Stevie-winner Belkins Agency was forged on a common idea: predictable and scalable growth achieved through transparency, perseverance, experience, and creativity.

Belkins was founded by Vladyslav Podolyako and Michael Maximoff back in 2017. Shortly before, they worked together at a small product company. They both shared an extensive background in B2B sales that produced a compatible synergy and would later be transformed into an equivocal business partnership.

The start-up humbly began with Michael and Vlad generating leads for small businesses, committing 100% of their time and efforts to their "side hustle." Soon their creativity and passion paid off.

A startup blossomed into a full-scale digital marketing agency producing $10 million ARR and serving 1000 customers worldwide. In just five years, Belkins grew into the #1 ranked leading provider of lead generation and appointment-setting services despite their decision to forgo any outside investments.

Belkins has now helped 400+ clients transform their presales and sales processes. They have worked with clients from 30+ countries in 60+ niches to help them build and transform their sales workflow. The goal was not only to help companies define their ICP (ideal client profile), build a pipeline of qualified leads, and drive sales for the fastest possible ROI but to make it digital, scalable, and as predictable as possible.

Helping Business Scale Quickly
Belkins empowers businesses of any scale to grow fast through cutting-edge technologies and innovative marketing and sales solutions.

Their primary offering is lead generation and appointment-setting, but they offer much more. If they can’t find a worthy solution in the market, they create it. Since 2020 they have launched several products and a new service line. Now their clients can count on 99% inbox deliverability and a 60% increase in their email open rate using Folderly, streamline their cold outreach with Frostbite.ia, and acquire endless qualified leads using the Leadsforce service. Additionally, with Charge for Outlook, clients can seamlessly send bulk outreach, enhancing their email campaigns further. 

Over the last 12 months, their approach generated over $50 million in new sales for 200 of their clients. Furthermore, on average, the amount of new deals is $50,000 USD. From the kick-off meeting to the first email sent, they get the client’s campaign running in six days or less. The number of leads their team has generated by now is close to 5 million, and emails that reached prospects’ inboxes are about 3 million.

The technological products and services they create are tightly interconnected, creating a sort of MarTech ecosystem inside the company. This way, clients can satisfy all their needs in boosting their business growth with digital marketing and sales services from Belkins Group.

Some of the industries Belkins worked with were quite conservative prior to their partnership: solar & renewable energy, food catering, healthcare, agriculture, waste management, janitorial services, etc. As a result of partnering, clients now receive a faster-than-expected ROI, and a vault of best-kept "secrets" to generate leads by means of email outreach, LinkedIn, HubSpot, and by using dozens of data sources combined with their own proprietary software.

They say they are most proud of the cases where they’ve been able to completely transform a customer's sales process and cycle, showing their customers that digital and scalable solutions for business growth can be predictable.

Belkins won two Silvers and a Bronze Stevie^® Award including the Sales Ethics Award, Achievement in the Digital Transformation of Sales Operations, and Sales Outsourcing Provider of the Year, respectively, in the 2023 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

Interested in entering the 2024 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service?

Stevie-winner Quantum Workplace, a human resources technology provider, equips workplaces with the smartest talent solutions so that they can grow and succeed.

Nearly 20 years ago, the company pioneered some of the earliest employee engagement and performance software and has since partnered with thousands of organizations to drive employee, team, and business success.

Today, human resources (HR) departments have more on their plate than ever before. Quantum Workplace aims to be the reliable partner HR needs to solve problems and guide them along the way.

The organization began as Quantum Market Research in 2002, conducting workplace surveys. By 2005, it  was the survey provider behind the Best Places to Work contest. In 2009, it collected its five-millionth survey. The company changed its name to Quantum Workplace in 2010 and transitioned into a software-led employee engagement company. Now the company partners with over 480 organizations to make work better.

Achieving Consistent Customer and Employee Success
Quantum Workplace has a legacy of providing awesome customer service with unmatched, quality support. The Customer Success Team developed a series of checkpoints that new hires complete before they start talking with customers, so each customer receives the best service and guidance.

A team of Insights Analysts helps customers dive deep into what their data says, how to interpret their results, and guide them in responses. The team has a 97% favorability on value provided to the board room.

Quantum Workplace’s NPS and CSAT scores are well above industry averages, and their six-month rolling average NPS score is 62.5, with industry averages around 40. Quantum Workplace’s August 2022 CSAT score was 86, with industry averages around 77.

The Quantum Workplace Customer Support Team is available to over 2 million users, not just admin users, unlike the competition and others in B2B software. This means more users to assist, which might mean more time per ticket. Not the case at Quantum Workplace. The Customer Support Team typically responds within an hour, faster than most SaaS companies and competitors.

