The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, announced today that the final entry deadline for the third annual competition has been extended to Thursday, August 9. The Stevie Awards for Great Employers honors the world’s best companies to work for and the HR teams and professionals, HR achievements, new products and services and suppliers that help to create and drive great workplaces.

“We’ve received so many requests for individual deadline extensions that we’ve decided to extend the deadline for everyone,” said Stevie Awards president Michael Gallagher. The original final deadline was July 18. Gallagher emphasizes that no additional late fees will be charged for entries submitted through August 9, and late entries will not be penalized in the judging process. All organizations now have three more weeks to prepare and submit their entries.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

All individuals and organizations worldwide—public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small—may submit nominations to the Stevie Awards for Great Employers. The 2018 awards will honor achievements since the beginning of 2017. Entry details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/HR.

Stevie Award winners in the 35 Employer of the Year categories will be determined by a unique blending of the ratings of professionals and the votes of the general public. Public voting will open on July 23.

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

• Employer of the Year
• HR Achievements
• HR Individual Awards
• HR Team Categories
• Solution Provider Awards
• More than 50 New Product & Service Categories

Close to 100 professionals worldwide, working on a number of juries, will determine the Stevie Award winners. Finalists will be announced on August 15. Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be announced at a gala event in New York City on September 21.

A wedding cake is that rare culinary creation that customers remember for years to come. Naturally, bakers pour their hearts into every delicious detail, whether it’s a pattern of elaborate swirls or elegant, sugary flowers.

Then, of course, they have to transport their handiwork to the reception. That’s where things can get scary. Each unexpected stop or dip in the road has the potential to turn a masterpiece into mush.

Juli Chapin knows this as well as anyone. In the late 1980s, she started a bakery specializing in wedding cakes in the Northeast region of the United States, and she sympathizes with bakers who have to deal with this precarious transport situation. Traditionally, people like her would put each cake tier into a cardboard box and stack the tiers, one on top of the other, at the venue.

“It’s extremely nerve-racking and limits the designs you can create since the majority of the decoration needs to be applied to the stacked cake,” she says. “Bakers have even shut down their wedding cake businesses due to the high stress involved in transportation and the risk of being sued by a bride if something happens to the cake in delivery.”

An Invention Is Born

In Chapin’s case, it helped being married to an engineer who had a knack for solving tricky problems around the house. Upon hearing about her transit issues, her husband, Scott, came up with a clever solution: a rigid container with a stainless steel dowel that ran through the center of the cake to keep it nice and secure. Thanks to a double-walled exterior, it also protected the contents from rain, wind, and scorching summer heat.

For a long time, the couple simply saw it as a convenient solution to their own business problem. The results, however, were so good (in 20 years, Chapin never had a cake damaged on its way to a reception) that they started wondering if the contraption had a broader appeal.

In 2009, the Rhode Island couple started marketing the device to bakeries around the country as the “CakeSafe.” From the start, it was clear they had struck a chord with a lot of bakeries when showing off their invention.

Chapin recalls the early days, when Scott worked around the clock at their home to keep up with demand.

“He’d run his CNC table all night long making products for orders that needed to be shipped the next day,” she says. “He'd hear the machine stop, pause the movie he was watching, and go downstairs to set up the next run on the table.”

Despite the hard work, Chapin says it’s been satisfying to help people in the same situation she was once in.

“Bakers now deliver to mountaintop venues in the snow, down gravel roads with potholes, and on congested highways, all with no stress at all.”

One baker told the couple that she slammed on her brakes on the way to an event, causing her CakeSafe to flip over in the car. She expected to see a pile of crumbs inside but instead found the dessert perfectly intact.

“We've received many phone calls from bakers crying tears of joy because they were able to reopen their wedding cake businesses or grow their businesses because they no longer had any fear of delivery,” says Chapin, who eventually scaled back her own bakery to focus on CakeSafe.

Stevie Award Is Icing on the Cake

Since starting the business nearly a decade ago, Scott hasn’t stopped innovating. The company now offers CakeSafe in a variety of sizes; a safe for cupcakes; spray booths for airbrushing desserts; and a host of other baking implements.

“Scott genuinely loves inventing products to help bakers and to make their lives easier,” Chapin says of her husband, who recently won a Silver Stevie® Award for Product Developer of the Year in The 2018 American Business Awards® . “He never turns down a custom order and is constantly inventing new product lines.”

