• Technology expert and senior software developer of Dynamic Enterprise Solutions has over 100 certifications 
• Boguda’s expertise is sought after by Fortune 100 companies and prestigious institutions.
• His influential pro bono work empowers global organizations and leaves a positive impact on the world and on the future of technology.

About Dynamic Enterprise Solutions

Dynamic Enterprise Solutions partners with clients to provide business-savvy enterprise solutions from blueprinting to production support.

SatishKumar Boguda

Dynamic Enterprise Solutions’ senior software developer SatishKumar Boguda is a technology evangelist and a multi-award-winning international researcher who continues to live at the nexus of people and innovation. With such a broad spectrum of inventive experience and competencies, Mr. Boguda applies award-winning innovation abilities and has made a number of contributions to the information technology industry by supporting clients in the oil and gas, research, development, manufacturing, supply chain, sales, finance, transport, and energy divisions.

Mr. Boguda is primarily a specialized technical advisor on system upgrades, complex IT environments, intelligent applications, interfaces, solution design, and data migration methodologies for a wide range of technology and business groups. He collaborates with numerous CTOs to review the latest technological developments. With his knowledge and expertise, he helps Fortune 100 clients take full advantage of emerging innovations by incorporating new technology trends, addressing complex issues, delegating duties thoughtfully, and managing time appropriately.

He simplifies the journey of Digital Transformation and he achieves this with an imposing resume of awards and achievements:

• Gold Winner of the Information Technology Professional of the Year, 2019 - Globee Awards.
• Gold Winner of the Outstanding Developer on the Planet - One Planet Awards.
• Gold Winner of the Best White Paper, Advanced Technology Solutions - Golden Bridge Awards.
• Silver Winner of the Most Valuable IT Professional - Golden Bridge Awards.

Mr. Boguda has indeed been honored by influential leaders, prominent organizations for his competence, dedication, and outstanding contributions all across the technology sector. He serves as a member of the advisory boards for numerous international conferences, journals and highly respected organizations.

Stevie Awards - What really is the driving force that keeps you inspired or tends to make you hit the ground in the morning?

SatishKumar Boguda – It is the whole percentage of my passion, integrity, and optimistic approach, which really are the energy boosters that tends to keep me focused and at the same time empowers me to achieve more and further. And again, being in the footprints of a technology evangelist, I generally make each endeavor to think about the future and keep myself unlocked to new opportunities by moving in a positive direction to collaborate with innovative people and energizing projects. This very well explores me to different potential outcomes for implementing modern technological advancements which truly influence and the benefits it continues to offer to an individual or may be an organization in their everyday undertakings.

At the end of the day, the success mantra is all about a continued efforts and strategy to deliver something productively, and the value it continues to bring back to the technology and research community truly makes a significant difference.

Stevie Awards - As someone at the pinnacle of your profession, what suggestion do you have for companies which are attempting to implement modern technological innovations?

SatishKumar Boguda – Well, in a strategically competitive business world, organizations really do have to serve customers in real time by offering top-notch products and services anytime and anywhere in the global economy. To support today's fast-changing market demands, businesses are making every effort and are on a mission, in implementing the advanced technology innovations such as Artificial Intelligence, Block-chain, 3D Printing, Virtual Reality, and so on. which will fundamentally transform how businesses function and operate more efficiently in order to survive in the digital world.

That being said, companies need to fully understand that just by introducing modern technology trends and having to implement them into their enterprise landscape will not produce the desired outcome. Business leaders have such a crucial role to play and truly need to comprehend that "Organizations need a strong business strategy to implement emerging technologies."

Strategic management is an important part of any business organization that continues to maximize the return on investment - ROI and below directions makes it possible.

• Identify what the business is trying to accomplish and figure out where do you stand.
• Pinpoint the trends and developments and forecast the real worth it tends to bring to your organization along with the strategy on how it could be implemented.
• Have transparent objectives and targets in terms of time, cost, and assets.
• Plan to bring research to each and every phase of the process.
• Accurately assess, eventually, to quantify the outcomes.

Stevie Awards - What career advice would you give for young people starting with Digital Technologies?

SatishKumar Boguda – Certainly, if you take technology in terms of direction, the world keeps on changing day by day in light of the fact that, a ground-breaking new innovation is coming onto the market, making traditional methods of solutions obsolete.

From my standpoint, no matter where you come from or what your background is, always follow your passion and do something you are excited about and make sure you generally follow a disciplined approach. Regardless of whether if you intending to take a shot on Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Robotics or Quantum Computing or Autonomous Vehicles or Block-chain, etc., always think about the future and find a way to work with somebody who is consistently smarter than you, because that really continues to push and transforms you towards the next level of new opportunities.

