Grand Stevie® Award Winners Announced in 2020 American Business Awards®

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Wed, May 27, 2020 @ 11:23 PM

The Stevie® Awards announced today the Grand Stevie Award winners in The 18th Annual American Business Awards® competition. Winners will be honored during the ABAs’ virtual awards ceremony on August 5, 2020.  Registration for the virtual ceremony is now open.

All organizations operating in the U.S. - 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.

This year more than 3,600 nominations were considered in the judging process by more than 230 professionals, whose average ratings determined the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners announced earlier this month. For a complete list of the 2020 Stevie Award winners, visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

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Grand Stevie Awards cannot be applied for directly.  Winners are determined by a points system based on the total number of awards won in the ABAs, with a Gold Stevie win counting for 3 points, a Silver Stevie for 2 points, and a Bronze Stevie counting for 1.5. 

2020 Grand Stevie winners in The American Business Awards are as follows:

ORGANIZATION OF THE YEAR: Cisco Systems, Inc., the multinational technology conglomerate headquartered in San Jose, CA, is the most honored organization in the 2020 ABAs, earning the most award points, 44.5, for nine Gold, five Silver, and five Bronze Stevie wins.

MOST HONORED MARKETING AGENCY: Mayfield Consulting, a business-to-business marketing and sales consultancy in Concord, NC, earned 25.5 points for Stevie wins on behalf of clients such as AspenRidge Recovery, B&S Site Development Inc., Newberry Tanks and Equipment, and Richmond Alarm Company.

MOST HONORED INTERACTIVE AGENCY: George P. Johnson, the Auburn, MI-based experiential marketing agency, earned 22.5 points for Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie wins for work for clients including AT&T, Google, IBM, and Infiniti, among others.

MOST HONORED PUBLIC RELATIONS AGENCY: Havas, the French multinational advertising and public relations company, is this year’s honoree, with several of its US-based agencies earning 22 points for Stevie wins on behalf of Loadsmart, Panda Express, Spireon, Inc., Toyota and other clients.

TOP 10:  The following organizations will also be presented with Grand Stevie Award trophies for being among the top award-point winners in the 2020 ABAs, for Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevies won on behalf of themselves and/or clients.

  1. PAIRELATIONS, LLC (Denver, CO and New York, NY), 36.5 points
  2. Jeunesse Global (Orlando, FL), 32 points
  3. John Hancock (Boston, MA), 30.5
  4. Wolters Kluwer (several US-based divisions of the Dutch information services company), 30
  5. Melissa Sones Consulting (New York, NY), 26
  6. POWERHOME (Mooresville, NC), 24.5
  7. Comcast Business (Philadelphia, PA), 22
  8. 10Fold (multiple US offices), 21.5
  9. SoftPro (Raleigh, NC), 19
  10. The National Association of REALTORS ® (Chicago, IL), 18

Topics: marketing awards, American business awards, tech awards, company of the year

Meet the Next Outsourcing Hot Spot: Vietnam

Posted by Daniel Ferguson on Tue, Apr 28, 2020 @ 12:15 PM

Vietnam has become a popular location for business outsourcing, and Stevie-winner Swiss Post Solutions thrives on solving customer challenges in the most effective manner.

For decades, India ruled the roost as an outsourced software development destination. While it continues to attract businesses looking to build IT teams overseas, it’s not the only major country doing so. Most prominent among these emerging destinations is Vietnam. Its lower costs, favorable business policies, robust economy, and increasingly skilled workforce are driving investments from businesses like Intel, Samsung, IBM, and Microsoft.

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Vietnam’s Rise Through the Rankings

In 2010, Gartner released a list of the top 30 countries for offshore IT services, and Vietnam made its first appearance in that year. Five years later, in a similar report by Gartner, Vietnam rose to one of the top five countries, and it has maintained its ranking ever since.

Vietnam’s outsourcing industry has grown between 20 and 35 percent every year over the past decade. In 2015, it surpassed $2 billion in revenue.

Spotlight on Vietnam, a PwC report released in 2017, highlighted business process outsourcing (BPO) as one of the key opportunities for foreign investors.