The company’s reputation within the industry belies its small staff, which only recently moved out of the Chapins’ home into a separate location.

“Whenever customers call the office and Scott or I pick up the phone, they tend to clam up,” she says. “They might say, ‘I never expected to get to talk to you. I'm talking to a celebrity!’ Little do they know, we are only a team of six.”

To this day, the company handcrafts all CakeSafe products, but it’s all a labor of love.

“All the employees have such a passion for their jobs,” she notes. “Scott is a big reason for that.”

It’s gratifying, Chapin notes, for her spouse—and the business he started—to get the extra attention.

“Scott is a brilliant and caring man who deserves to be recognized for his outstanding achievements in the bakery product field,” she says proudly. “Winning a Stevie further legitimizes the company so customers can rest assured their products are coming from a reputable source.”

One aim of customer engagement is to continuously build and update knowledge on each individual visitor. Etech Global Services is a leading provider for customer engagement solutions, voice, quality monitoring, chat, social, and email. Etech began in 1997 in Texas in the United States and has expanded to include eight dynamic contact centers across the U.S., Jamaica, and India. Etech won the Silver Stevie® Award for Business Intelligence Solution - Human Intelligence Meets Artificial Intelligence in the 2018 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.
 
Pride in Their Job

Etech's solutions help their clients reduce efforts, enhance customer experience, increase sales results, and increase market share. Chief Customer Officer Jim Iyoob shares how their "servant leader" philosophy has motivated them to achieve success.

“The most evident area of impact is on the frontline employees,” says Iyoob. “The Stevie Award further validates their day-to-day efforts to make a remarkable difference for our clients. Being nationally recognized with a Stevie Award gives them a tremendous boost of confidence and pride in their job.”

Etech started with about 400 employees and now has grown to over 3,000 employees without a merger or acquisition.

An Effortless Experience

As 30-year veterans in their field, Etech's Insights division has continued to grow and now consists of more than 200 field expert data scientists. These experts have navigated a definitive increase of consumer control in today’s marketplace, directly impacting their industry and requiring their adaptability.

“Studies have shown that 89% of consumers have stopped doing business with particular companies after a single poor customer experience,” states Iyoob. “Consumers are willing to pay more for a service if they know they are going to have an effortless and positive customer experience.”

Etech constantly aims to make a remarkable difference in their clients’ lives and their communities.

“Growing as a leader does not occur overnight, but once our employees are presented with the tools of servant leadership, they set goals to start making changes intentionally, consistently and daily,” Iyoob says.
 
A Miracle in the Etech Family

Among all the gains and accomplishments Etech has experienced, one of the most dramatic and personal setbacks happened this past year to Etech's President and General Manager, Matt Rocco. Iyoob details Rocco’s story.

“In December 2016, Matt Rocco contracted a high mortality disease known as ARDS and fell into a coma for over a month. However, despite all the medical and scientific data to date, God decided to perform a miracle with Matt and keep him with us. Now, just hardly a year removed from being in a coma, Matt is back and leading the Etech family, which he has done so well for over 17 years. This event not only strengthened Matt and his immediate family, but in fact strengthened the 3,000+ Etech family worldwide.”

Etech defines adaptability as being flexible and willing to positively and purposefully introduce, embrace, and patiently lead the way through change. Etech has fully embraced this spirit.

Awards to Be Presented at Gala Ceremony on June 20 in NYC

Cirkled in is the top winner in the 2017 People's Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite New Products, a feature of The American Business Awards, the U.S.A.’s top business awards program, which are now in their 15th year.

The nationwide public vote was conducted last month, with the highest number of votes deciding the winners in a variety of product categories. More than 38,000 votes were cast.  To win, a category’s leading vote-getter had to have received at least 100 votes.

Cirkled in, the Redmond, WA based company won the most People’s Choice Stevie Awards in two categories, Education - Classroom Mgmt and Education - Cloud-Based. 4LifeTransform Burn collected the most votes of any nominee.

The crystal People’s Choice Stevie Awards will be presented to winners at The American Business Awards’ banquet on Tuesday, June 20 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York, NY. Tickets for the event are now on sale. There, the winners of peer-adjudicated Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards will also be presented their awards. More than 550 nominees and their guests are expected to attend.