Keep in mind, it is only you who could choose what you really wanted to do and where to invest your time and energy. At the end of the day, it is all about one innovative idea which can unlock the power and revolutionize the world in the way that we have never imagined.

Stevie Awards - With such a profile of achievements and accolades, where do you see your professional career going in the next three to five years?

SatishKumar Boguda – Directionally, I could perhaps tell you about my drawn-out vision, just as what I plan to accomplish in the next five years is to remain at the forefront of technological innovations and continue offering advanced digital solutions to government bodies and organizations to help overcome challenges and bring benefits.

Day in and day out, I wanted to quantify long-term competitive market dynamics and stay ahead of technological advances and have a clear vision of what I am trying to achieve and remain true to it. In particular, my intriguing mind gets the energy when I try to work with high-quality individuals and initiatives, and by and large, I wanted to create new business models that could really augment the endless possibilities of the digital world to the extension of our minds.

Remember all the great achievements only happen when you start believing in yourself and maintain that sense of energy over a long period of time with the confidence to do anything.

SatishKumar Boguda of Dynamic Enterprise Solutions won the Bronze Stevie for Technical Professional of the Year in The 2020 American Business Awards®.

Interested in entering the 2021 American Business Awards? 

Robin Toft, the Founder and CEO of Toft Group, a leading executive search firm  based in San Francisco, accomplished something rare: in the American Business Awards for 2020, Toft won Gold in the three major individual categories of Lifetime Achievement, Maverick of the Year and Woman of the Year.

Toft is a legend in her field and in many cases, outside of it as well. That field is executive search fully devoted to the life sciences, healthcare and biotech. As COVID-19 spreads around the globe, Toft is at the forefront of placing key talent researching a cure; as she has said, “my phone is ringing off the hook.”

Toft founded her company ten years ago, in 2010, before which she worked full-time biotech, where she became a “superstar.” At Roche Diagnostics, Toft launched the first global initiative for access to HIV viral load testing; at ViroLogic, Inc., she launched and commercialized first HIV/AIDS genotype and phenotype tests to guide doctors in selecting correct drug combinations; as a result, HIV became a chronic disease and no longer a fatal one.

To know this disruptive leader is to know something else crucial: Toft is positive always. Call; email; meet one-on-one: the optimism is ironclad. And you may want to know this, too: Robin Toft is a colon cancer survivor; and a survivor of the California wildfires, where she lost everything, her home included.

Through it all, Toft’s focus has been steadfast on diversity since she knows it translates into return on investment. Companies with diverse leadership teams have been proven to be more innovative and profitable; and are more attractive to senior-level talent. Toft has focused on placing women in positions of power that have been held by men because, up until now, men frequently do not have female executives in the networks they rely on to fill top jobs.

In 2019, Toft Group had a remarkable 98% women on boards placement rate, five times the national average; and when it came to placing women in senior positions, the C-suite included, the company had a 48% rate at a time where the highest average offered is 29% (the lowest is 13%).

Over the years, as Toft interviewed and placed hundreds of women into executive roles, she knew something important that had been left unspoken: most women are miserable in their jobs and lack a clear direction for the future. “As a successful woman myself, it’s hard to see such high levels of career dissatisfaction.” As a result, Toft has personally coached thousands of women free-of-charge - to help them set goals; have the perseverance and tenacity to meet them; and to understand the importance of balancing and enjoying their lives.

In 2019, Robin Toft put it all down in a groundbreaking book titled WE CAN, The Executive Woman’s Guide to Career Advancement, an intentional and powerful platform for change. Like Toft herself, the book goes where others fear to tread: female indecisiveness and doubt; the great need for discipline, for a plan, for a map of one’s progression and for confidence; the power to create opportunities; to practice self-care and self-talk. And that men play a role, too. And, yes, women are not - nor should they be - “mini-men.” 

WE CAN was honored with Silver for Best Business Book in the American Business Awards for 2020 and was also named to the Top 100 CEO books of all time by Book Authority. Toft also won silver for Entrepreneur of the Year – Business and Professional Services.

Interested in entering The American Business Awards® in 2021? 

Since the publication of WE CAN, Toft has become a “name” on the keynote speaking circuit including corporations Qualcomm and Illumina; conferences including the top three for women in science; next generation female leaders and board members; the most prestigious in medicine including the Precision Medicine World Conference; MIT Alumni Network, among universities; and Athena International, the global non-profit leading the way in building a pipeline of women leaders in underrepresented areas, notably technology and medicine.

It’s no wonder then that thousands of executives outside of Toft’s search candidates now seek one-on-one mentoring with Toft (there is a waiting list) and that WE CAN, as of 2020, is a start-up company aimed at helping women – and men – grow from the “outside IN.”