Quantum Workplace employees, or "Qwirks," are used to a high-growth environment. They’re able to succeed because the organization practices what it preaches. It believes that employee success leads to business success. Its dedication to employees has led the Customer Facing Team to achieve levels of customer satisfaction few software companies can.

Because of its unique culture aimed at engaging employees, Qwirks perform at high levels, outpacing its competition and setting new standards for the software industry.

Although it has been challenging, they have been able to maintain customer satisfaction and the employee experience with 30% employee growth in the past two years. Quantum Workplace’s strategy of concentrating on employee success has shown business success and led to a quality customer experience.

Quantum Workplace believes the workplace can be great when employees are given the opportunity and resources to be successful. Quantum Workplace’s 4.9 Glassdoor rating far exceeds the average company rating of 3.3, and 100% of Glassdoor reviewers reported they would recommend a friend to work for the organization.

Quantum Workplace created a culture that employees want to be a part of by giving them the tools to succeed and a unique work experience they enjoy. The organization is stronger because Qwirks are celebrated team members and united through the core values of Pursue, Team Over Self, Revel in Work, and Be You.

Qwirks are passionate about their work. The Customer Facing Team revels in providing excellent customer service and truly believes what they do matters. That experience helps Quantum Workplace separate itself from not only competitors but other workplaces.

Quantum Workplace won a Silver Stevie^® Award for Customer Service Department of the Year - Computer Software - 100 or More Employees, and a Bronze Stevie for Customer Service Employer of the Year in the 2023 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

Interested in entering the 2024 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service?

Stevie-winner Zywave provides software and technology solutions for the insurance industry in the United States and internationally. It offers cloud-based sales management, client delivery, content, and analytics solutions.

More than 15,000 carriers, agencies, and brokerages worldwide—including all of the top 100 US insurance brokerages—use Zywave solutions to enhance client services, achieve business growth, and promote greater health, wellness, risk management, and safety.

Zywave’s all-in-one platform provides customizable, user-friendly options that enable insurance professionals to build a unique solution to fit their specific growth goals.

Prioritizing Customer Experience
The company’s support organization of 50 agents handles around 100,000 complex cases per year.

Led by VP of Support, Emre Tekoglu, the support team was looking to transform from a reactive model to a more proactive support experience. Additionally, Emre wanted to shift from a cost center to position support as a strategic element of the overall customer experience. 

They eventually deployed SupportLogic to predict potential escalations, as well as automate case evaluation and review. SupportLogic generated escalation predictions, provided customer sentiment trend analysis, and surfaced the best cases for managers to review.

SupportLogic helped Zywave quickly become more proactive and predictive by enabling managers and agents to better prioritize focus and customer outreach. Zywave also reduced escalations and kept CSAT metrics strong, achieving 96% satisfaction score for the month of July 2023. They plan to continue to work with SupportLogic to keep escalations low and draw from teachable moments for case reviews.

Not only has Zywave Support made significant technology investments to power improvement of the customer support experience, but also to improve the support reps' experience.

Expanding Global Support Operations
Zywave Support has transitioned from the central Milwaukee location with 28 support representatives into global support operations with over 70 people in various locations, including the Philippines, Boston, Dallas, and other remote locations, by embracing change management over the last two years. 

They have now shifted from reactive to proactive support in everyone's desired state in customer service organizations by prioritizing the right cases using AI/NLP technology. They can effectively predict 70% of escalations before they happen by leveraging their data and insights.

Support is now a destination career path for both internal and external candidates. The changes they made enabled the support team to become the most successful department in the company based on employee retention, even when the whole industry was facing widespread resignations.

Since Winning Their Stevie^® Award
Through the convergence of process, technology, and most importantly, their people, Zywave is committed to delivering the optimal customer experience. They recognize this is an ongoing journey that demands a growth mindset and continuous learning.

Since the application period, Zywave has focused on the following:

New process - They launched a new function in support for incidents. By deploying a critical incident response function, they demonstrate their commitment to proactively address and mitigate issues that affect multiple customers, ensuring swift and effective resolutions to preserve their trust and satisfaction.

Focus on support team’s growth - They have introduced a volunteer day off option for employees to prioritize their support team members' personal growth and community engagement, while also cultivating a culture of empathy and social responsibility within the organization.

Further technology investment - By continually reviewing and adopting AI-powered solutions and emerging support trends, including case resolution using robotic process automation, they consistently optimize their ability to reduce time to resolution and elevate customer satisfaction levels, cementing their position as a customer-centric organization.

Zywave won a Silver Stevie Award for Best Use of Technology in Customer Service – Computer Industries, and Bronze in the category of Achievement in the Use of Data & Analytics in Customer Service in the 2023 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

Interested in entering the 2024 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service?