“The growth so far has been encouraging,” said Dinh Thi Quynh Van, general director of PwC Vietnam. “Vietnam is already the second-largest outsourcing partner for Japanese IT firms, just behind India. We hope to see many more industries in the future.”

The Vietnam Advantage

Almost two-thirds of Vietnam’s population is under 35 years of age. This young generation is highly skilled and motivated. According to a 2015 report by the World Economic Forum, Vietnam is one of the top 10 countries in terms of most engineering graduates.

Also, with the government’s push to teach English as a second language rather than a foreign language, this young workforce is actively scaling the language barrier that was once a cause for concern.

Workplace loyalty is strong in Vietnam, which is why they have low attrition rates (between 6 and 8 percent). This is another strong point in the country’s favor, as businesses grapple with high employee turnover in most Asia-Pacific (APAC) countries.

Besides an improving infrastructure and access to inexpensive, highly skilled talent, the government’s proactive efforts to attract foreign investment are also critical to Vietnam’s continued growth. The Doing Business 2020 report, by World Bank, ranked Vietnam 70th among 190 economies in ease of doing business. As of October 2019, foreign direct investment (FDI) into Vietnam has risen by 7.4 percent year over year.

Challenges in Outsourcing to Vietnam

As with outsourcing to just about any country in the APAC region, cultural, logistical, and legal challenges present themselves when working with Vietnamese providers. One way to anticipate these challenges and to learn how to tackle them is to send an on-ground team to Vietnam that can build relationships and get familiar with the Vietnamese culture. This will help organizations understand the business and political landscape, including taxation, paperwork, and procedures. It will also allow a business to get a head start on recruitment.

There are also productivity challenges that come with working with remote teams. This can be addressed by following best practices, instituting training, and ensuring extensive documentation.

Finally, Vietnam currently does not have the infrastructure to support large teams with thousands of employees. At the moment, the country is best suited for small to midsize operations.

One of Many

Swiss_Post_Solutions_logoOne of the companies that bagged a Silver Stevie® Award in the Company of the Year - Business or Professional Services - Large category at The 2019 International Business Awards® was Swiss Post Solutions Vietnam, which is based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

“We are a young, competitive, and innovative organization that thrives on solving customer challenges in the most effective manner,” says Ha Doi, corporate marketing executive at Swiss Post Solutions.

Swiss Post Solutions, which focuses on providing high-quality document management, BPO, and IT operational services, is one of many Vietnamese companies backed by a young team with an innovative culture. Any of these could be your next outsourcing match as you scale your business.

Interested in entering The International Business Awards?

Request the entry kit

Topics: International business awards, company of the year, The International Business Awards, 2019 International Business Awards, business services awards

Rethinking Corporate Video

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Fri, Mar 27, 2020 @ 11:49 AM

Stevie-winner KÖNIGSKLASSE#1 is a video production team that travels to their clients' locations to produce corporate videos in order to make business leaders more comfortable and confident in front of the camera.

Video marketing is a vital tool in your brand promotion toolbox, and it’s becoming more essential to ROI every day. In 2019, it is no longer sustainable to avoid video content because you’re scared of the medium or you don’t think you have the resources to create something watchable. Success means hopping on board and understanding why video is one of the most profitable and versatile digital marketing tools around.

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Videos Increase Conversions

According to Forrester’s research into digital marketing, if you add a product video to your landing page, it is possible to double your conversion rate. Similarly, if you embed an informational video about your service, you are more likely to see sales of that service. 

Hiring a great video production team is an investment worth making, as they can help you create an engaging video that showcases your company. Although it is possible to create a corporate video with online tools, poorly produced content can turn off customers. To ensure your video is giving you the best possible return on investment, focus on top-quality content presented in a slick way.

Know, Like, and Trust

Many businesspeople use the “know, like, and trust” mantra, but building trust truly helps your audience engage with your company. If you’re using video to provide potential customers with useful, interesting information, you are creating a valuable relationship. Whether you’re using your video content on your company website or getting it in front of your audience via your social media channels, you need to concentrate on trust, not just traffic. 

As Martin Grosse of KÖNIGSKLASSE#1 notes, “the corporate video market will shift within the process of digital transformation … to revolutionize the thinking of how a corporate video should look and how it should be consumed.”