As Toft says, “Placing top talent during the COVID-19 crisis has been extremely rewarding. My big dream in building Toft Group was to change the future of medicine, one relationship at a time and we have delivered upon that mission.  After 20 years as an executive in biotech and ten years building my own search company, I’ve learned to set goals, to reach them and to be happy. Teaching women - and men - to dream big and achieve their dreams is my mission for the next 20.”

For more on Robin Toft visit thetoftgroup.com; for information on Toft’s keynote speaking including topics, visit robintoft.com or wecan.works; to purchase the book WE CAN, go to https://www.amazon.com/WE-CAN-Executive-Womans-Advancement/dp/1949635031

 

Professionals in IT operations often resolve issues by automating scripting or coding.

Why use automation?

Throughout the past two decades, technological innovations and information delivery systems have spurred unprecedented growth. The continued evolution of tech, as well as human ingenuity, present organizations across the retail, manufacturing, telecom, banking, and financial services sectors with an array of ever-expanding scenarios and challenges. As just a few examples, being connected continues to become cheaper, and device ownership is skyrocketing.

Data volumes are soaring, and billions of new connected data sources are anticipated within a few years. We are quickly approaching exabyte volumes and are surging toward zettabytes, and the growth of mobile connectivity continues to surpass fixed lines. Security is, as always, a major issue, along with regulatory complexity.

These automations, however, often only work within a monolithic and extremely predictive environment. If one thing changes in that environment, it typically results in the automation failing within the system. Once this happens, an IT professional must begin the troubleshooting process, which might take anywhere from five to thirty minutes to complete. This increases a company’s internal costs and bogs down IT resources.

Are Humans and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Destined to Work Together?

IT has revolutionized businesses across global industries. The way IT operates in most enterprises, however, is still very people-centric, which means the industry is prime for robotic or runbook automation initiatives. Having a fairly straightforward goal of achieving direct cost savings, these automations can reduce the manual effort spent on repetitive activities.

Robotic process automation (RPA) is great for a predictive environment, but it’s not necessarily designed for an ever-changing landscape. It lacks, therefore, the agility to successfully handle many scenarios. To see better results, the automation efforts need to be cognitive and intelligent.

While script-based automation yields quick, small wins, most organizations soon realize the accelerating pace of business-related changes, the increasing complexity of technology and operations, and rising technology-based operational risks far outmatch traditional automation capabilities. There is a critical need, therefore, for an intelligent system that can keep up with technology churn, understand business processes, and be customized to an industry domain and business model.

Many companies praise automation like it’s already the backbone of their business platforms, but human intervention within that automation is still largely necessary. Companies like Digitate try to be aware of this (currently) inescapable reality by working with top brands in virtually every industry. By continuing to improve their product capabilities, service delivery, and customer support, they can build a community of dedicated users who are excited about sharing their stories with them.

Digitate™ leverages machine learning and artificial intelligence to manage IT and business operations. Their product, ignio™, enables better decision-making and ultimately solves IT operations challenges.

Other companies that also leverage machine learning and AI to manage IT and business operations are still working on developing an overarching process that can understand system needs across dynamic situations from different sectors. This is a daunting task, though, and something no one has been able to achieve—yet.

Digitate recently won a Silver Stevie® Award in the Software Defined Infrastructure category at the 2019 International Business Awards®.

Interested in entering The International Business Awards this year? They open for entries on February 4, 2020. 

Although Alan Stillman didn’t invent the phrase “TGIF,” he knew how universal the feeling was, and he opened the first TGI Fridays restaurant in 1965 in New York, United States.

As the original casual dining bar and grill, TGI Fridays offers authentic American food and legendary drinks, and it’s all served with genuine personal service.

Bringing people together to socialize and to celebrate the liberating spirit of Friday was the restaurant’s founding premise, and from this was born the brand promise: in here, it's always Friday.

To share the Friday experience all over the world, TGI Fridays proudly serves guests in over nine hundred restaurants in more than sixty countries. Making every day feel like Friday wouldn't be possible, however, without creating a place where friends feel free to get together. TGI Fridays takes pride in their nearly 74,000 skilled and knowledgeable team members who help serve their guests each and every day.

Connected Experiences

Technology is revolutionizing the restaurant industry, and the influx of mobile capabilities, tablets, online ordering, and even AI-driven automation in the food and beverage space continues to accelerate and to create more meaningful and connected dining experiences.

Chief Experience Officer at TGI Fridays, Sherif Mityas, affirms the impact they’ve felt since winning a Gold Stevie Award®, especially as it pertains to their IT department.

“This is an amazing award for our team and for the organization as a whole. Being recognized as the best IT department of the year in The American Business Awards® is truly an honor, and it has created an immense sense of pride for every team member in the organization.”