Stevie-winner SmartBear provides a portfolio of trusted tools that give software development teams around the world visibility into end-to-end quality through test management and automation, API development lifecycle, and application stability, ensuring each software release is better than the last. Award-winning tools include SwaggerHub, TestComplete, BugSnag, ReadyAPI, Zephyr, and PactFlow, among others.

The company’s mission is to be the first choice for software development teams of all sizes, giving them the tools to immediately impact the delivery of tomorrow’s applications. The tools they develop are built to streamline clients’ processes while seamlessly working with the products they currently use and will continue to use. 

In the 2023 Stevie^® Awards for Sales & Customer Service, the SmartBear Test Management Team, led by Jeannie Kobert, Director of Customer Care Engineering at SmartBear, won a Bronze Stevie Award for Customer Service Complaints Team of the Year - Technology Industries. 

Integrating Open Source and Openness Altogether
SmartBear’s philosophy is not only to embrace open source, but openness altogether, which includes diversity, equity, and inclusion. With these principles as their foundation, they ensure that their tools are easy to try, easy to buy, and easy to integrate. 

The SmartBear Test Management team, consisting of the Zephyr Enterprise and Zephyr Squad product lines, provides 24/5 technical support to a global set of customers located in AMER, EMEA, and APAC. The team supports both SaaS and On-Premises (server and data center) solutions and provides expertise for all aspects of product usage and configuration, as well as resolving the most difficult technical issues. 

The Test Management team also includes Zephyr Scale products, SaaS, and On-Premises (server and data center) solutions and provides  similar technical services as Zephyr Enterprise and Zephyr Squad.

The Test Management team has consistently received high Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) scores and tracked at a high level against their published service level agreements (SLAs), keeping their customers happy. In fact, the team has been able to retain an elevated level of customer service consistently when it was particularly challenging during the pandemic and great resignation in 2020 and beyond. This is due to the team’s commitment to customer service by increasing man hours, utilizing development resources, and taking advantage of an innovative cross-training plan the team adopted last year.

Leading by Example
By committing to ethical corporate practices that promote good, SmartBear has pledged to continue building quality businesses in their global communities through integrity.

They are committed to taking the journey toward becoming a leader in corporate social responsibility as they grow. To that end, they have a group of senior leaders who meet regularly as a working group to focus on the areas of Community, Sustainability, Governance, and Diversity.

SmartBear is trusted by over 16 million developers, testers, and software engineers at 32,000+ organizations—including innovators like Adobe, JetBlue, FedEx, and Microsoft.

The SmartBear Test Management Team won a Bronze Stevie Award for Customer Service Complaints Team of the Year - Technology Industries in the 2023 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

Interested in entering the 2024 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service? 

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards programs, has extended the final entry deadline in the 2023 (20th annual) Stevie Awards for Women in Business. Entrants now have until September 6 to submit nominations. The original final entry deadline was August 23.

Entry kits and complete details on the competition are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Women.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business honor the achievements of working women in more than 100 categories, including Entrepreneur of the Year, Executive of the Year, Mentor or Coach of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award, Achievement in Equal Pay, Women Helping Women, Employee of the Year, Woman-Owned or -Run Company of the Year, and Innovator of the Year. All female entrepreneurs, executives, employees, and the organizations they run, worldwide, are eligible to be nominated.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business are widely considered to be the world's premier business awards competition for women. In 2022 the competition attracted more than 1,500 nominations from organizations in more than 27 nations.

The 2023 Stevie Awards for Women in Business will be judged by more than 200 leading professionals around the world, and nominees will have access to all the judges’ comments and suggestions about their nominations. Finalists will be announced on September 20, and winners will be announced on November 10 at an awards ceremony in New York, New York.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business recognize achievement in the workplace in award categories including:

Achievement Categories
Communications & Marketing (Developed for/by Women) Categories
Company/Organization (Women-Owned or -Led) Categories
Individual Women Categories
Media (Developed for/by Women) Categories
New Product & Service (Developed for/by Women) - Categories
Social Media Categories
Thought Leadership Categories

There are two new Achievement categories for 2023: Achievement in Environment, Social, and Governance and Achievement in Technology Innovation.

Interested in submitting nominations in the 2023 competition?

The Stevie® Awards, organizers of the world’s premier business awards programs, have announced the winners of six Grand (“best in show”) Stevie Award trophies in The 2023 (20^th Annual) International Business Awards®, the world’s leading business awards competition.

Nominees in the 2023 IBAs were not able to apply for Grand Stevie Awards directly. Winners were determined by a points system based on the total number of awards won in the IBAs with a Gold Stevie win counting for three points, a Silver Stevie win for two points, and a Bronze Stevie win for 1.5 points, as well as having the highest average score in selected categories.