All new products and services recognized as winners in the new product awards categories of this year’s American Business Awards were eligible to be included in voting for the people’s choice awards.

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

B2B Products: Qstream's Coaching Hub
B2B Services: Arise Starmatic Scheduling System
Computer Hardware: IGEL UD Pocket
Consumer Electronics: Anki's Cozmo
Consumer Products & Services: 4LifeTransform Burn
Content - Content Marketing: Thomson Reuters' Checkpoint Marketing Social Media Solutions
Content - Other: AT&T Global Video Player
Content - Reference/Legal: Enquiron
Content - Sales/Marketing Intel: Ignite Sales Customer Engagement Management Platform
Education - Classroom Mgmt: Cirkled in School Offering
Education - Cloud-Based: Cirkled in School Offering
Education - Game/Virtual/Other Curric: Advantexe Learning Solutions Drivers of Business Performance Business Simulation
Education - Other: United Way Worldwide, NFL, Verizon and Everfi: Character Playbook
Health & Pharmaceuticals: Makers Nutrition's Private Label Product Line
Industrial: Magline LiftPlus
Software - Big Data: CareerBuilder's Customer Health Score Tool
Software - Cloud App/Service: FieldEdge
Software - Cloud Backup/Storage: Quest Rapid Recovery v6.1
Software - Cloud ERP: Intacct Contract and Revenue Management
Software - Cloud Infrastructure: Wind River Titanium Control
Software - Content Mgmt: Built.io Contentstack
Software - Data Visualization: Lucky Orange Dynamic Heatmaps
Software - Ecommerce: Ve Interactive VePanel
Software - Endpoint Security Mgmt: Dell Data Guardian
Software - FinTech: Ingo Instant Payments
Software - Human Capital Mgmt: RiseSmart Insight
Software - Identity/Access Security: IdentityForce's UltraSecure+Credit (Version 5.1)
Software - Infrastructure/Platform AAS: FIS Merchant Processing System
Software - Integration Solution: West Video Meeting Gateway
Software - Learning/Workforce Dev: Articulate 360
Software - Marketing/PR: Digital Air Strike's Mission Control
Software - Mobile On-Demand App: Equo by Runzheimer
Software - Network Security: Cisco Stealthwatch 6.8
Software - Other: MindTickle
Software - Payments: BluePay?s Premier Payment Gateway
Software - Relationship Mgmt: Vlocity Communications
Software - Supply Chain Mgmt: PRO Unlimited's Wand VMS
Telecommunications - Product: Nextivity's Cel-Fi GO

hargebacks911 won Gold and Silver Stevie Awards in The 2016 American Business Awards for Best Business-to-Business Product and New Product of the Year - Software Commerce Solution. 

The 2017 American Business Awards are accepting entries through April 7. Review the entry kit here. Learn more about New Product Awards.

We spoke with Gary Cardone, CEO of Chargebacks911 to learn more about the organization and what winning Stevie Awards has meant to their successes.

In a sentence or two, what does your organization do?

Chargebacks911 is dedicated to eliminating chargeback fraud (friendly fraud, family fraud, unauthorized claims and mis-coded disputes) for merchants, issuers, and acquirers. Last year, we safeguarded over 2.4 billion online transactions in 87 countries, working hand-in-hand with thousands of e-stores all over the world.  In a nutshell, we take the guess work out of chargebacks, which means reducing costs, enriching understanding, and recovering revenue. 

What is the vision behind your organization?

Our vision is simple: begin and end with a win-win scenario. When it comes to chargeback fraud, everyone is victimized: merchants pay fees and lose money to fake claims, banks devote expensive resources, and consumers end up paying higher prices and forfeiting friendly policies. 

We are passionate about identifying the true source of the problem and not just treating the symptoms.  Everything we do is backed by an ROI guarantee that is only possible due to our first-hand expertise and technology. Our vision has been built upon a mission to bring our understanding and workable results to enough merchants and banks that as an industry, we can overcome the growing chargeback problem. 

Ironically, this type of vision does not leave us without a business. Helping merchants achieve sustainability and growth is our primary goal, and understanding the best methods to use for managing chargebacks is a key component. There will always be disputes or issues to resolve between buyers and sellers. What is most relevant is the innovation undertaken to meet these growing requirements–a vision that keeps pace with evolving technology and consumer behavior...this is where we fit!