KÖNIGSKLASSE#1_logoStevie-winner KÖNIGSKLASSE#1, which is located in Munich, Germany, makes a point of traveling to a company’s location in order to make business-to-business (B2B) corporate videos. This allows the C-suite of the business to be comfortable in front of the camera, which lets them shine.

Engagement with Content

LinkedIn is the social media channel of choice for engaging CEOs and decision-makers. Video is an integral part of getting in front of your audience and capturing their attention, and video plays automatically in your LinkedIn feed, which also helps to increase engagement. Additionally, LinkedIn is the perfect platform to showcase your company’s authenticity, allowing your C-suite to demonstrate the human side of the business. 

One pitfall of video content marketing is that B2B corporate videos can look very similar. That’s why you need to present your content in a way that keeps people watching. In addition to showing your brand’s accessibility, keep in mind how your audience is likely to be viewing your video. According to Insivia, mobile views are on the rise as more and more people check their social media platforms on the go. Google reveals that people who use smartphones are 1.4 times more likely to feel a sense of personal connection to video content they watch on a mobile device.

The key to a successful video marketing campaign is creating entertaining content that people are likely to share. To do this, it’s important to demonstrate value to your audience and keep them engaged in your message. 

In recognition of its innovative approach to video marketing commitment, KÖNIGSKLASSE#1 earned a Silver Stevie® Award in the Company of the Year - Advertising, Marketing, & Public Relations - Small category at The 2019 International Business Awards®.

Interested in entering The International Business Awards?

Request the entry kit

Topics: International business awards, company of the year, corporate video, 2019 International Business Awards

Enabling the Unbanked and Underbanked with Machine Learning

Posted by Daniel Ferguson on Tue, Mar 17, 2020 @ 11:34 AM

Stevie-winner Braviant Holdings is a financial technology company that uses machine-learning to assess borrowers' credit and help them achieve lower rates.

Over 24 million American households are underbanked, and another eight million are unbanked (FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households, 2017). While the former have restricted access to financial services (primarily due to bad credit scores), the latter have little or no access at all. As one can imagine, this closes a lot of doors. Many of life’s necessities, such as getting a job or renting an apartment, call for a bank account and a good credit history.

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What makes this scenario even more unfortunate is that the unbanked and underbanked often land in these unfavorable financial conditions due to circumstances beyond their control. After all, not everyone with a low credit score is a habitual defaulter. For instance, many have low credit scores because of the 2008 financial crisis. Similarly, all those without bank accounts are not willfully refusing to get one. Many get their applications rejected because they have thin credit files or are migrants who don’t possess all the necessary documents.

Luckily, the fintech industry is now putting big data, machine learning (ML), and augmented analytics to work for these two neglected financial demographics, and the results are promising.

Banking the Unbanked

Online banking and lending services have made it convenient to access and maintain bank accounts, even for those in remote and rural areas. However, despite these advances, around 1.7 billion adults remain unbanked worldwide. Several fintech solutions are working toward making it easier for these individuals to create and to benefit from bank accounts of their own, though. The most notable among these is Onfido, an identity verification company based in London, United Kingdom.

Onfido does not follow the typical identity verification process. They pair highly advanced ML-based document checks with facial verification to compare user-furnished identity documents with their selfies. This makes it easier for individuals to prove their identities and open new bank accounts. This is particularly important for those with thin credit files whom banks are reluctant to trust and migrants who do not possess all the documents required for in-person verification..

Beyond Credit History and Scores

Fintech products are revolutionizing the way credit is assessed, and they are now paving the way for fairer access to financial services.

Zest AI, an artificial intelligence (AI) software platform for credit, based in Los Angeles, California, United States, helps lenders make faster and more accurate decisions on borrowers who are traditionally considered risky. It does so by using and analyzing thousands of data points to better assess predicted risk. Their clients have achieved, on average, a 15 percent increase in approval rates and reduced losses by almost 30 percent.

UltraFICO, a credit scoring system based on augmented analytics, was launched by FICO, a data analytics company based in San Jose, California, United States. It serves as yet another good example. While still in the works, it promises to be a huge step up from the antiquated FICO score system that prevents millions of people from receiving credit because of incomplete credit histories. UltraFICO will create more complete credit histories by using data from FICO, Experian, Finicity, different finance houses, and banks.