By incorporating technology into the dining experience for their guests, TGI Fridays continues to make a concerted effort to create an innovative mindset for their entire brand. In many ways, according to Mityas, they consider themselves a “technology company that happens to sell beer and ribs.”

The team has also been recognized as a two-time winner of the CIO100 award (by CIO Magazine), a Digital50 award winner, and the Most Innovative Team (by the International Franchise Association).

Be Better, Do Better

TGI Fridays doesn’t just celebrate the Friday brand in their restaurants; they also pass that mentality to their staff members. As such, they allow all IT team members to leave early on Friday, which gives people time to enjoy their friends and family and, in turn, to be better and more productive at work.

Their IT team also comprises men and women from all walks of life and backgrounds. Ranging in age from twenty-two to seventy-five, the team members are over 60 percent women, and the minority workers hail from over twelve countries.

“It’s truly an exceptional team that does great things together for the benefit of our millions of guests around the world every day.”
 
A never-ending drive to be better and to do more has allowed a relatively small group to accomplish great things. One of the keys to their success is never settling for how things are expected to be.

“We're always challenging the status quo and asking what’s next,” says Mityas.

Businesses are rapidly migrating their data and applications to the cloud, and increasingly taking advantage of the flexibility and functionality of providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS). According to one industry report, 71 percent of enterprise-level companies will increase their spending on the public cloud by 20 percent or more in 2018.

While the benefits of replacing on-premises assets with web storage might seem readily apparent, the conversion itself can present some real challenges. In order to avoid a costly misstep, companies need to put a strategy in place that protects their cloud data and ensures applications work as intended.

Cloud Protection Manager (CPM), a solution the United States based firm N2W Software developed, strives to eliminate those worries.

Designed specifically for AWS, the product offers the ability to back up data as often as necessary, and it recovers that data faster than traditional on-site backup solutions.

“It’s a complex and new IT environment that’s viewed with a lot of uncertainty and challenges, but it doesn’t have to be,” says Jessica Eisenberg, an inbound marketer and customer success manager at N2W Software.

Employing a user-friendly web interface, CPM allows users to manage multiple AWS accounts and to configure policies and schedules to take automated snapshot backups. Clients can recover snapshots, individual volumes or even individual files almost instantaneously, and can recover both in another region or in another account.. It does all this while maintaining compliance with various privacy standards, such as HIPAA, a health data security law in the United States, and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.

The solution is especially important because, under its Shared Responsibility Model, Amazon is only responsible for the cloud infrastructure itself. However, the customer may assume liability for application software and utilities that it installs on the platform.

The solution is especially important because, under its Shared Responsibility Model, Amazon is only responsible for the cloud infrastructure itself. However, the customer may assume liability for application software and utilities that it installs on the platform.

Big Clients Sign On

The roots of N2W Software date back to 2010, when AWS user Uri Wolloch realized the need for simpler and more scalable backup and recovery capabilities. Wolloch quit his job and began working from home for almost two years to create the first beta version of Cloud Protection Manager.

Since its release, CPM has been used in virtually every vertical market, including finance, health care, mobile, IT, transport, and media. Companies rapidly joined in as enterprises started to weigh the risks of even short periods of downtime. The company’s client list—now totaling more than 1,000 enterprises worldwide—includes the likes of Coca-Cola, Southwest Airlines, Cisco Systems, Oracle, Dyson, Harvard University, and media giant Time Inc.

“Our existing customer base contains the most progressive and forward-looking enterprises in the world—ones which are most interested in acquiring the latest and best cloud backup and disaster recovery technology in order to be prepared for the growing number of data breaches, ransomware attacks, errors, bugs, and weather-related disasters,” Eisenberg says.

The tech community seems to believe growth will only continue as more companies migrate to the cloud. N2W Software, based in West Palm Beach, Florida, United States, completed two rounds of funding in 2017, which was when it also brought in Jason Judge as its new CEO and Andy Langsam as COO.

At that time, the organization’s physical presence swelled to keep up. It now has a development center in Haifa, Israel, as well as satellite offices in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Bucharest, Romania. In January, the private Swiss firm Veeam announced its acquisition of N2W Software for $42.5 million, saying it will continue to operate the business as a wholly owned subsidiary.

Award Boosts Product Awareness

Among the rewards of the buyout was an introduction to the Stevie® Awards, several of which Veeam won in 2015. 

“We knew the Stevies were the premier business awards and that the awarding body is an organization that takes honoring achievements and innovation very seriously,” Eisenberg says.