Is there a story or reasoning behind the nomination?

Our two company founders–Monica Eaton-Cardone and Gary Cardone–were jointly selling products online in 2010, when they were victims of chargeback fraud.

Chargeback fraud is an unjustified refund that’s forced upon merchants, occurring when a cardholder reports an unwarranted charge to their bank. The burden of proof is then on the merchant to defend the legitimacy of the sale, which is an extremely difficult threshold for online purchases, card-not-present transactions and shipped merchandise. Merchants lose $40 billion annually to chargebacks and the payments industry suffers even higher losses as a result.

Monica and Gary searched for a company to protect them from chargeback fraud, but to their astonishment, no such company existed. So, they studied chargebacks and became expert themselves, launching Chargebacks911 in 2011.

Roughly five years later, Chargebacks911 has 300+ global employees, thousands of clients, and corporate offices throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.

How did your organization first become acquainted with the Stevies?

The Stevie Awards are internationally recognized as “The World’s Premier Business Awards,” because it’s not about politics, pay-for-play, or personal connections; it’s truly a merit-based honor that celebrates excellence in the field of business. We’ve admired the Stevie Awards for many, many years, and we’re deeply humbled to be included among such a distinguished list of trailblazing entrepreneurs, innovators and international trendsetters.

What was it like for your organization to win this award?

It validated what we believed all along: excellence deserves to be recognized, and if you “build a better mousetrap,” you’ll achieve success. It’s an honor that we share with our dedicated, passionate team-members, and they’re just as proud of this award as our cofounders are!

How has the win affected your business?

The eCommerce industry is extremely technical and very nuanced; even savvy, veteran online merchants often have difficulty understanding the latest developments in chargeback fraud, banking regulations and dispute resolution.  Capturing gold and silver Stevie Awards differentiates us from the competition, and offers an invaluable third-party testimonial to our clients. 

In short, it communicates something very special: We’re the best at what we do. 

What results have been gained since this award was won? Have any documents such as case studies been created that you can share with us?  

We just opened a new location in the UK so we can expand our service levels to better support our growing European customers. This addition comes on the heels of our increased focus on the travel industry. A case study, outlining how our services have impacted the travel industry, can be found here.

Please look out for exciting news–case studies and trends are due to be released Q2 2017.  With the changes from Visa and other payment providers taking hold this year, it is due to be an exciting one for industry news. We plan to release insider tips and regulatory updates shortly.

What changes in the industry does your team find interesting and why?

Perhaps “interesting” isn’t the right word, but it’s certainly noteworthy – cyber-fraud is growing by leaps and bounds:

• The chargeback issuance rate is growing by 20 percent each year
• There’s been a 300+ percent increase in fraud attacks on digital goods
• 94 percent of websites experienced a “bot” (nonhuman) cyber-attack last year
• 6 percent of an online merchants’ total annual revenue is now spent exclusively on fraud-prevention
• Chargeback fraud has grown by 41 percent and continues to climb each quarter

It’s an extraordinarily dangerous time for online merchants. It’s becoming as inevitable as death and taxes.

That’s why you NEED to be prepared.  And that’s why Chargebacks911 is here to help.

Is there an inspirational story related to your organization that might appeal to our blog readers?

Because of our rapid growth, Chargebacks911 has hired hundreds of new employees, largely from our hometown in Tampa Bay, Florida.  Sadly, we soon realized that many young people lack the confidence that is a prerequisite for success in such a fast-paced, hi-tech environment. This led our cofounder and Chief Operating Officer Monica Eaton-Cardone to launch a non-profit program called “Get Paid for Grades.” It offers a financial incentive to struggling high schoolers, focusing on improving literacy and mastering the life-skills that so important in today’s economy—thereby, improving self-confidence. 

Chargebacks911 is a sponsor of Get Paid for Grades, and the program recently expanded to four additional schools across Florida. We hope to eventually introduce the program nationally – because every child deserves an opportunity to succeed.

The 15th annual American Business Awards, the premier business awards competition in the U.S.A. which attracts more than 3,000 nominations from organizations nationwide each year, is accepting nominations for the 2017 program. 

