Finalists revealed for ARN Innovation Awards in 2024

ARN is proud to reveal the finalists of the Innovation Awards in 2024, featuring a leading and diverse line-up of partners, vendors, distributors and individuals across Australia. 

Set for Thursday 14 November, the Innovation Awards black tie event will bring the industry together under the ARN roof at Doltone House in Darling Island, Sydney.

The new-look ARN Innovation Awards in 2024 houses a modernised awards line-up featuring a new Innovation for Good category designed to acknowledge the contributions of industry-leading organisations that are making a positive societal impact, particularly in the areas of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), and Sustainability within the IT sector. 

In 2024, the Innovation Awards program was streamlined from 35 to 30 awards, as ARN raises the bar for industry excellence across Australia.

Representing the entire Australian ecosystem, 265 finalists (including 80 individuals) make the shortlist from a pool of over 123 organisations and more than 342 nominations, spanning partner, start-up, vendor and distributor businesses.

Aligned to the ARN approach of representing established and emerging technology providers in equal measure, Innovation Awards in 2024 stands tall as the leading forum for setting the industry benchmark for ecosystem excellence across Australia.

“Seventeen years of celebrating IT industry innovation speaks volumes about the talent, the passion and the dedication that courses through the veins of this vibrant community,” ARN Editor Julia Talevski said.

“ARN Innovation Awards continues to shine a spotlight on the transformative nature of our ecosystem across partners, start-ups, vendors and distributors – all playing a crucial role in delivering on the promise of technology to customers across the country. Congratulations to our standout finalists.”

In 2024, the Innovation Awards will honour the channel across eight categories, spanning Innovation for Good, Partner, Tech Partner, Start-up, Personal Innovation, Vendor, Distributor and Hall of Fame.

The ARN shortlist panel consisted of Julia Talevski (Editor); Cathy O’Sullivan (Editorial Director A/NZ); Susan Searle (Hall of Fame) and Moheb Moses (Channel Dynamics and Hall of Fame).

Winners will now be selected by an executive judging panel of business leaders from partner, vendor and distributor organisations.

ARN congratulates all finalists and thanks all organisations and individuals for taking the time to submit nominations.

INNOVATION FOR GOOD

Innovation for Good recognises the work of industry leading organisations with demonstrated positive impact on society, putting words to practice through targeted impact in relation to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), and Sustainability in the IT industry.

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I)

Partner:

• ASI Solutions
• Baidam Solutions
• Deloitte
• Konica Minolta
• Land on Heart
• LinkTech Australia
• Logicalis
• Oreta
• SixPivot
• Thomas Peer Solutions
• Virtual IT Group

Vendor/Distributor:

• Crayon
• Dicker Data
• Exclusive Networks
• GoTo
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise
• MyCISO
• NEXTGEN Group
• Pax8
• Schneider Electric

SUSTAINABILITY

• Araza
• ASI Solutions
• Blue Connections IT
• Comsol
• Dicker Data
• HP
• Ricoh
• Schneider Electric

PARTNER

Recognises customer innovation and excellence across the key market segments of Enterprise, Mid-Market and SMB, in addition to pioneering Regional technology partners.

Enterprise: 

• Adactin Group
• Araza
• ArchiTech
• Baidam Solutions
• Brennan
• Cevo
• Champions of Change
• Data#3
• Patient Zero
• The Missing Link

Mid-Market: 

• Arinco
• ASI Solutions
• Be Nimble IT
• blueAPACHE
• Cevo
• Ericom
• Platinum Technology
• The Missing Link
• Virtual IT Group
• Wild Tech

SMB:

• Empire Technologies
• exposé
• FUJIFILM Business Innovation Australia
• Fuse Technology
• Kaine Mathrick Tech
• Lanrex
• Nueva
• ONGC Systems
• TechClick
• Techwell

Regional:

• Colton Computer Technologies (Orange, NSW)
• Expose (Adelaide, South Australia)
• Silverfern IT (Perth, Western Australia)

TECH PARTNER

Recognises partners leveraging established and emerging solutions to enhance customer innovation levels, underpinned by deep levels of expertise and specialist services spanning Cloud; Security; Digital Transformation; and Emerging Technology segments.

Cloud: 

•  Arinco
• Be Nimble IT
• Blue Crystal Solutions
• Cevo & D6 Consulting
• Evolution Systems
• exposé
• FUJIFILM CodeBlue Australia
• Linktech Australia
• Oreta
• TechClick

Security:

• Baidam Solutions
• Cevo 
• CompliantERP
• Data#3
• Empire Technologies
• Exigo Tech
• Nueva
• Outcomex
• TechClick
• Techwell

Digital Transformation: 

• Adactin Group
• ArchiTech
• Atturra
• Barhead Solutions
• Blue Crystal Solutions
• Bridged Group
• Dynamic Aspect
• Insight Enterprises
• Kiandra
• Tecala

Emerging: 

• Arinco
• ASI Solutions
• Cevo
• Data#3
• exposé
• Infront Systems
• Insight Enterprises
• OutcomeX
• SixPivot
• Tecala

START-UP

Recognises market-leading start-ups building unique businesses to bring innovative new technologies to the Australian market across Product, Industry and Entrepreneur.

Product:

• Cybermate
• D6 Consulting
• MyCISO
• Omnata
• TechClick
• VirtualPlatform
• World of Workflows
• youX

Industry:

• oSpace
• TechClick
• VirtualPlatform

Entrepreneur:

• Bardia Khalilifar – Conicio Advisory
• Joanne Spencer – D6 Consulting
• Dane Meah – MyCISO
• Rob Neely – Securely Holdings
• Regina Melamed – TechClick
• Vaibhav Mittal – The Neon Labs Pty Ltd
• Piers Tyler – VirtualPlatform

VENDOR:

Recognises vendors helping partners deliver transformative solutions and services to customers, operating market-leading approaches to engagement and enablement across the key technology segments of Cloud, Security, Hardware, Software, Networking and Specialist.