The panel of judges recognized N2W Software this summer for its pioneering technology. In 2018, N2WS won a Gold Stevie Award in The American Business Awards for New Product or Service of the Year category for Software – Cloud Storage & Backup Solution. The judges noted the efficacy and disaster recovery benefits of CPM, as well as its specialized features, such as robust reporting, alerting, auditing, and dashboard functions.

“The excitement surrounding our company and product is clear recognition of the company’s progress and main goal: to create peace of mind for our customers with valuable data and mission-critical applications in the public cloud,” says Eisenberg. “It has already brought added awareness for customers on AWS that both small glitches and disastrous backup failures can be easily avoided and any single level of downtime can be mitigated.”

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of The International Business Awards, announced today that the final entry deadline for the 14th annual IBAs has been extended to Wednesday, July 12. Recognized as the world’s premier business awards program, The IBAs attract nominations from organizations in more than 50 nations and territories each year.

 “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 June 14. Gallagher emphasizes that no additional late fees will be charged for entries submitted through July 12, and late entries will not be penalized in any way in the judging process. All organizations now have an additional four 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 International Business Awards. The 2017 awards will honor achievements since the beginning of 2016.  Entry details are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

The International Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace. Categories include:

• Management Awards
• Company of the Year Awards
• Customer Service Awards
• Human Resources Awards
• Information Technology Awards
• Marketing Awards
  •New Product Awards
• Public Relations Awards
• Website Awards, Smartphone and Tablet Apps, and other Media Awards

A variety of new categories were introduced for the 2017 competition including Mobile Site & App Awards in recognition of the many organizations that deploy specially-designed mobile websites in lieu of apps. New website categories include Best User Experience and Best User Interface. Executive of the Year has been expanded to include Apparel, Beauty & Fashion and Consumer Services.

Stevie Award winners will be selected during the judging process by more than 150 professionals worldwide. Winners will be announced on August 10, and the awards will be presented at a gala awards ceremony at the W Hotel in Barcelona, Spain on October 21. 

An interview with Ralf Heim the Co-CEO at Fincite GmbH

Fincite GmbH of Frankfurt, Germany won two Stevie Awards in the 2016 German Stevie Awards. Fincite GmbH won the Gold Stevie Award for Technology Startup of the Year, and a Bronze Stevie for Management Team of the Year.  2017 The German Stevie Awards are accepting entries through January 27.  Review the entry kit to begin your nominations.

What does Fincite GmbH do?

Financial Advice today is often confounding and not made for the benefit of the customer. Technology can change this. We can make investments smarter by giving customers easy access to sophisticated analytics. We help banks, asset managers and insurers offer this technology to their customers.

What is your role as the Co-CEO?

As Co-CEO I’m responsible for growing the business. This covers marketing, business development, partnerships and recruiting.

What is the organizational vision?

Our mission is to engineer the future of finance. We see that technology will replace large parts in Financial Advice, Retail & Institutional Asset Management and even funds. Our aim is to grow and become the #1 Digital Asset Management company in Europe.

What sets your company apart in this category?

It’s the unique approach of our Digital Investment Management Software: We built a complete modular system that can easily connect to all private customers’ financial assets, analyze the status quo and make recommendations. Banks can build upon our software their own frontend and thus keep customer relationship while still providing most modern analytics and account integration capabilities.

What was it like for your company to win the Stevie award?

It was a great honor for us to win this award, especially in the category, Technology Start-Up of the Year because from the outset we wanted to focus on innovative products and organic growth. The nomination for Management Team of the Year indicates to my partners & I that we’re on the right path in how we conduct our business.

How has the win affected your business?

The direct effect is hard to tell, but I think the award is great feedback for us and it was acknowledged by our partners and clients.

What results have been gained since you've won this award?

The size of our workforce has nearly doubled since April and the cash flow is still positive without external financing.

What inspires you to continue your work?

We’re inspired by our mission to change the world of finance and the good feedback we get from our partners, clients, employees and also the press.

What do you expect to change in your industry in the future?

We believe that Finance can be nearly 100% digitized. As a result, digital services will largely replace large branches and offices. We are intrigued by the thought of working on this more efficient next generation of Finance.

Learn more about Fincite GmbH

From left to right - Ralf Heim (co-CEO), Friedhelm Schmitt ( co-CEO), Stefan Post (CTO).

The 13th annual International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition, is accepting nominations through June 15. This is the final entry deadline this year. The IBAs attract nominations from organizations in more than 60 nations and territories each year.

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 International Business Awards. An international judging panel of more than 200 executives will determine the Stevie Award winners. Results will be announced in mid-August. Stevie Award winners will be presented their awards at a gala banquet in Rome, Italy on October 21.

Today we will highlight the IT Awards categories. These categories pertain to all information technology, software and web development professionals.