Braviant_holdings_logoStevie-winner Braviant Holdings, a fintech company based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, also offers financial solutions that help non-prime consumers graduate to lower rates as they work toward prime credit. They do so by building machine-learning decision models that look beyond a traditional credit score to more accurately assess the prospective borrower’s true ability and willingness to repay.

“Mainstream financial institutions cater to the needs of U.S. consumers with proven credit history, but more than 50 million adults labeled ‘underbanked’ are forced to look outside the traditional banking system to meet their needs,” says Stephanie Klein, CEO of Braviant Holdings. “Braviant offers tech-enabled credit products to help these deserving consumers access the credit they need today and work toward better rates in the future.”

Braviant Holdings recently won a Gold Stevie Award for Company of the Year in the Financial Services category at The 17th Annual American Business Awards®, 2019.

Interested in entering The American Business Awards?

Request the entry kit

Topics: The American Business Awards, American business awards, company of the year, financial awards

Does the Rise of Artificial Intelligence Spell Doom for Young Workers?

Posted by Daniel Ferguson on Tue, Dec 24, 2019 @ 09:00 AM

When it comes to the job landscape of the future, much speculation exists about how emerging technologies will affect those just entering the job market. When people ask the specific question of whether artificial intelligence (AI) is going to be a jobs killer, though, it’s important for young people to realize the answer isn’t a simple yes or no. The latest statistics and studies show it’s less about killing or eliminating jobs and more about evolving them.

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How AI Could Affect the Future Job Market

When Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne, two Oxford academics, came out with a prediction in 2013 that a staggering 47 percent of US jobs were at risk of automation by the middle of the 2030s, this issue of AI as a jobs killer became a hot topic of discussion. Studies, surveys, and op-eds began pouring in on the topic, and the subsequent findings were significant.

For example, McKinsey Global Institute found that anywhere between 40 million and 160 million women across the globe would potentially need to change jobs by 2030. Why? The clerical work done by secretaries, bookkeepers, and schedulers—jobs which are done by women 72 percent of the time—are especially susceptible to automation.

The salient part of the study, however, was not that these women would need to change jobs; it was that they would likely be transitioning into higher-skilled roles. In this way, AI wasn’t depriving them of jobs. Instead, it was pushing them into more advanced roles—positions that require the expertise, understanding, and skills only humans possess.

Similarly, the World Economic Forum estimates that automation is on pace to displace 75 million jobs by 2022, but it’s also set to create 133 million new ones by that date. In another study, Gartner predicts 2 million AI-related net new jobs by 2025.

With such a complicated issue, however, many potential factors come into play, and just as many studies predict an overall net loss in jobs. Forrester, for one, estimates a 29 percent loss of jobs by 2030 and only a 13 percent job increase to compensate.

While there isn’t general agreement about the potential number of jobs displaced and then created by AI, one thing does seem to be clear: AI will push people away from largely automated jobs into more advanced positions, and this transition will require the new job force to be increasingly agile and able to learn core skills and adapt to new working models.

The Company-Level Response to These Changes

Just as young people entering the job market should be cognizant of the changes technology will likely have on the professional landscape, companies should understand this dynamic as well. To stay relevant, businesses within the technology industry not only need to embrace AI and its potential but invest in training their workforces (established and incoming) to adapt to these new technologies.

“IT is a highly innovative and changing industry, and because of this, we’re reinventing education for the era of AI,” says Andrea Knoche, a first-line analytics leader for a subgroup of International Business Machines (IBM) that’s based in Ehningen, Germany. “We’re making it a priority to prepare young people around the world for the jobs of tomorrow.”

IBM_logoAs IBM illustrates, success in a changing technology-based landscape is about balancing the adoption of new technology. A company can’t ignore or dismiss new innovations, but it also must prepare its workers to properly harness the power of those tools.

“Our subgroup of IBM is most interested in moving to a cloud-based environment and utilizing big data technologies and analytics strategies,” says Knoche, “but we understand our workers must be trained and prepared to implement those tools into their jobs. When trained properly, employees can make the available technology work for them to increase their efficiency and effectiveness.”