This year’s Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners in The International Business Awards were announced on 14 August. They and the winners of the Grand Stevies announced today will be recognized during an awards gala in Rome, Italy on 13 October.

Winners of the 2023 Grand Stevie Awards are:

Highest-rated Nomination of the Year
A nomination entitled “Danie Wspolnych Chwil - Food for Shared Moments,” submitted on behalf of Fundacja Biedronki, a Warsaw, Poland-based non-profit, by agency Great Minds sp. z o.o., received an average score of 9.60/10. The nomination is a Gold Stevie winner for Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Community Engagement.

Highest-rated New Product Nomination of the Year
There is a tie for the highest-rated new product or service nomination of the year, and both nominations with average scores of 9.0/10 will be awarded Grand Stevie Awards:

• The Dubai Digital Authority, United Arab Emirates, for “04 (The unified government suggestions and complaints system),” Gold Stevie winner for Digital Process Automation Solution.
• EY Global Services Limited, of Secaucus, New Jersey USA, for “EY Fabric,” winner of the Gold Stevie for Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning Solution.

Most Honored Marketing Agency of the Year
HeyMo® The Experience Design Company, of Istanbul, Turkey, won the marketing agency Grand Stevie this year with 21.5 award points earned for Stevie wins in a variety of Event categories.

Most Honored Public Relations Agency of the YearWith 26.5 award points earned for Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevies won on behalf of a number of clients, LLYC of Madrid, Spain has won this particular Grand Stevie for the fifth year in a row.

Organization of the Year
IBM Corporation, worldwide, earned the top prize this year with 45.5 award points earned for achievements, projects, team, and individuals around the globe.  While IBM has earned top-honor Grand Stevies in other competitions, this is the first such honor for them in the IBAs.

“These six best-of-show Grand Stevie winners embody the breadth and quality of nominations we welcomed to the IBAs in 2023,” said Maggie Miller, president of the Stevie Awards. “As businesses navigate the ever-evolving landscape of innovation and success, the judges were greatly impressed by the remarkable ingenuity, resourcefulness, and adeptness with which these Stevie winners have advanced their enterprises over the past two years. We look forward to celebrating Grand Stevie Award winners at the gala in October.”

The International Business Awards feature a wide variety of categories to recognize achievement in every facet of work life, including management awards, new product awards, marketing awards, PR awards, customer service awards, website awards, and more.

Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award placements in the 2023 IBAs were determined by the average scores of more than 300 professionals worldwide in the three-month judging process. Winners were selected from more than 3,700 nominations submitted by organizations in 61 nations.

The nomination process for the 2024 IBAs will open in February. For more information about The International Business Awards, including a complete list of all Stevie Award winners in the 2023 competition, visit www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

3,700 Nominations Were Submitted from Organizations in 61 Nations

High-achieving organizations and executives around the world have been recognized as Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie® Award winners in The 20th Annual International Business Awards®, the world's only international, all-encompassing business awards program.

Winners were selected from more than 3,700 nominations submitted by organizations in 61 nations.

A complete list of all 2023 Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners by category is available at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

More than 230 executives worldwide participated on 11 juries to determine the Stevie winners.

The top winner of Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Awards is IBM of Armonk, NY USA with 21. Other winners of multiple Stevie Awards include HALKBANK, Istanbul, Turkey (20), Viettel Group, Hanoi, Vietnam (17), Telkom Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia (17), Ayala Land, Inc., Makati City, Philippines (16), DHL Express, worldwide (14), A.S. Watson Group, Hong Kong (12), Tata Consultancy Services, worldwide (11), LLYC, Madrid, Spain (10), OPET, Istanbul, Turkey (10), HeyMo® The Experience Design Company, Istanbul, Turkey (9), Uniomedia Communications, Budapest, Hungary (9), AD Ports Group, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (8), FPT Software, Hanoi, Vietnam (8), Akbank T.A.Ş, Istanbul, Turkey (7), Cisco Systems, San Jose, CA USA (7), Maersk, Montreal, Canada (7), Everise, Plantation, FL USA (6), Ernst & Young, worldwide (6), Globe Telecom Inc., Taguig City, Philippines (6), Green Door Co, Sydney, Australia (6), nupco, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (6), Philip Morris International, Lausanne, Switzerland (6), TriNet, Dublin, CA USA (6), WNS, Mumbai, India (6), ZER, Istanbul, Turkey (6), Canadian Tire Corporation, Toronto, Canada (5), Cathay United Bank, Taipei, Taiwan (5), Enerjisa Üretim, Istanbul, Turkey (5), Lounge Group, Budapest, Hungary (5), PJ Lhuillier, Inc. | Makati City, Philippines (5), Purpol Marketing, Chippenham, Wiltshire (5), Megaworld Foundation, Inc., Taguig City, Philippines (5), Zimat Consultores, Mexico City, Mexico (5).