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

a. An essay of up to 650 words describing the nominee's achievements since January 1, 2015

b. In bullet-list form (up to 150 words), a brief summary of up to ten (10) of the nominee's chief achievements since January 1, 2015

c. Optional (but highly recommended): a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges

The categories:

H01. Information Technology Department of the Year

Enter this category if you wish to recognize everyone who works in technology functions in your organization, regardless of function, location, seniority or position.

H02. Information Technology Team of the Year

Enter this category if you wish to recognize some subset of your entire IT organization, such as a specific web maintenance, software development or infrastructure planning team, for example. The team may be multidisciplinary, may stretch across multiple organizations (your own organization, client organizations and agency or vendor organizations, for example) and may be a permanent team or a temporary team that was assembled for a specific task or assignment.

H03. Information Technology Executive of the Year

Enter this category to recognize the achievements of individual IT executives at the VP level or above.

Past Stevie Award winners in the Information Technology categories include:

• Dubai Statistics Center, Dubai, United Arab Emirates: DSC IT Department- IT Department of the Year
• Cisco Systems, San Jose, CA USA: IT Database Droids: Innovative Operational Excellence- IT Team of the Year
• TangoMe, Mountain View, CA USA: Guy Fighel, Director of Engineering, Platform Infrastructure- IT Executive of the Year
• …and more!

 

The New Product and Service awards categories in The American Business Awards are some of the most competitive. Not only will they be judged by the committee below, many of the categories will also be included in a worldwide public vote for the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products. The categories include all product management, product development, product engineering, manufacturing, etc. functions. New products and services released in the U.S.A. since January 1, 2015 are eligible to be nominated.

The Information Technology awards categories include all information technology, software, and web development,  teams, departments, and professionals.

Today we would like to thank the New Product and Service / IT Awards judging commitee. Their review will determine the Stevie Award winers in these categories.

It's not too late to submit your 2016 American Business Awards nominations. All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. The 2016 awards honor achievements since the beginning of 2015.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

Meet the judging chair and committee:

Chair:

Derek Gerry, Director, Strategic Accounts
C-4 Analytics, Saugus, Massachusetts, USA

Derek Gerry is Director, Strategic Accounts at C-4 Analytics, a provider of customizable full service digital marketing solutions in Boston. A skilled content and search optimization strategist with a deep appreciation for Saul Bass, Ken Nordine, and the fundamentals of marketing communication, Derek has been part of the team at C-4 Analytics since 2010. In his capacity as Director of Strategic Accounts, Derek has developed and implemented campaigns in the health care, consumer retail, energy, and automotive sectors.

Derek has spent nearly 20 years creating content and marketing campaigns for online audiences, working for some of the United States’ top companies, including Standard & Poor’s, Harcourt Brace, and IAC.

Derek is also an accomplished broadcaster who hosts a weekly news and commentary show in Boston, and he has appeared on several talk stations in the Boston area.

Committee:

Pamela Clark, Founder & Executive Director
New Heights Educational Group, Defiance, Ohio, USA
Pamela Clark is the Founder/Executive Director of the New Heights Educational Group (NHEG). NHEG is an educational 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization located in Defiance, Ohio. Ms. Clark has been assisting families with their educational needs for 12 years. She is married and has two grown married children and one grandchild, all of whom reside in Defiance, Ohio. Throughout the years, the NHEG organization and Ms. Clark have received several business awards and other forms of recognition from the Stevie Awards. Ms. Clark is honored and happy to help judge this year's American Business Awards.

Michael Gale, Partner
Pulsepoint Group, Austin, Texas, USA
Michael is a partner at PulsePoint group. He is a recognized industry expert in integrated technology marketing, having founded Strategic Oxygen in 2001, which is widely seen as one of the technology industry’s primary data toolset for marketers. The company was sold to Forrester Research in 2009. He has worked directly on over 500 global programs and campaigns for major technology brands since 2001. The long-term engagements covered marketing re-structuring architectures, a scorecard, and a marketing audits process (with industry norms), as well as marketing thought leadership initiatives.

Stuart John, CEO
SJ Strategy, Santa Monica, California, USA
Strategic Product Management Leader with experience of launching global products in the mobile industry, extensive team mentoring experience and a software architecture background.

Stephen Lavin, Senior Vice President Corporate Information Technology
Outerwall Inc., Bellevue, Washington USA
Stephen and his teams innovate, develop, and operate performance driven, low cost business products and technology service solutions for the Outerwall family of companies; redbox, Coinstar, and ecoATM. Stephen also drives corprorate technology R&D, strategy, and execution for new adjacencies.