IBM earned a Bronze Stevie Award in the Information Technology Team of the Year category at The 2020 American Business Awards®. They also won several awards at The 2020 International Business Awards®, including a Gold Stevie for Company of the Year - Business or Professional Services - Large.

Interested in winning a Stevie Award in 2020?

Request the entry kit here.

Topics: The American Business Awards, American business awards, company of the year, The International Business Awards, artificial intelligence

How Institutional Funds Are Changing the Real Estate Industry

Posted by Daniel Ferguson on Wed, Aug 28, 2019 @ 01:25 PM

The real estate market is a complicated and multifaceted entity that undergoes many swings and fluctuations. One new kind of investment system—the institutional fund—is the latest change to shake up how the industry operates.

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What Are Institutional Funds?

An institutional fund is a type of mutual fund, and it’s marked by two characteristics: low fees but an incredibly high minimum investment. Because of this second factor, an institutional fund is usually not feasibly available to individual investors, unless that investor has an extremely high net worth. Rather, these funds typically market themselves to entities like pension funds, hedge funds, large nonprofits, or other groups with substantial amounts of capital to invest. Using that capital, these groups are buying up foreclosed or distressed homes, refurbishing them, and reintroducing them on the rental market.

Institutional Funds and the Housing Market Collapse

With the economic collapse of 2008 and the subsequent housing market crash, homes were foreclosing at an unprecedented rate. In the wake of this event, the market saw the emergence of this new kind of real estate investor: institutional firms that possessed the foresight and means to secure tens of thousands of these properties when they were severely undervalued.

Many such institutional firms were in it for the short-term rewards, simply refurbishing the homes and selling them once property values recovered. However, more than 10 years later, some of the biggest players in this landscape are clearly in it for the long term. These firms continue to expand their base of homes for refurbishment and subsequent rental.

RESICAP_silver-1RESICAP, which is based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, is just one example of the kind of company that has emerged in tandem with these institutional funds and institutional investors.

“We are the leading vertically integrated solution for institutional owners of single-family residential assets in the United States,” says Greg Higgins, senior marketing manager of RESICAP. “For these institutional owners, we facilitate and service the entire life cycle, from valuation to renovation to property management to disposition.”

After the 2008 crash specifically, RESICAP capitalized by looking beyond its own borders.

“We were aware of international interest in the U.S. market that resulted from the 2008 real estate crash. Domestic investor interest in the U.S. single-family residence space was nonexistent at the time, so we began to look internationally,” says Higgins. “We sought investors who could take advantage of the deflated value of the U.S. dollar by investing in U.S. real estate while also participating in the rebound of the asset class.”

The Future of Institutional Funds Continues to Look Bright

Because institutional funds tend to surge and to flourish when the market is inundated with renters, market crashes have historically been times of growth for these funds. Just as with the 2008 crash, any prolonged and significant economic downturn hinders those looking to buy homes for the first time, and it jeopardizes the homes of those who are already locked into mortgages—both of which boost the rental market.

Foreclosures and poor economic performance, however, are no longer the most significant predictors of the success of institutional funds. In today’s climate, millennials, many of whom are saddled with student debt, are waiting longer to buy homes, or they are deciding to forego the process altogether. Many young adults view renting in a much more positive light than previous generations and have little interest in building up the necessary (and significant) down payment or taking on the ongoing expense of home ownership. If these trends continue in the demographic that would typically be buying their first homes and entering the real estate market, institutional funds only look to capitalize further on their emerging prominence.

The recent award recognition RESICAP earned is indicative of this trend. RESICAP took home the Gold Stevie® Award for Company of the Year in the Real Estate category, as well as another Gold Stevie Award for Fastest Growing Company of the Year in The 2019 American Business Awards.

“Few people have heard of us, yet we were the fastest-growing company in Georgia [United States] in 2018,” says Higgins. “Currently institutional funds only represent about two percent of the single-family real estate market, so there is tremendous potential and opportunity for them and, therefore, us as their partner. We have a unique business model in a relatively new industry—institutional-level, single-family home servicing—and we look to capitalize on that in order to continue our growth.”

Interested in winning a Stevie Award in 2020?

Request the entry kit here.