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT

The American Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace. Full entry details are available at http://www.stevieawards.com/aba. The entry deadline is Thursday, February 16 but late entries will be accepted through Wednesday, March 15.

There are more than 100 categories for New Products & Services.

These include all product management, product development, product engineering and manufacturing functions. New products and services released in the U.S.A. since January 1, 2016 are eligible to be nominated. Both brand-new and new-version products are eligible.

An added bonus in entering the New Product Awards categories is that you are automatically included in the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products. Every new product or service nominated in The American Business Awards will automatically be included in voting. Voting will be conducted by the general public from May 2 through June 2, and the winners will be honored at the ABA awards banquet on June 20. In early May, entrants in the Best New Product or Service categories will receive instructions on how to promote People's Choice voting to their own customers, fans, and followers. 

The New Product Award category groups are:
Product & Service Categories
Software Categories
Content Categories
Education Categories 
Product Management Categories

Note the new categories for 2017 are highlighted in red and the categories with no entry fee are highlighted in blue.

Products & Services
P01. Business-to-Business Products
P02. Business-to-Business Services   
P03. Consumer Electronics
P04. Consumer Products
P05. Consumer Services
P06. Financial Services 
P07. Hardware - Computer
P08. Hardware - Networking
P09. Hardware - Peripheral
P10. Hardware - Semiconductor or Other Electronic Component
P11. Hardware - Storage
P12. Hardware - Other
P13. Health & Pharmaceuticals - Product
P14. Health & Pharmaceutical - Service
P15. Industrial Products & Services 
P16. Media & Entertainment - Product
P17. Media & Entertainment - Service
P18. Telecommunications - Product
P19. Telecommunications - Service
P20. Transportation

Software
P21. Software - Application Programming Interface (API) Management Solution (new category for 2017)
P22. Software - Asset Management Solution
P23. Software - Big Data Solution 
P24. Software - Business or Competitive Intelligence Solution
P25. Software - Cloud Application/Service
P26. Software - Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Solution (new category for 2017)
P27. Software - Cloud Infrastructure
P28. Software - Cloud Platform
P29. Software - Cloud Storage & Backup Solution 
P30. Software - Collaboration/Social Networking Solution
P31. Software - Content Management Solution
P32. Software - Corporate Learning/Workforce Development Solution
P33. Software - Data Visualization Technology (new category for 2017)
P34. Software - Electronic Commerce Solution
P35. Software - Endpoint Security Management Solution (new category for 2017)
P36. Software - Event Management Solution (new category for 2017)
P37. Software - Financial Management Solution
P38. Software - FinTech Solution (new category for 2017)
P39. Software - Governance, Risk & Compliance Solution
P40. Software - Healthcare Technology Solution (new category for 2017)
P41. Software - Human Capital Management Solution
P42. Software - Identity & Access Security Solution (new category for 2017)
P43. Software - Infrastructure as a Service (new category for 2017)
P44. Software - Integration Solution
P45. Software - International Data Protection Solution
P46. Software - IoT Analytics Solution (new category for 2017)
P47. Software - IT Operations Management Solution (new category for 2017)
P48. Software - IT Service Management Solution (new category for 2017)
P49. Software - Lead Generation Solution 
P50. Software - Marketing/Public Relations Solution
P51. Software - Migration as a Service (new category for 2017)
P52. Software - Mobile Development Solution 
P53. Software - Mobile On-Demand Application
P54. Software - Mobile Operations Management Solution
P55. Software - Network Security Solution (new category for 2017)
P56. Software - News Monitoring Solution (new category for 2017)
P57. Software - Payments Solution (new category for 2017)
P58. Software - Platform as a Service (new category for 2017)
P59. Software - Project Management Solution
P60. Software - Real Estate or Construction Management Solution (new category for 2017)
P61. Software - Relationship Management Solution
P62. Software - SaaS Enablement as a Service (new category for 2017)
P63. Software - Social Business Solution
P64. Software - Software Development Solution
P65. Software - Supply Chain Management Solution
P66. Software - Systems Management Solution
P67. Software - Web Services Solution
P68. Software - Other

Content
These categories recognize products, technology and services created by, or for, media, publishers and information services providers.