George Lin, Chief Information Officer
CallidusCloud, Dublin, California, USA
George Lin currently serves as the Chief Information Officer of CallidusCloud, the global leader in cloud based sales, marketing, learning and customer experience solutions. Previously, George was CIO of Dolby Laboratories, Advent Software, EMC Software Group, a Division of EMC and Documentum. George is a recipient of three industry awards.

Ajoy Mallik, SVP, Emerging Tech and Innovation at SYNTEL
Follow[the]seed, Saratoga, California, USA
I co-founded Follow[the]seed, a set of funds using data driven technology to invest in consumer and enterprise grade disruptions across Australia, US, Israel, and China. I am also involved in an ambitious project at a mid cap company, setting up a Business Unit in Innovation, to take the company to its next level in growth and prominence.My large cap public company senior executive roles have covered companies from India’s premier brand (TATA), to Cognizant. Each of my public company roles involved being the "map"? between the entrepreneurs and innovators.

Bruce Masterson, CEO & Co-Founder
Respect Care, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA
Bruce has 20 years experience growing multiple start-up and early stage ventures on top of 12 years experience as a senior executive with the Reuters Group, Plc in Chicago, London and New York. Bruce earned an MBA from the University of Chicago, w and a BA in Economics from MSU.

Catherine McQuaid, Consultant
CMassociates, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Catherine Mcquaid is a Big Game Hunter in the Urban Jungle. Her clients are business services firms who want to become suppliers to the Fortune 1000.

Feroz Merchhiya, CTO -Director of Technology
CIGA, California Insurance Guarantee Association, Glendale, California, USA
Mr. Merchhiya is an accomplished award winning technology leader with over eighteen years' experience; He has a strong interest in business and enterprise technology. A practitioner of integrated program and portfolio management approach that looks at infrastructure rationalization road maps aligned to application consolidations, process standardization and efficiency improvement strategies.

Carlos Minetti, President, Consumer Banking
Discover Financial Services, Riverwoods, Illinois, USA
Carlos Minetti is the President of Consumer Banking for Discover Financial Services and has also served as the Chief Risk Officer and EVP, Cardmember Services. Prior to Discover, Mr. Minetti was the SVP of Card Operations for American Express. An engineering graduate of Texas A&M and Booth School of Business.

Judy Mod, Founder, CEO, Chief Adoption Officer
RevenueSphere, LLC., Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Today, as the Founder, CEO and Chief Adoption Officer of RevenueSphere and Social Gastronomy (for-profit) and the Founder and President of the Social Executive Council and futurewired (non-profit), Judy is helping senior executives understand and address the new complexities this is creating and the foundational changes that are needed to bridge the widening gap between the innovation and the adoption. Judy has 30+ years of experience in driving top line revenue in multiple areas (CEO, sales, business development, channel, strategic alliances, marketing, consulting).

Rajesh Mudiakal, Senior Consultant
Ernst & Young India, New Delhi, India
Rajesh Kumar Mudiakal is a Senior Consultant in IT Advisory with Ernst & Young, India. He has an overall Experience of 19 years in areas like IT, Manufacturing and Project Management. He has completed M.S in Mechanical Engineering from University of Bristol in UK and an Executive Certification in Strategy Consulting (Driving Strategic Impact) from Columbia Business School, US and was a commonwealth Scholar. He has expertise in the areas of Project Management, Program Management, Strategy Consulting, Risk Management, Agile project Management and SAP Consulting.

Govindraj Muthyaly, CEO
Cashpundit Inc., Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Govindraj is a CPA and has more than 25 years of finance, accounting, and IT experience. He has worked as a controller and a CFO of many multi-million dollar companies. He is the CEO of Cashpundit Inc., a startup that he founded to help businesses manage their cash flows.

Paul Patton, Senior Manager, R & D and Regulatory
Delta Faucet Co., Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
As a voice of the customer, he ensures products brought to market offer relevant innovations for end-users. Products developed under his guidance have received prominent industry awards including ADEX and Stevie Awards. He also actively interacts and works to influence legislation for federal, state and 40,000+ local jurisdictions.

Ken Phelan, CTO
Gotham Technology Group, New York, New York, USA
Ken Phelan is a founding partner and Chief Technology Officer of Gotham Technology Group. Founded in 2001, Gotham has grown to 87 million dollars in annual revenue, and serves many of the world’s largest organizations with integrated solutions in virtualization and security. Ken's blog can be found at: http://blog.gothamtg.com/author/kenphelan/.

John Sidell, Managing Principal
SCApath LLC, University Place, Washington USA
John Sidell is an award winning entrepreneur and Supply Chain technology pioneer. Since the late 80's he's be a leader in the application software and Management Consulting market. He has build and sold multiple companies over the last 15 years and is a recognize speaker for conferences and industry events.

