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

Celebrated during a black-tie event at Doltone House at Darling Island in Sydney on 14 November, the awards brought together more than 570 members of Australia’s channel community.

This year’s Innovation Awards celebrated the accomplishments of 40 winners and two new inductees into the ARN Hall of Fame – Leo Lynch and Norm Jefferies.  

The winners were selected from 265 finalists (including 80 individuals) to make the shortlist from a pool of over 123 organisations and more than 342 nominations, spanning partner, start-up, vendor and distributor businesses.

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 raised the bar for industry excellence across Australia and brought back the Channel Choice segment, which opened the voting platform to the audience.

“The 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 all our winners,” ARN Editor Julia Talevski said. 

“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.” 

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

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

ARN congratulates all winners, highly commended and finalists and thanks the judging panel comprising many of the industry’s leading influencers.

CHANNEL CHOICE

Channel Choice allows readers the chance to cast their vote for the vendor, distributor or partner that has made an outstanding contribution in the Australian market over the past 12 months. Sponsored by Crayon

Distributor: Leader

Vendor: Microsoft and HP (tie)

Partner: Ethan

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. Sponsored by Netskope

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

Winner: Baidam Solutions

Baidam Solutions is recognised for boosting Indigenous representation in ICT security and promoting DEI across the tech sector.  Its founders commit over 50 per cent of profits to initiatives supporting Indigenous employment, cybersecurity training, and secure job opportunities. Baidam funds scholarships for Indigenous STEM students, runs a mentoring program, and launched Baidam Recruitment to further support Indigenous tech representation. 

Winner: Oreta

Oreta’s commitment to DEI is demonstrated through policies, leadership involvement, transparency, and structured progress reporting, working toward a culture that celebrates diversity and inclusion. Through its initiatives like diverse hiring panels and blind resume reviews it has increased female representation by 28 per cent.

Vendor/Distributor:

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

Winner: NEXTGEN

NEXTGEN exemplifies DEI through visible leadership commitment, structured policies, and community engagement, setting a high benchmark for DEI in the ICT industry. 66 per cent of regional managing directors are female and women represent 40 percent of its workforce across APAC. It has a commitment to zero gender pay gap for equivalent roles and diverse hiring practices and emphasis on leadership positions.

SUSTAINABILITY

Partner:

• Araza
• ASI Solutions
• Blue Connections IT
• Ricoh

Winner: ASI Solutions

ASI places a high focus on running its business to ensure that it meets environmentally and socially sustainable objectives, along with robust governance. Its Sustainability Director will be instrumental in driving forward a solid strategic position, together with demonstrating its impact. For example, it will look to replace its aging fleet possibly with EV or hybrid models.

Winner: Blue Connections

Blue Connections embeds environmental responsibility into the very fabric of its operations. It has taken significant steps to reduce reliance on non-renewable energy sources, including the installation of a 75 kilowatt solar panel array on its warehouse, with plans to increase capacity and add battery storage for a maximum capacity in excess of 170 kilowatts.

Vendor/Distributor

• Comsol
• Dicker Data
• HP
• Schneider Electric

Winner: Schneider Electric

Schneider Electric’s Circularity Programme focuses on reducing carbon footprints, as well as, generating profitability for partners and end users through modernisation, recurring revenue, and commercial benefits. The programme also features a tool to calculate carbon-footprints and optimise hardware efficiency.

PARTNER

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

Enterprise: 

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

Highly commended: Baidam Solutions

Winner: Brennan

Brennan wins this award in recognition of its work with health services provider, Cura Day guiding it through a transition from VMware to an Azure environment to support its broader digital transformation journey. The project significantly improved Cura’s overall operating environment and future-proofed its technology stack. 

Mid-Market: 

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

Winner: blueAPACHE

blueAPACHE wins this award for its emPOWER reference architecture, ensuring complete control and accountability across application delivery supply chains. It recently used emPOWER on a project with a specialist workplace law firm to help it keep up to date with rigorous IT standards.

SMB:

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

Highly Commended: TechClick

Winner: Nueva

Nueva’s comprehensive cyber security solution, Nueva Protect, has helped it simplify cyber security for SMBs while managing costs and providing robust protection. The provider’s cyber security experts handle everything from real-time monitoring and threat detection to updates and incident response.

Regional:

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

Highly Commended: Silverfern IT

Winner: Colton Computer Technologies

Based in the Central Western region of NSW, Colton Computer Technologies envisions creating better experience for its local community. The managed services provider has boots on the ground and conducts free virtual and physical cyber education events for locals. It also focuses heavily on offering career, training and promotion opportunities for employees and students via work experience.

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. Sponsored by SentinelOne

Cloud: 

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

Winner: Arinco

Cloud specialist Arinco has been recognised for ensuring customers have the right foundations for sustainable and long-term innovation.  Its customer case studies underline Arinco’s approach to building solid cloud infrastructure from the start, allowing technology to scale effortlessly and securely alongside organisational growth. 