P70. Content - Advertising or Campaign Management Platform
P71. Content - Aggregation Platform
P72. Content - Business Directory
P73. Content - Business Information Solution
P74. Content - Content Analytics Solution
P75. Content - Content Marketing Solution
P76. Content - Content Rights and Delivery Solution
P77. Content - Crowd Sourced Information Solution
P78. Content - eCommerce & Billing Platform
P79. Content - Financial & Market Data Information Solution
P80. Content - General Reference Service
P81. Content - Health & Medical Information Solution
P82. Content - Information Service Delivered as Mobile App or Platform
P83. Content - Legal Information Solution
P84. Content - Media & Information Monitoring Solution
P85. Content - Multichannel Publishing Technology (new category for 2017)
P86. Content - Sales & Marketing Intelligence Solution
P87. Content - Scholarly Publishing Information Solution
P88. Content - Science and Technology Information Solution
P89. Content - Search Technology Solution
P90. Content - Semantic Technology Platform, Tools and Applications
P91. Content - Service Using Aggregated Content
P92. Content - Solution for Integrating Content into the Workflow
P93. Content - Subscription Management Solution (new category for 2017)
P94. Content - Video Platform for Media & Publishers

Education
These categories recognize applications, products and services from developers of educational software, digital content, online learning services and related technologies across the K-20 sector.

S01. Education - Arts & Creativity Solution
S02. Education - Career and Workforce Readiness Solution
S03. Education - Classroom Management Solution
S04. Education - Collaborative Social Media Solution for Educators
S05. Education - Cross-Curricular Solution
S06. Education - Education Cloud-Based Solution
S07. Education - ELL/World Language Acquisition Instructional Solution
S08. Education - Game-Based Curriculum Solution
S09. Education - Instructional Solution in Other Curriculum Areas
S10. Education - K-12 Course or Learning Management Solution
S11. Education - K-12 Enterprise Solution
S12. Education - Learning Capacity-Building Solution
S13. Education - Learning Relationship Management Solution (new category for 2017)
S14. Education - Mathematics Instructional Solution
S15. Education - PK-12 Personalized Learning Solution
S16. Education - Pre-K / Early Childhood Learning Solution (new category for 2017)
S17. Education - Postsecondary Enterprise Solution
S18. Education - Postsecondary Learning Management Solution
S19. Education - Postsecondary Learning Solution
S20. Education - Postsecondary Personalized Learning Solution
S21. Education - Professional Learning Solution for Education
S22. Education - Reading/English/Language Arts Instructional Solution
S23. Education - Science Instructional Solution
S24. Education - Social Sciences or Social Studies Instructional Solution
S25. Education - Solution for Special Needs Students
S26. Education - Source for Reference or Education Resources
S27. Education - Student Assessment Solution
S28. Education - Virtual Learning Solution

Product Management
P96. Product Development/Management Department or Team of the Year 
P97. Product Development/Management Executive of the Year
P98. Product Developer of the Year: recognizing all non-executive product development or management professionals. There is no entry fee for this category.

World’s Top Honors Accepting Nominations Through January 11

The final entry deadline for the 2017 (11^th annual) Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service is Wednesday, January 11.  Entry kits and complete details on the competition are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

These are the world’s top honors for customer service, contact center, business development and sales professionals.  All organizations and individuals worldwide may submit nominations.  The 2017 awards will recognize achievements since July 1, 2015.

Finalists will be announced on Thursday, January 19.  Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners in the competition will be announced at a gala awards banquet on Friday, February 24 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.   Attendance is not required to win.

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.   

The competition will be judged by more than 150 professionals around the world, and nominees will have access to all of the judges’ comments about their entries – an invaluable resource.

The 2017 program offers new categories for new products and services and solution providers. New categories for new products and services include Customer Service or Sales Book of the Year, Customer Service Training Product of the Year and Sales Training Product of the Year. The new solution provider category for 2017 is Leadership or Management Training Practice of the Year.

2017 will see the return of a popular feature of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. All finalists in the Customer Service Department of the Year categories will be included in the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service, a worldwide public vote. Voting will open January 19 and close February 10.  Winners of the public vote will receive a special crystal People’s Choice Stevie Award trophy.

Winners of the 2016 edition of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service included Cars.com, Comcast, CubeSmart, Delta Air Lines, Etiya, eZCom Software, FedEx, HubSpot, Kohl’s Department Stores, Office Depot, SAVO, ShopKeep POS, Vestmark, and VIZIO, Inc., among others.