Halkbank, pioneering the development of the Turkish banking sector for 83 years, has won eight Gold Stevie Awards, more than any other organization.

All organizations worldwide are eligible to compete in the IBAs, and may submit nominations in a wide range of categories for achievement in management, marketing, public relations, customer service, human resources, new products and services, technology, web sites, apps, events, and more. 

The awards will be presented during a gala event in Rome, Italy on October 13, 2023.

Das Start-Up HASE & IGEL aus dem niedersächsischen Oldenburg hat sich auf die KI-gestützte Analyse von Big Data aus Unternehmen, Markt & Gesellschaft spezialisiert. Mit innovativen Software-as-a-Service Lösungen und Analyseservices unterstützt HASE & IGEL Unternehmen bei einer vorausschauenden, effizienten Marktbearbeitung. 

Bereits letztes Jahr konnte sich HASE & IGEL bei den Stevies durchsetzen und nicht nur den begehrten Gold Stevie® im Bereich "Innovativstes Technologieunternehmen des Jahres – bis zu 100 Mitarbeitende" abräumen, sondern auch Gold für drei seiner Software-Lösungen. Aber statt sich auf diesem Erfolg auszuruhen, hat das Team um den Gründer und Marketing-Experten Jan Schoenmakers seine innovativen Ziele weiter verfolgt und so bei den German Stevie® Awards 2023 gleich fünf Gold Stevies® gewinnen können: Neben dem erneuten Preis für das innovativste Technologieunternehmen bis 100 Mitarbeiter waren dieses Mal auch die Kategorien "Beste Business Technology Solution: Big Data", "Beste Business Technology Solution: Marketing & PR", "Beste Business Technology Solution: Lead Generation" und "Beste Content Lösung zur Inhaltsanalyse" dabei. 

Diese Fülle von Preisen beweist, dass HASE & IGEL mittlerweile zu einem der erfolgreichsten Unternehmen im Bereich der KI-gestützten Datenanalyse von Big Data zählt, und das nicht nur in Deutschland: Damit auch Kunden in anderen Ländern von ihrer Expertise profitieren können, wurde erfolgreich die Internationalisierung des Geschäfts vorangetrieben. Dies - aber auch der anhaltende Erfolg im Inland - führten dazu, dass weitere mittelständische wie große Unternehmen auf HASE & IGEL aufmerksam wurden.

Zugleich wurde aber auch eine konsequente Weiterentwicklung der vorhandenen Tools beschleunigt - aufwändige, innovative Software-as-a-Service Lösungen, mit denen man im Dschungel der Datenanalyse bestens gewappnet ist. Die Anwendungen reichen von Nachfrageprognosen über Media Mix Modelling, Stakeholder Mapping, Lead Scouting bis hin zu Marketing- und Vertriebscontrolling und Risikomanagement. Daten aus den verschiedenen Systemen in den Unternehmen (Analytics, CRM, ERP etc.), Verhaltensdaten aus digitalen Touchpoints in Märkten (Content, Suchmaschinen, Smartphone-Standorte, Werbung, Surfverhalten etc.) sowie Umweltdaten (Bevölkerung, Infrastruktur, Wetter, Verkehr etc.) lassen sich auf diese Weise KI-gestützt zusammenführen und analysieren, um schnell und effizient signifikante Zusammenhänge und sich abzeichnende Trends erkennen und ausnutzen zu können.

Mussten diese Daten früher manuell und mit viel zeitlichem und personellem Aufwand in Marktforschung-, Marketing- und Strategieberatungs-Prozesse umgesetzt werden, übernimmt dies nun die Software, die diese Arbeiten KI-gestützt automatisiert und Entscheidungsvorlagen unterbreitet. Dadurch werden häufige Hürden wie die fehlenden Kompetenzen in Data Science und Entwicklung sowie eine ohnehin bereits ausgelastete Belegschaft umgangen - welche die Umstellung auf datengetriebene Entscheidungen behindern und einen Wettbewerbsnachteil für Unternehmen darstellten. Genau hier setzen die durch HASE & IGEL bereitgestellten Lösungen an, die es Unternehmen aller Größenkategorien ermöglichen, einfach, schnell und sicher in den Bereich der softwaregestützten Datenanalyse einzutreten. Dabei wurde die verwendete Methodik, die KI und sämtliche Anwendungen von HASE & IGEL selber in-house entwickelt - zu 100% in Deutschland, ganz ohne Fremdfinanzierung oder Förderung durch den Staat, der indes seit gut einem Jahr ein Projekt für die Neuentwicklung von KI im Bereich der Bekämpfung von Schmuggel und Fälschungen fördert, das auf HASE & IGEL Technologie aufbaut. 