 

Topics: The American Business Awards, American business awards, company of the year, real estate awards

In a Digital World, Marketing Agencies Move Closer to Their Communities

Posted by Daniel Ferguson on Wed, Aug 14, 2019 @ 01:25 PM

Brands, businesses, and consumers are all becoming increasingly distrustful of big advertising agencies, and with so many scandals, data leaks, and privacy violations, it doesn't really come as a surprise. What’s interesting, though, is how that distrust is pushing even the biggest brands to work with smaller agencies. Additionally, it puts the pressure on all agencies to maintain honest work practices and complete transparency.

Hawke Media, a full-service marketing agency, prefers off-line opportunities to settle these potential client concerns, and they believe they know how this new need for transparency will push their industry.

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In-Person Networking Still Matters

Hawke Media is set up to be more than just a marketing agency; the company also wants face-to-face interaction with its community. To that end, they expanded beyond Los Angeles, California, United States, to host a series of events that focus on talent, resources, and marketing.

"After seeing exponential growth for the past five years, we decided it was time for Hawke Media to spread its wings and to expand, and what better place to start that expansion than New York City?" says Erik Huberman, CEO and founder of Hawke Media. "We're incredibly excited to make our mark on the New York scene, and we look forward to becoming a part of the East Coast e-commerce community."

Hawke Media builds physical communities around its business. If your organization is looking to gather feedback and ideas in your community, Huberman has four tips for interested parties:

  1. 9f4f9f23-b4ca-432c-8932-09d570a65640-photo_upload-erik-huberman-headshotValuable Information. Follow up with like-minded professionals you meet along the way to continuously incorporate feedback.
  2. User-Generated Content. Attendees who share photos of your events can help boost your exposure.
  3. Networking. Stay involved with your community through old-fashioned networking events.
  4. Awareness, Nurture, and Trust. Trust is crucial in a consumer-brand relationship. Always uphold clear lines of communication in all interactions with your clients.

These strategies create a track record of your events and provide more to future clients who are tired of just receiving emails and attending webinars.

Despite their passion for face-to-face networking, Hawke Media understands data-driven marketing solutions need to back up any style of networking.

“Hawke Media was founded on the idea that every modern business needs a CMO-level expert to lead digital marketing efforts,” says Huberman. “By shifting the agency paradigm and linking its success to its clients', Hawke Media is changing the marketing game and allowing brands of all sizes, revenue models, and industries to afford customized, data-driven marketing solutions.”

Another contributing component to its success is that Hawke Media is made of entrepreneurs. The company is full of hungry go-getters who understand the importance of dreams. Hawke Media enables entrepreneurs at any stage of the journey to create thriving, growing, successful businesses.

Because the company is siloed, Hawke Media employees can truly focus on craft rather than having to be jacks-of-all-trades. This unique business model might just be the future of outsourced marketing.

Hawke Media earned a Gold Stevie® Award in the category of Company of the Year in the 2017 American Business Awards. Kate Aurell, Vice President of Operations at Hawke Media, and Melissa Portillo, Director of Creative Development, each took home a Bronze Stevie® Award for Female Executive of the Year in the Advertising, Marketing, and Public Relations category of the 2018 Stevie Awards for Women in Business.

 

Topics: The American Business Awards, American business awards, company of the year, Marketing

Turning Frowns Upside Down in the Dental Industry

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Fri, Oct 05, 2018 @ 10:56 AM

Dental health is extremely important to growth, as well as overall health. The proper development of jawbones and muscles affects speech patterns, as well as supporting an attractive appearance, and these are just some of the many benefits of having access to a proper dental plan.

Staying on top of your dental health by informing your doctor about noticeable issues is, unfortunately, easier said than done. For a third of Americans, having access to the most basic dental care is hugely problematic, and it largely boils down to cost.

Steven C. Bilt, CEO of Smile Brands Inc., bit into this problem and cofounded Smile Brands in 1998 and OneSmile in 2015. He eventually combined the two businesses and now oversees 5,500 employees and affiliated providers at approximately 400 U.S. locations. Bilt is also a founding member and former president of the Association of Dental Support Organizations.

Smile brands“Our CEO, Steve Bilt, is a master at creating an effective corporate culture,” says the company’s chief marketing officer, Jody Martin. “He believes that, to be successful, the mission has to be motivating, both personally and financially to employees; inclusive to all employees, not just a few; and continually reinforced in a variety of ways.”