The 2017 entry kit and a complete history of the awards program are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

Awards to Be Presented at Gala Ceremony on June 20 in New York City

Liaison Technologies and West Unified Communications are the top winners in the 2016 People's Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite New Products, a feature of The American Business Awards, the U.S.A.’s top business awards program, which are now in their 14th year.

The nationwide public vote was conducted last month, with the highest number of votes deciding the winners in a variety of product categories. More than 26,000 votes were cast.  To win, a category’s leading vote-getter had to receive at least 100 votes.

Liaison Technologies, the Alpharetta, Georgia-based provider of integration and data management solutions, and West Unified Communications, the Omaha, Nebraska-based telecommunications group, both won People’s Choice Stevie Awards in two categories. LIMU LEAN BURN garnered the most votes of any nominee.

The crystal People’s Choice Stevie Awards will be presented to winners at The American Business Awards’ gala event on Monday, June 20 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. The winners of peer-adjudicated Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards will also be presented their awards that evening. More than 400 executives from across the U.S.A. are expected to attend.

All new products and services recognized as Stevie winners in the new product awards categories of this year’s American Business Awards were eligible to be included in public voting for the people’s choice awards.

The winners of the 2016 People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products are:

Business-to-Business Products: ClearSlide Mail
Business-to-Business Services: iTalent Digital Transformation Service
Computer Hardware: Link by Fasetto
Consumer Electronics: TomTom Spark GPS Fitness Watch
Consumer Products & Services: LIMU LEAN BURN
Content Solution: West Unified Communications’ Webcast Pro
Education – Cloud/Virtual: Study.com Video Lessons
Education – Enterprise Solution: SchoolMint
Education – Other: Youth Digital’s Server Design 1
Education – Personalized Learning: Epiphany Learning K-12 Learning Relationships Management (LRM) Solution
Financial Services: The Caregiver Mortgage
Health & Pharmaceutical: Beltone Legend 17 – Custom
Other Products/Services: Gorilla Safety’s Fleet and Safety Management Mobile App
Software - Big Data:  Progress® DataDirect
Software –  Cloud Application/Service: Infor CloudSuite Facilities Management
Software – Cloud Backup/Storage: Hedvig Distributed Storage Platform
Software – Cloud Infrastructure/Platform: Liasian Alloy Platform
Software – Collaboration/Social: Zoom’s Collaboration Product Suite
Software –  Content Management: Progress® Sitefinity^TM
Software – Ecommerce: Elavon’s Commerce SDK
Software – Financial Management: Host Analytics’ Cloud-Based Financial Modeling
Software –  Governance/Risk: Simility’s Fraud Prevention
Software – Human Capital Management: mroads Paññã
Software – Integration Solution: Liaison ALLOY Platform
Software –  Learning/Workforce Development: Brainshark for Coaching
Software –  Marketing/Public Relations: West Unified Communications' Webcast Essentials
Software –  Mobile: CD2 Mobile Platform with Enhanced Gamification
Software – Project/Systems Management: Epicor ERP 10.1
Software—Security Solution: SecureAuth’s SecureAuth IdP
Software –  Social Business: TouchCommerce TouchSocial
Software– Other: Qmatic Orchestra 6
Telecommunications – Product: Ooma Telo
Telecommunications – Service: Broadview Networks' MyOfficeSuite

The Stevie® Awards is accepting entries for the first annual Stevie Awards for Great Employers, which will honor the world’s best companies to work for and the HR teams and professionals, HR achievements, new products and services, and suppliers that help to create and drive great workplaces.

The final entry deadline is June 8, but late entries will be accepted through July 20 with payment of a late fee. Entry details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/HR

Other Stevie Awards programs such as The American Business Awards and The International Business Awards offer human resources categories, but The Stevie Awards recognized the need for more specific HR awards categories. Today we will highlight the New Product & Services categories in the Stevie Awards for Great Employers.This is the first time these categories are availble for HR-related products and services.

REQUEST THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

The New Product & Services categories in the Stevie Awards for Great Employers will recognize software, training programs or media, and curated training platforms. See entry requirements and all of the categories offered below.