Cloud:

• Acronis
• AvePoint
• Cisco
• Cloudian
• Dynatrace
• GoTo
• HPE
• N-able
• Veeam Software
• Wasabi Technologies

Security:

• Arctic Wolf
• Cisco
• ConnectWise
• eSentire
• ExtraHop
• Netskope
• Palo Alto Networks
• SentinelOne
• ThreatDefence
• Vectra AI
• WatchGuard Technologies

Hardware:

• Cisco
• Dell Technologies
• Dynabook
• FUJIFILM Business Innovation Australia
• HP
• HPE
• Lenovo
• Powershield

Software:

• AvePoint
• Cisco ThousandEyes
• ConnectWise
• Databricks
• LogicMonitor
• SolarWinds
• Veeam Software

Homegrown ISV:

• iasset.com
• MyCISO
• SixPivot

Networking:

• Cisco
• Ericsson
• Fortinet
• HPE Aruba Networking
• Netskope

Specialist:

• Access4
• Cisco
• ConnectWise
• Hosted Network
• HP | Poly
• RingCentral
• Schneider Electric

DISTRIBUTOR:

Recognises distributors spearheading ecosystem innovation and growth through transformative approaches to vendor engagement and partner enablement, spanning the core categories of Hardware, Software, Specialist and Creativity.

Hardware:

• Dicker Data
• Ingram Micro
• Leader
• Westcon-Comstor

Software:

• Crayon
• Dicker Data
• Ingram Micro
• Pax8
• Westcon-Comstor

Specialist:

• Bluechip Infotech
• Crayon
• NEXTGEN
• Wavelink
• Westcon-Comstor

Creativity:

• Crayon
• Dicker Data
• Leader Computers
• NEXTGEN
• Pax8
• Tech Data
• Wavelink
• Westcon-Comstor

PERSONAL INNOVATION

Recognises standout individuals who contribute to customer, company and channel success through a transformative approach to management, channel, sales, technical and marketing positions.

Channel Excellence:

• Anna Christensen – Cloudian
• Tanya Hovagimian – CrowdStrike
• Bridget Maritz – HPE Aruba Networking
• Karen Drinan – HP
• Cameron Walters – NEXTGEN
• Mihir Oza – One Identity
• Ian Morris – Rubrik
• Shabeel Shah – SentinelOne
• Callum Meek – Veeam Software
• Damien Richeux – WatchGuard Technologies 

Technical Excellence (Partner):

• Paul Wilson – Blue Connections IT
• Ana Silva – Empire Technologies
• Baylin Ferguson – Ericom
• Jong Dante – Linktech Australia
• Dani Nikolic – Logicalis Australia
• Josh Samson – Nexon Asia Pacific
• Krithika Veeraraghavan – Nueva
• Faizal Janif – Oreta
• Daniel Siddel – TechClick
• Tim O’Connor – The Missing Link

Technical Excellence (Vendor/Distributor):

• Phillip Keswick – Access4
• David Mcintosh – Acronis
• Mark Thomas – Arctic Wolf
• Heath  Russell – Cisco
• Andrew Underwood – Dell Technologies
• Ariya Parsamanesh – HPE Aruba Networking
• Riyaz Mohammed – RingCentral
• Sivakuman Gurusamy – Schneider Electric
• Aaron Jacobs – Sophos
• Sheng Lan – Tech Data

Marketing Excellence:

• Brooke Martin – Arinco
• Kelly Hunt – Cisco
• Vivienne Winborne – Colton Computer Technologies
• Chantelle Stapleton – Dicker Data
• Jessica Stark – GoTo
• Alex Barbieri – HPE Aruba Networking
• Karina Rozengurt – HP
• Altynai Saralaeva – Oreta
• Kathleen Grahame – Sophos

Sales Excellence (Partner):

• Marc Tricksey – Arinco
• Dean Hogden – Baidam Solutions
• Alex Danobrega – Champions of Change
• Maurice Bonotto – Exigo Tech
• Nevien Badawi – Nexon Asia Pacific
• Jonathan Tandoc – Nueva
• Paul Seymour – Patient Zero
• Belinda York-Atkins – Tecala
• Bassam Aoude – The Missing Link

Sales Excellence (Vendor/ Distributor):

•  David Hayes – Arctic Wolf
• Simon Hickson – BeyondTrust
• Leroy Daniel – BlackLine
• Kelly Sabo – Cisco
• Mila Fedynskaya – Schneider Electric
• Angelina Liu – SentinelOne
• Karryn Panoutsopoulos – Wavelink

Management Excellence (Partner):

• Natasha Canov – ASI Solutions
• Cassandra Eastham – Blue Connections IT
• Haseeb Jamal – Be Nimble IT
• Dinesh Aggarwal – CyberPulse
• Niten Devalia – Exigo Tech
• Mike Woods – Nexon Asia Pacific
• Demelza Green – Patient Zero
• Adrian Ng – Tecala
• Mark Hallam – Techwell
• Sam Grice – The Missing Link

Management Excellence (Vendor):

• James Wright – Cloudian
• Nick Moran – ConnectWise
• Jon Fox – Crowdstrike
• Yvette McEnearney – GoTo
• Chris Hewlett – HP
• Astrid Groves – Schneider Electric
• Jim Cook – SentinelOne
• Craig Stockdale – Wasabi Technologies

Hall of Fame 2024

Recognises long-standing leaders who have been instrumental in the development and enhancement of the Australian channel. Two individuals will be inducted into the ARN Hall of Fame in 2024, which will be determined by the shortlisting committee and current Hall of Fame members.