Security:

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

Winner: Exigo Tech

Exigo Tech’s dedication to making technology simpler and eliminating accompanying complications has pushed it towards success, with it conducting regular assessments, continuous monitoring and timely updates. Its approach of tailoring security solutions with clients’ existing systems sees it minimise disruption and maximise protection. 

Digital Transformation: 

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

Winner: Atturra

Atturra wins this award for its work with a long-term customer to build from scratch a best-of-breed school administration system. Hosted in the cloud, the system will be made available to Australian schools on a subscription basis, with institutions able to implement and pay for the technology on a module-by-module basis. 

Emerging: 

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

Winner: Insight Enterprises

Insight wins this award for its work with Tourism NT to develop ChatNT, an AI-powered chatbot, using OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 model through Microsoft’s Azure. ChatNT engages users in conversational, interactive exchanges, highlighting Tourism NT’s offerings. Based on ChatNT’s success, Tourism NT is adopting an “always-on” AI strategy to continually improve customer engagement and streamline visitor planning. 

START-UP

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

Product:

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

Winner: Cybermate 

Cybermate wins this award for its “Psybersecurity” app, which launched in 2023 to reduce cyber breaches from human behavioural risks. By providing awareness training, simulated attacks and real-time threat alerts, Cybermate helps create a secure environment that can adapt to rapidly changing threat landscapes. 

Industry:

• oSpace
• TechClick
• Virtualplatform

Winner: Virtualplatform 

Virtualplatform’s API-first approach and single-view wholesale aggregation platform are transforming the ICT services sector. It delivers value-add benefits to commodity products and enhances MSP operations to help them grow providing key innovations including streamlined service management, customer experience, proactive notifications and diagnostics, multi-provider connectivity qualification, rapid provisioning, white label solutions and native billing. 

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

Winner: Dane Meah – MyCISO 

As an accomplished entrepreneur, MyCISO CEO and company director Dane Meah has founded and led multiple businesses over the past 20 years. He launched the cyber security SaaS business MyCISO in 2022 and has quickly scaled to be a leading security program management platform. 

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. Sponsored by FUJIFILM

Cloud:

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

Highly Commended: Cloudian

Winner: Veeam Software 

Veeam’s enablement and support strategies have empowered partners to deliver high-demand, innovative cloud solutions. Central to this approach is the Veeam Data Cloud (VDC), a SaaS solution that equips partners to deliver a full suite of cloud-based services—including backup, disaster recovery, and data security—customised to meet the unique needs of their customers. 

Security:

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

Winner: SentinelOne 

SentinelOne wins this award for its commitment to partner success by working together to maximise resources, drive customer satisfaction, sustain business growth and profitability. The vendor’s local channel team members have contributed towards building up its channel program and pipeline, engaging with distributors and focusing on partners. 

Hardware:

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

Highly Commended: HPE

Winner: Cisco 

Cisco has been recognised for its platform strategy, ongoing innovation, developments in AI, and focus on sustainability contributing towards being the most comprehensive portfolio to date. Featuring breadth, scale and technology – with open architecture that allows partners to build on to help them differentiate and win with customers. 

Software:

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

Winner: Databricks 

Databricks’ channel-centric approach to software has generated significant ongoing benefits for its partners. Its symbiotic approach to its channel is underpinned by a business model that heavily favours partners, ensuring they are at the forefront of delivering value to customers. For example, its services-to-software ratio is a key driver of partner profitability. 

Homegrown ISV:

• iasset.com
• MyCISO
• SixPivot

Winner: iasset.com 

iasset.com platform allows tech providers to offer a consultative approach and proactively manage customers IT investment and digital transformation strategy. This is across the entire customer lifecycle from initial sale, through to renewal or end of life or end of service. 

Networking:

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

Winner: HPE Aruba Networking 

As a channel-first business, HPE Aruba Networking is focused on enabling partners to grow their business with new solutions and business models, systematically empowering them to be successful. It is also bringing in new roles to create better integration with channel partners to add further value to existing channel programs. 

Specialist:

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

Winner: ConnectWise 

ConnectWise has consistently demonstrated its commitment to the success of managed service providers (MSPs) and their support for millions of small and midsized businesses globally. With a 40-year track record in championing partner success, its offerings are designed to address the unique needs and challenges faced by MSPs. 

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. Sponsored by HPE

Hardware:

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

Highly Commended: Ingram Micro

Winner: Dicker Data 

Dicker Data wins this award in recognition for its market stance across a majority of the hardware brands it currently represents. Transacting with over 10,000 active partners and generating more than $3.3 billion in revenue purely from the SMB, mid-market, corporate and commercial segments. This is further backed by the support provided to partners.  

Software:

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

Winner: Pax8 

Since coming onto the channel scene in 2022, Pax8 has been operating with the MSP toolset in mind and constantly seeking ways to innovate and enhance automation and integration. For example, the Pax8 Marketplace provides partners with access to a wide range of tools that streamline operations such as billing, provisioning, and reporting. 

