... and now for the WINNERS!
THE TECHIES WINNERS 2020
FLYING THE FLAG FOR SWINDON & WILTSHIRE TECH sponsored by SETsquared Chipside Ltd
Chipside is a leader in the world of parking and traffic management IT. It is a specialist software development company providing products and services to around a quarter of local and regional government traffic authorities in the UK. This means that Chipside works with over 130 local government authorities throughout the UK, delivering smart city initiatives to villages, towns, cities and regions.
Paul Moorby OBE, Managing Director of Chipside, was thrilled the company won this award. He said,“ We entered the awards this year as part of our commitment to the community. As a rural employer, based in Brinkworth, we sometimes forget in our busy lives that just taking part in award competitions can give our team and our village a well-earned boost.
“ Flying the Flag is a cherished award. It means we are trusted to represent our area and our sector on the world stage. We also know that our fellow businesses in Swindon and Wiltshire expect us to be the very best we can be. It inspires us. It pushes us to be better. It reminds us that Swindon and Wiltshire is a special place for tech and that we fly the flag not just locally, but nationally and internationally too.
“ The excitement about entering would have been followed by getting some of our team to the awards night. Sadly, not a get together and meal this year, but many logged on to the virtual ceremony. The tuck bags were a great idea and the whole finals night was the talk of the office the next day.”
The other finalists in this category were: digital wonderlab and New Elements.
BEST TECH SUPPORT SERVICE ISN
Royal Wootton Bassett’ s Intuitive Systems & Networks Ltd( ISN) is a leading IT solutions and cyber security provider focused on helping businesses choose, implement and maintain the most effective IT technology to support their business goals. Independent of any technology supplier, they only recommend industry standard, best of breed technology solutions and best practice services developed from over 25 years of experience.
Judge, James Eades of Systemagic said,“ Having worked in the tech support sector for 20 years it was extremely tough to judge this category. The eventual winner, ISN, demonstrated scale, development and growth and is therefore a very worthy winner.”
Founding Director of ISN, Richard Titheradge, said,“ It is a huge honour for the ISN team to be awarded the coveted‘ Best Tech
Support Service’ award for the second time! We last picked up this accolade in 2018 and it is absolutely fantastic that the ongoing efforts of the support function of our business have been recognised again. I would like to personally thank everyone who gets involved in support activities for our customers. Day or night, we are there for our customers doing everything we can to keep their businesses running.”
The other finalists in this category were: Excalibur and Mintivo.
FUTURE TECH SUPERSTAR sponsored by the SWLEP Ed Goodall, Mintivo
Judge Paddy Bradley, CEO of the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership, said,“ Ed Goodall of Chippenham-based Mintivo is the Future Tech Superstar of 2020. He follows in the footsteps of Leon Johnson of Render in 2018 and Daniel Curran of Infinity Nation in 2019.
“ At the age of 20, Ed is demonstrating the skills and aptitude of tech superstardom and already has a catalogue of great achievements to his name. At age 11, he created an augmented reality app, which was listed on the Apple Store, where he was the youngest app developer approved by Apple in the world.
“ Ed is in his first year at Mintivo and is already developing ideas and improving business processes which are fundamental to the success of the business. He has created an automated process to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Mintivo’ s ability to build laptops to meet customers’ individual needs, whilst ensuring consistency of quality and removing risk of human error. Every business aims for high quality and maximum efficiency and Ed is helping Mintivo achieve that.”
This was the first time Mintivo had entered the Wiltshire Techies. Managing Director of Mintivo, Chris Gough, said,“ We hadn’ t entered the Techies before, so didn’ t know what to expect. To be finalists in three categories was mind-blowing and for Ed Goodall to win Future Tech Superstar was amazing.
“ I think what made Ed stand out was just how much he has achieved at such a young age. He holds a senior technical position with Mintivo, at only 20 years old! This just goes to show how clever, dedicated and passionate he is about his career. His breadth and depth of technical knowledge is absolutely incredible. It’ s a huge boost for the team to win and especially to Ed during what has been a very busy, but different and challenging year.”
The other finalists in this category were Ben DaCosta, InfiLED and Cameron Livingstone-Elder, Priority IT.
THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2020 21