Seit 2022 wurden die bisherigen, standardisierten Softwarelösungen von HASE & IGEL, die auf typische Fälle in Marketing und Vertrieb ausgerichtet waren, konsequent zu einem Microservice-Baukasten umgebaut, denn viele der bereits vorhandenen Funktionen können auch in anderen Bereichen wichtige Dienste leisten. So lässt sich sehr schnell und kosteneffizient für jeden Kunden und jeden neuen Use Case eine individuelle Anwendung gestalten, ohne dabei das Rad neu erfinden zu müssen. Zugleich profitiert man von den Skaleneffekten und der Interoperabilität einer einheitlichen Plattform. Mit diesem Ansatz konnten binnen kürzester Zeit auch in M&A-Prozessen, bei der Suche nach Lieferanten, Firmenbewertungen, Arbeitsmarktprognosen und in der Bekämpfung von Wirtschaftskriminalität, sowie im Gesundheitswesen innovative Lösungen bereitgestellt werden.

Das System von HASE & IGEL ist in vielerlei Hinsicht einzigartig: Es löst den Benutzer aus der Abhängigkeit von alten, teil starren und nicht integrierbaren Systemen, die zudem häufig nur statische, beschreibende Dashboards ausgaben und keine Interaktion oder Prognose zuließen. Um früher Daten aus verschiedenen Quellen zu verbinden, erforderte es erheblicher IT- und Data-Kompetenz sowie eines überproportional hohen Entwicklungsaufwands, um die dahinter stehenden komplexen Prozesse abzubilden und daraus Handlungsempfehlungen zu generieren. Zudem waren die eigenen Daten meist auch noch in untereinander nicht kompatiblen, geschlossenen Systemen gefangen. 

Die Microservice-Architektur von HASE & IGEL bietet hingegen Unternehmen die Option, statt der vorkonfigurierten Produkte, die man ausschließlich im Paket kaufen konnte, nur diejenigen Bausteine zu erwerben, die sie tatsächlich benötigen. Diese "plug & play" Logik für Services, die Entscheidungsvorlagen produzieren, ohne vom Anwender besondere Kenntnisse zu verlangen, bringt eine neue Qualität in den Markt und öffnet die Potenziale von Big Data & KI für viele Unternehmen, denen ein Einstieg in dieses Thema bisher nicht möglich war.

Hier erfahren Sie mehr über HASE & IGEL.

 "Als innovations- und entwicklungsgetriebenes Unternehmen ist für uns Feedback zu unseren Produkten unglaublich wichtig. Das überwältigend positive Urteil der internationalen Jury der German Stevie Awards ist für uns eine unglaublich schöne Bestätigung - und die detaillierten Bewertungsnotizen nehmen wir auch in der Weiterentwicklung von Produkten und Marketing sehr ernst. Besonders geehrt fühlen wir uns, dass wir einige Awards bereits das zweite Jahr in Folge mit nach Hause nehmen durften - und dass dazu jener für das innovativste Technologieunternehmen bis 100 Mitarbeiter gehört. Sich als junges, noch kleines Unternehmen in einem so starken Wettbewerbsumfeld durchzusetzen macht uns stolz!" - Jan Schoenmakers, Geschäftsführer 

Haben Sie mit Ihrer Organisation auch Großartiges geleistet? Dann melden Sie sich jetzt für unseren Newsletter an, um immer über die Fristen der German Stevie® Awards 2024 auf dem Laufenden gehalten zu werden!

Finalists in the 2023 (eighth annual) Stevie® Awards for Great Employers, an international competition, were announced today. 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.    

Among the organizations with the most Finalist nominations are Bank of America (21), TATA Consultancy Services (TCS) (19), IBM (16), Kordsa Teknik Tekstil A.Ş- (13), Enerjisa Enerji and Enerjisa Uretim (12), Cathay United Bank (11), Tech Mahindra Ltd. (11), GoHealth (10), DHL Global Forwarding (9), Dimes Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. (9), Akbank T.A.S. (8), Globe Telecom, Inc. (8), Peak on Air (7), Ayala Land Inc. (6), Doğuş Holding (6), Everise (6), PT Bank Central Asia Tbk (6), East West Bank (5), Helpware (5), Innova (5), mindit.io (5), and PeopleTec, Inc. (5).

For a full list of finalists by category, visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/HR.