Incorporating recognition and a mindset of giving is also integral to the Smile Brands culture.

“At Smile Brands, every employee wears a blue ‘Smiles for Everyone’ wristband, and we continually celebrate everyday miracles. This includes calling out employees who do amazing things,” says Martin. “We also have the Smiles for Everyone Foundation, which provides donated dentistry to people in need here and abroad.”

Bracing Themselves

The cofounders of Smile Brands reacquired the company in August 2016 after prior ownership drove the business to the brink of bankruptcy. Despite this rocky start, Smile Brands won Stevie Awards in The American Business Awards® and the Stevie Awards for Great Employers.

“The team worked tirelessly on a highly successful turnaround,” says Martin. “Winning the Stevie Awards helps to validate all that hard work and the fact that Smile Brands stands apart in terms of financial strength and company culture.”

Bilt also reached a 97 percent approval rating, based on the past year’s Glassdoor reviews from Smile Brands employees and affiliated dental providers. Those numbers are sure to keep Smile Brands grinning from ear to ear!

A Simple Concept

As Smile Brands Inc. grows in to one of the largest providers of support services to dental groups in the United States, dentists can spend more time caring for their patients and less time on the administrative, marketing, and financial aspects of operating a dental practice.

This is an important step in the dental industry because new research continues to show links between chronic oral infections and heart and lung diseases, stroke, low birth weight, and premature births. Smile Brands aims to further build and to bundle comprehensive general dentistry with specialty care and to streamline experiences for both dental care practitioners and patients.

Even with all these moving parts, everything still comes back to one foundational and simple concept: smiles for everyone.

Topics: American business awards, company of the year

Winners of the 2018 People’s Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Companies Announced

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Wed, Sep 19, 2018 @ 09:42 AM

Winners were announced today in the 2018 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 15th 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 22,000 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.

IBA peoples choice 2017The crystal People’s Choice Stevie Awards will be presented to winners at The International Business Awards banquet on Saturday, 20 October at the InterContinental London Park Lane Hotel.

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 74 nations.

The winners of the 2018 People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Companies are:

- Business/Professional Services: TELUS International
- Computer Software: Accedia JSC
- Diversified Services: Glance Technologies
- Entertainment/Internet/Media: DRF Deutschland Fernsehen Produktions GmbH & Co. KG
- Financial/Insurance: Cebuana Lhuillier
- Manufacturing: Makers Nutrition
- Other: College Works Painting
- Real Estate: Stockdale & Leggo
- Telecommunications: Azercell Telecom LLC
- Transportation: Egypt Express

Topics: American business awards, company of the year, international business

Stevie Awards Announce Winners in the 4th Annual German Stevie Awards

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Thu, Mar 08, 2018 @ 10:00 AM

The organizers of the Stevie Awards announced the winners in the 2018 German Stevie® Awards. The big winner overall with a total of ten Gold Stevies is Crowdconsultants 360 GmbH from Berlin.

With ten gold, one silver, and one bronze Stevie Award, Crowdconsultants 360 GmbH is the most awarded organization of the German Stevie Awards this year. The Berlin-based company can look forward to Gold Stevie Awards for most innovative company, startup of the year, and more.

German stevie 2016 3-2.jpg50 executives from all over Germany were named as a part of the expert judging panel who determined the Stevie Award winners. They have reviewed over 400 nominations, selected the most innovative solutions, organizations, and individuals, and finally crowned the winners of the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Awards.

Agenda Informationssysteme GmbH & Co. KG from Rosenheim and the Voith GmbH & Co. KGaA from Heidenheim each won five Gold Stevie Awards. Michael Gallagher, founder and president of the Stevie Awards, congratulates all winners on their achievements. "We are looking forward to a great award ceremony in Berlin", he says, and is proud that it takes place at the Hotel Adlon. On 27 April 2018, the winners will receive their trophies at a festive award ceremony.

All winners of the Golden, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards are listed on the homepage of the German Stevie Awards.

Anyone wishing to be one of the winners of the German Stevie Awards next year can request an entry kit on the awards website in order to be informed in good time about deadlines and participation documents: www.stevieawards.com/Germany.

Topics: German Stevie Awards, company of the year, top business awards