Specialist:

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

Highly Commended: Bluechip Infotech

Winner: NEXTGEN 

Founded in 2018, NEXTGEN has been on a mission to consistently innovated to live up to its name and bring next generation technologies to the Australian Channel eco-system. This is a critical and fundamental tenant to allow the channel to evolve, modernise, add value to their customers, and beat the bad actors, both nation state based and individual. 

Creativity:

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

Winner: Dicker Data 

Dicker Data has been recognised for its creative initiatives including collaborating with Cisco to create the Pursuit of Cyber Resilience event, held across five cities. The program featured cyber expert Ben Owen from The Hunted, who used simulated examples to highlight how cybercriminals leverage AI for identity theft, captivating the audience and underscoring the need for advanced cybersecurity measures. Over 500 partners attended and benefited from the event, which drove cybersecurity skills development and revenue growth. 

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 

Winner: Tanya Hovagimian, CrowdStrike 

Tanya has been recognised for her outstanding business acumen and creativity in crafting and executing a successful ecosystem strategy centred on recruitment, enablement, pipeline building, and channel management. Drawing on her deep market knowledge, Tanya uniquely positions each CrowdStrike partner within their respective markets, empowering them to leverage their distinct strengths for maximum impact.

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

Winner: Dani Nikolic, Logicalis Australia 

Dani Nikolic’s technical expertise proved to be much needed when it comes to clients that require the equivalent of a triple back somersault with two and a half twists off the 10m tower. She has been able to navigate a number of significant obstacles, through sheer technical knowledge, passion for engineering and matching personal skills. 

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

Highly Commended: Mark Thomas, Arctic Wolf

Winner: Andrew Underwood, Dell Technologies 

Andrew Underwood joined Dell Technologies a decade ago as high-performance computing artificial intelligence leader for Asia Pacific, Japan and China. Since then, he has been recognised for his expertise and leadership within the organisation on those topics. At Dell, he has also worked with many of Australia’s leading scientific research organisations. 

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

Winner: Chantelle Stapleton, Dicker Data 

With a career spanning 18 years, Chantelle has delivered double digit revenue growth, triple digit return on investment and now runs a team of dedicated marketing resources who support Dicker Data’s hardware business unit. She has been the mastermind behind numerous campaigns and initiatives, collecting several vendor accolades along the way. 

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

Winner: Bassam Aoude, The Missing Link 

Bassam brings exceptional performance and unwavering dedication to The Missing Link’s sales team, achieving astonishing growth and consistency across all performance metrics. His relentless pursuit of excellence, ability to consistently deliver high-value outcomes and demonstration of exceptional value to end-user customers have all contributed to his success. 

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

Highly Commended: David Hayes, Arctic Wolf

Winner: Kelly Sabo, Cisco 

Kelly has embraced being a dynamic sales leader, spearheading one of the most prominent and mature partner-focused sales segments in the industry. Her leadership has resulted in sustained growth and remarkable milestones, which is a testament to her ability to drive exceptional business results and manage high-performing teams. 

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

Winner: Demelza Green, Patient Zero

Demelza’s rise from product manager to Co-CEO is defined by her ability to lead high-profile teams, execute projects at scale, and drive transformative business growth. She has led numerous large-scale projects and long-term contracts contributing to 75 per cent of the company’s revenue.  

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

Highly Commended: Astrid Groves, Schneider Electric.

Winner: Chris Hewlett, HP

Chris Hewlett has demonstrated a remarkable ascent in his career, culminating in his currently senior director role. His success stems from over 26 years of experience in the IT industry, with 24 of those at HP in various management roles, one his most notable achievements in FY23 was achieving the highest-ever enterprise sales revenue record in HP Australia history.  

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.

Norm Jefferies

Norm’s life and work motto is to “Do something today that makes tomorrow better than yesterday”.

A true survivor, Jefferies grew up on the family farm in rural Victoria. Straight out of university thirty plus years ago, he saw the importance and potential of technology for business transformation. Even then he took the message of transformation to his customers, rather than seeing IT as a business expense. He has focussed on the value of hard work, of treating his teams well and with immense respect, and on the importance of leaving a legacy to be proud of.

For 32 years this inductee has stayed within the same business at Computer Merchants, now rebranded as Truis. In 2020, he took a leap of faith rebranding and changing the 45 year-old business, displaying his impeccable strategic mindset, leadership qualities and determination. He chose a business name derived from the word Altruism, meaning the principal and moral practice of concern for the happiness of other human beings. 

Leo Lynch

Leo honed the art of selling during the late 80s selling job ads at Fairfax prior to embarking on an illustrious IT industry career in 1989. 

He has never wavered from his commitments to the partner community since that day. Often described as a key ‘play maker’ Lynch started selling printers and throughout his impressive 35-year career has honed skills to lead teams with passion and energy, often admired by many that have had the opportunity to work alongside him.  

Lynch has extensive and deep experience across all types of channels in infrastructure, storage, software and cyber security. He has risen through the ranks through many organisations he has worked for such as HP, EMC, IBM, Huawei, StorageCraft and now Check Point – managing all aspects of sales and channels. 

His diverse background has equipped him with a wealth of knowledge and expertise in channel management.