All finalists will ultimately be named Gold, Silver, or Bronze Stevie Award winners. The placements will be revealed during a gala event on Monday, September 18 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Tickets are now on sale. The presentations will be broadcast live via Livestream.

More than 1,000 nominations from organizations from 28 nations were evaluated in this year’s competition. Winners were determined by the average scores of more than 125 professionals worldwide, acting as judges. The Stevie Awards for Great Employers recognize achievement in many facets of the workplace. Categories include:

•         Employer of the Year Awards
•         HR Achievement Awards
•         HR Individual Awards
•         HR Team Categories
•         Solution Provider Awards
•         Solutions, Implementations, and Training Programs or Media Awards
•         Thought Leadership Categories
•         COVID-19 Response Awards

Stevie Award placements in the 31 Employer of the Year categories will be determined by a unique blending of the ratings of professionals and the votes of the general public. More than 107,000 votes were cast by members of the public for their favorite employer this year.
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®.

A sponsor of the 8th annual Stevie Awards for Great Employers is HiBob.

The sixth annual Women|Future Conference, held virtually from August 1-2, brought together over 650 ambitious, forward-thinking women across industries and career stages to connect and discuss key issues that impact their industries, careers, and lives.

A professional development, learning, and networking event, the Women|Future Conference brings together a community of women small business owners, executives, entrepreneurs, and professionals interested in starting a business. Attendees tuned in from cities across the United States, Canada, Australia, Asia, and Europe.

The 2023 conference agenda featured two days of panels, workshops, and breakout sessions hosted by over 30 world-class speakers, including CEOs, founders, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and small business consultants from The Audacious Agency, MENTOR New York, Jennings Social Media & MarTech, and others. 

Speakers also included seasoned leaders from global organizations like Microsoft's Corporate Vice President - Global Industry Marketing; SAP's Chief Marketing & Solutions Officer; and the Founder and CEO of Fempire, the #1 global coaching brand for women business owners.

Top Attended Sessions From #WomenFuture23
Throughout the two-day conference, attendees participated in sessions about business networking, work-life balance, wealth attraction, overcoming adversity, mentorship, and more. Below are the top conference sessions attended:

• Turning Passion Into Profit as an Entrepreneur
• From Wages to Wealth: Making the Shift from Employee to Entrepreneur
• Taking the Leap: How to Transfer Your Skills from One Role to the Next
• Should I Enter the Stevie Awards? Learn How Leaders Leverage Awards to Boost their Business and build Credibility

On Day 1 of #WomenFuture 23 in the session “Funding Female Futures: Navigating the Investment Landscape and Bootstrapping Success” two female entrepreneur and funding experts, Marnie LeFevre, Founder & CEO of Fempire, and Mez Gallifuoco, Founder & CEO of The Mad Ones, delved into the realities of the investment landscape for women and shared valuable insights on identifying the right investors and business opportunities. 

With her international coaching brand Fempire, Marnie has made it her mission to inspire women to step up and lead with courage, confidence, and from the feminine. Mez is an award-winning technology entrepreneur and strategist for some of the world’s most innovative companies including QBE, AMEX, Virgin Australia, and several startups in Sydney and New York.

Early in the discussion, Mez relayed that men in business are often asked, “What will you do with success?” while women are more likely to be asked, “How will you overcome all these challenges?” Women are sometimes viewed as already disadvantaged in the business space, in some sectors more than others. Even if you have a brilliant idea and are fully committed to making it work, it can be quite intimidating when it comes to getting your vision off the ground, she said,  especially when it comes to learning about and gaining funding, and then growing it.

Before trying to go directly to investors and trying to push a business plan at them, both Mez and Marnie recommend aiming for casual and helpful conversations with investors first. Instead of calling to abruptly ask someone to review your data and plan, just ask them for coffee. Have a conversation about what you’re trying to achieve, what insights they may have, and try to create a connection. 

“Start asking questions—gain advice. Use them as a mentor, and even if they're not prepared to invest in your business, at least you can gain a whole lot of insight. It's about building a relationship before sticking out your hand,” noted Mez.

She emphasized that who the founders are and who your team members are (and how adept or skilled they are) is even more important than your business plan or statistics. When it comes to finally making the pitch for funding, Mez related her own challenges of walking into very intense and critical business meetings. “They barely look at the idea, to be honest. They only really look at, what is the team? do they know what they’re doing….and we’re interested in the founder.” 

Both Mez and Marne agreed that having a well-connected founder—or, even better, multiple founders—who have similar business values can go a long way in securing the relationship and funding. Marne commented: “We're looking for whether we can get along with you, whether we believe in you, whether we think you've got what it takes, whether you have the grit that it takes.”