The information requirements for entries in these categories in the 2016 competition include:

a.  An essay of up to 625 words describing the nominated product or service: its benefits, features, functions, and sales results to date.

b.  Summarize in up to 10 bullet points (up to 150 words) the chief benefits, features, and functions of the nominated product or service.

c.  Add to your entry up to 10 webpage links and up to 10 document uploads to support your case to the judges.  These might be press articles, press releases, videos, or images, for example. 

SOFTWARE

F01      360 Degree Feedback Solution - New
F02      360 Degree Feedback Solution - New Version
F03      Applicant Assessment or Tracking Solution - New
F04      Applicant Assessment or Tracking Solution – New Version
F05      Attendance Tracking Solution - New
F06      Attendance Tracking Solution - New Version
F07      Benefits Management Solution - New
F08      Benefits Management Solution - New Version
F09      Compensation Management Solution - New
F10      Compensation Management Solution - New Version
F11      Course Authoring Solution - New
F12      Course Authoring Solution - New Version
F13      Employee Engagement Solution - New
F14      Employee Engagement Solution - New Version
F15      Employee Recognition Solution - New
F16      Employee Recognition Solution - New Version
F17      Employee Scheduling Solution - New
F18      Employee Scheduling Solution - New Version
F19      HR Reporting Solution - New
F20      HR Reporting Solution - New Version
F21      Human Capital Management Solution - New
F22      Human Capital Management Solution - New Version
F23      Human Resource Information System - New
F24      Human Resource Information System - New Version
F25      Human Resource Management System - New
F26      Human Resource Management System - New Version
F27      Job Board Solution - New
F28      Job Board Solution - New Version
F29      Learning Management Solution - New
F30      Learning Management Solution - New Version
F31      Onboarding Solution - New
F32      Onboarding Solution - New Version
F33      Payroll Management Solution - New
F34      Payroll Management Solution - New Version
F35      Performance Appraisal Solution - New
F36      Performance Appraisal Solution - New Version
F37      Performance Management Solution - New
F38      Performance Management Solution - New Version
F39      Self-Service HR Solution - New
F40      Self-Service HR Solution - New Version
F41      Talent Management Solution - New
F42      Talent Management Solution - New Version
F43      Time and Expense Solution - New
F44      Time and Expense Solution - New Version
F45      Workforce Management Solution - New
F46      Workforce Management Solution - New Version

TRAINING PROGRAMS OR MEDIA

May be blended, instructor-led, microlearning, video or web-based. 

F50      Brand Training
F51      Compliance Training
F52      Consumer Education Training
F53      Diversity or Sensitivity Training
F54      Interpersonal Skills Training
F55      Leadership Training
F56      Literacy Training
F57      Managerial Training
F58      New Hire Training
F59      Problem-Solving Training
F60      Product Training
F61      Professional or Legal Training
F62      Quality Training
F63      Safety Training
F64      Sales Training
F65      Skills Training
F66      Systems Training
F67      Technical Training
F68      Other

CURATED TRAINING PLATFORM OF THE YEAR

F70      Consumer
F71      Industrial/Technical
F72      Managerial/Professional
F73      Technology
F74      Other

People’s Choice Stevie Awards Voting Open Through June 3

The Stevie® Awards, organizers of the world’s premier business awards programs, today opened public voting at http://peopleschoice.stevieawards.com for the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products, an annual feature of its American Business Awards.

All, worldwide, are welcome to vote for their favorite new products and services in 38 categories, from consumer products and services to B2B software solutions.  Voting will close on June 3, and the top vote-getter in each category will be presented with a crystal People’s Choice Stevie Award trophy in New York on June 20 at The 14^th American Business Awards gala.

All new product and service nominees in The 2016 American Business Awards were eligible to be included in people’s choice voting. 

All organizations operating in the U.S.A. – large and small, public and private, for-profit and non-profit - are eligible to submit nominations to the ABAs in a wide range of categories, honoring achievement in every aspect of work life, from customer service and management to public relations and product development.  More than 3,400 nominations were reviewed in the judging process this year by more than 250 professionals, whose average scores determined the winners.

Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners in the peer-review judging were announced yesterday.  For a complete list of the Stevie Award winners announced yesterday, visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

2016 Stevie winners will be celebrated and presented their awards during a gala event on Monday, June 20 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York.  Tickets are now on sale.  The presentations will be broadcast live via Livestream.

About The Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, and the new Stevie Awards for Great Employers. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com.