people as it spreads the powerful message that happiness is a choice. Jill travels the country as a keynote motivational speaker.

“It is a pleasure to serve as Chair on the Individual/Entrepreneur Awards Judging Committee,” commented Jill. “I am proud to be a part of such a coveted competition and organization that celebrates and recognizes the accomplishments of women in business.”

ElsaMarie D’Silva, Founder & CEO of Red Dot Foundation (Safecity) in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, has been selected to chair the jury for the Company/Organization categories of the 2017 Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the world's top honors for female entrepreneurs, executives, employees and the organizations they run.

The final entry deadline for the awards is September 20.  Complete details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/Women.

Rebecca Flood, CEO of New Directions for Women, in Costa Mesa, California, USA, has been named the chair of the jury for the individual Executive categories of the 2017 Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the world's top honors for female entrepreneurs, executives, employees and the organizations they run.

The final entry deadline for the awards is September 20.  Complete details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/Women.

In her nearly four decades of experience in the health care industry, Rebecca J. Flood has demonstrated expertise in program development, implementation, and evaluation. She was with Seabrook House in Seabrook, New Jersey, for over 25 years. As Vice President of Treatment Services, she oversaw the organization’s residential treatment programs and the planning of specialized treatment for women, adolescents, and individuals with co-occurring disorders. She has also distinguished herself in the areas of marketing, fundraising, technical assistance and board development. As CEO of New Directions for Women since 2004, her expertise has been applied exclusively to issues relating to women of all ages, pregnant women in any trimester, and women with dependent children affected by addiction.

Rebecca has always been committed to giving back and has given of her time, talent, and treasure by serving on international, national, and local boards, providing training at national conferences, and serving as a CARF surveyor. She is currently a member of the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP) Board and of the Seabrook House Board, and is President of the Association of Intervention Specialists (AIS).  She is also a member of the TRIAD Board and the Advisory Committee for Limen House in Wilmington, Delaware; and of the Sober Living Coalition Board for the State of California.

Rebecca attended Johns Hopkins University and obtained a Master’s Degree in Human Services from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. She is a Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor (LCADC) in the state of New Jersey; a Nationally Certified Drug & Alcohol Counselor (NCAC II); and is certified in California, Delaware, and New Jersey as a Drug & Alcohol Counselor (CADC II).

Rebecca tells us: “The old saying that ‘you always get more than you give’ has certainly come true for me in my life. Being able to Chair the 2017 Individual/Executive Judging Committee is a great example of that. I am honored to share some of my time in recognizing incredible, visionary women all over the world that are impacting our communities for the better.”