Wayne Sleight, COO
97th Floor, Lehi, Utah, USA
Wayne Sleight is the COO of 97th Floor, an award-winning, full-service digital marketing agency with locations in Utah and California. He has been a featured speaker at marketing conferences in North America and Europe. In 2015, Utah Business Magazine recognized Sleight as a '20 in their 20s' business leader.

Milo Sprague, Chief Technology Officer
Silicon Valley Bank, Santa Clara, California, USA

Shoab Syed, Systems Support Management
SJS Solutions, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Rajani Veeramacha, President
E Center, Inc., Newtown, Pennsylvania, USA

Daryl Wieland, Risk Management Practice Lead
IT Cadre, Ashburn, Virginia, USA
Daryl Wieland is IT Cadre’s Customer Financial and Risk Management Practice Lead where he provides trustworthy insights by helping organizations move their risk exposure within their risk appetite.

Kirsten Wilkinson, EDI Analyst
AmerisourceBergen, Frisco, Texas, USA
I have been honored to have had a successful career in Customer Service Management and IT in the consumer goods manufacturing industry. I have recently entered the pharmaceuticals industry which I have found to be very challenging and exciting. I am happily married and we have a seven year old son.

New Product and Service categories include:

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
...and many more. See all of them here.

Software

P30. Software - Asset Management Solution
P31. Software - Big Data Solution
P32. Software - Business or Competitive Intelligence Solution
P33. Software - Cloud Application/Service
P34. Software - Cloud Infrastructure
P35. Software - Cloud Platform
P36. Software - Cloud Storage & Backup Solution
P37. Software - Collaboration/Social Networking Solution
P38. Software - Content Management Solution
P39. Software - Corporate Learning/Workforce Development Solution
P40. Software - Electronic Commerce Solution
P41. Software - Financial Management Solution
...and many more. See all of them here.

Content
These categories recognize products, technology and services created by, or for, Media, Publishers and Information Services Providers.

P65. Content - Advertising or Campaign Management Platform
P66. Content - Aggregation Platform
P67. Content - Business Directory
P68. Content - Business Information Solution
P69. Content - Content Analytics Solution
P70. Content - Content Marketing Solution
P71. Content - Content Rights and Delivery Solution
P72. Content - Crowd Sourced Information Solution
P73. Content - eCommerce & Billing Platform
P74. Content - Financial & Market Data Information Solution
...and many more. See all of them here.

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
...and many more. See all of them here.

Information Technology categories include:

N01. Information Technology Department of the Year

N02. Information Technology Team of the Year

N03. Information Technology Executive of the Year

N04. Technical Professional of the Year: for non-executive technical professionals including software developers, web developers, technical writers, etc.  There is no entry fee for this category

Everyone likes free things. What is a trip to the dentist without the free toothbrush and floss? Costco samples? There are never enough. Free pizza in the office conference room? Everyone is there. This year The (14th Annual) American Business Awards is offering a slew of categories that do not have an entry fee. Yes, you read that right. Free entries for your chance to win a Stevie Award!

The only catch? The entry deadline is tomorrow, February 18. These are savings of up to $470. If your organization is in the U.S.A. and you're considering submitting nominations to the ABAs, now is the perfect time

.Late entries will be accepted through March 16 with the payment of a late fee. For the categories listed below with waived entry fees, the $55 late entry fee will still apply.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

The awards categories with waived entry fees are as follows:

Startup of the Year (for companies that began operations since January 1 2014). 
a. Business Product Industries
b. Business Service Industries
c. Consumer Product Industries
d. Consumer Service Industries

Tech Startup of the Year (for companies that began operations since January 1 2014). 

Energy Industry Innovation of the Year: This category recognizes singular innovations in energy-related technology, production, conservation, storage or delivery, by an organization or an individual in the U.S.A., since January 1 2015. 

For the 2016 competition we have introduced a variety of free categories to recognize individuals in various fields:

Communications Professional of the Year: for non-executive communications, PR, and IR professionals. 

Technical Professional of the Year: for non-executive technical professionals including software developers, web developers, technical writers, etc. 

Marketer of the Year: recognizing non-executive marketing professionals. 

Product Developer of the Year: recognizing all non-executive product development or management professionals. 

Support Staffer of the Year: recognizing non-executive support personnel, including office managers, administrative assistants, secretaries, maintenance professionals, etc. 

Entries in all of the awards categories listed above require:

1. An essay of up to 650 words describing the nominated organization's achievements since January 1 2015
   
   b. In bullet-list form (up to 150 words), a brief summary of up to ten (10) of the nominated organization's chief achievements since January 1 2015
   
   c. Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges

Remember, the first step to submitting a nomination is to review the entry kit. You can do so here.