Day 2 of the conference opened with an instructional session on “How to Write a Winning Stevie Award Nomination” given by Denise O’Leary, MBE. Denise is a 21-time Stevie Award winner and relayed her extensive experience on how she has repeatedly created winning Stevie Award entries. Her company, Purpol Marketing, specializes in marketing strategy development and bid management for public sector contracts across various industries. 

Denise answered many common questions she gets from clients across industries on finding and applying for awards, including:

• Why should you enter awards?
• Where do you find awards to enter?
• How to find the right awards for your business
• What data do you need to consider? 

Denise explained that, based on your specific industry or field, you should build an award target list and track when your targeted awards are open for nominations and what they will require. For example, even the Stevie Awards has eight distinct programs, and, depending on your field, one or a variety of them will get you a different level of exposure to a specific audience, geographic region, or market. Note the deadlines you need to hit and the networking or marketing opportunities they offer. 

She detailed the full Stevie application journey and even provided hints on what judges really want to see. “Play to your individual strengths in your nomination,” she emphasized. “How do you offer better value? How can you explain what you’re doing and make your strengths clear? Prove what you do with tangible evidence.” She covered how to examine your own organization and objectives and then how to tell your personal and business story as well as what types of data should be included with your entry. 

Regarding gathering evidence before writing your Stevie Awards nomination, Denise said, “It’s really important to gather evidence about your business success before writing your nomination. 

• Read all instructions to make sure you’re eligible.” She also advised doing the following: 
• If you’re doing a video, review their specific rules on formatting, length, language, etc.
• Include key performance indicators (KPIs) or other materials in the supporting materials section of the entry submission, like customer testimonials, photos, case studies, etc.
• Include a folder of press coverage to share, if available. 

“Think about what the judges would like to see. Think about their process,” she noted. “If you need to proofread your nomination more than once a day to make sure it’s perfect, you should. Explain in simple terms what your business does so it’s clear to any judge why you should win a Stevie Award.”

She said you will want to keep track of progress, store, and revisit old nominations you’ve written. In addition, after entering Stevie Awards competitions, all entrants can access the judge’s comments. This feedback can serve as an invaluable asset for guidance on areas the judges were impressed with and how entry nominations can be improved in the future.

In an educational panel discussion, "Make Your Mark: How to Build a Network with Trusted Mentors" that took place on Day 2, speakers explored how to build social capital and a network you can count on.

Brenda Jimenez, CEO of MENTOR New York, led this panel, and other speakers included Alana Beard, four-time WNBA Champion and President of the 318 Foundation and Founder of Transition Play; Dr. Elizabeth Santiago, author, educator, designer, and leader; and Cicy George, Senior, Organizational Capability at Macy’s. These panelists have made their marks in different industries with an interesting story of how they’ve each become supporters of each other in ways that led to career successes.

Panelists initiated the conversation by examining the concept of social capital—the connections built and nurtured over time that may have beneficial professional implications—and how women specifically can work toward building this capital. For women especially, they agreed, it can be hard simply to ask for help and be vulnerable with a mentor. 

Alana commented: "I encourage [those she mentors] to be to be as vulnerable as possible in these moments because there's no way for people to really understand who you are and what you're going through and what your desires are if you don't speak about them.”

Elizabeth added another perspective, noting that getting comfortable relaying your needs and challenges not only helps you find the help and support you need but also enables you to validate and encourage others with your own experiences once you come out on the other side:

“For me, this is where storytelling comes in. As I look back at my life and my career and all the things that have happened and led me to where I am….there are so many people involved, so many stories, so many ways that I've asked for help over the years that I often share those experiences or share an anecdote about something and usually that helps someone else.”

They explained that self-reflection and conscious awareness of your strengths and, even more so, your weaknesses will help to solidify a sense of confidence and self-worth. The sooner you do the inner work and get past the common feeling of imposter syndrome, the faster you and others will see your potential. In a perfect example of how to be authentic and vulnerable with your peers, Cicy shared part of her personal journey with self-worth and acceptance:

“I've only recently gotten more comfortable with feeling like I am enough, and I feel like I have a hidden greatness that I have yet to unleash. That's just a realization I feel I've come into just now in my early 40s. It's taken me a long time to get here — even just to admit in a global forum that I'm in my early 40s—and I'm just learning some of these lessons now that I wish I had learned earlier on in my life and my career.” 

Special Thanks to Our 2023 Sponsors and Partners​
We are proud to partner with publications, media outlets, and organizations that share our mission of supporting women in business:

• Enterprising Women Magazine
• ImageShield
• Investably LLC
• MBE Magazine
• Professional Woman’s Magazine
• Trust Relations 

If you are interested in sponsorship opportunities for the 2024 Women|Future Conference, sign up here to get notified of the 2023 prospectus release.