Martin Johnson, the former captain of the England rugby union team, who lifted the World Cup in Australia earlier this year, is to co-host Infoconomy’s Effective IT Award winners’ Leadership Day in October. He will be joined by Sir Steve Redgrave CBE, the five-times Olympic rowing champion, who was announced as a host of the event last month. All businesses that reach the final three in July’s Effective IT Awards will not only be invited to the Leadership Day but will also receive detailed coverage in a new five-page editorial section of Information Age, called Effective IT in Practice.
Meanwhile, the countdown has begun to the Effective IT Awards 2004, organised by Infoconomy, the publisher of Information Age. More than 350 entries were received for the 10 awards, which will be given out at an open-air Gala Charity Awards Ball on 6 July in London.
The winners were chosen by a prestigious panel of judges: Paul Coby, CIO of British Airways; Barry Cooper, CIO of Texas Instruments; David Lacey, director of security and risk management, technology, services and innovation for the Royal Mail Group; Maggie Miller, business transformation director of Sainsbury’s; Stephen Pownall, group IS director for Pilkington; Steve Tiley, head of MIS for McDonald’s UK; David Weymouth, CIO of Barclays Bank; Richard Yeo, chief architect of the EasyGroup; Michael Gough, CEO of the National Computing Centre; Atle Skjekkeland, managing director of AIIM Europe; and Kenny MacIver, editor of Information Age.
The awards are divided into the major vertical industry sectors. The Effective IT strategies were identified by Information Age and its sister magazine, M-iD. The emphasis has been on rewarding projects that not only saved money, but that delivered tangible benefits to the business in terms of improved business processes or enhanced capabilities.
In keeping with the editorial stance of Information Age and M-iD, the awards are completely independent of vendor influence. All the judges are either business users of IT, or from independent bodies. All proceeds from the sale of tables at the awards ceremony will go to the Wooden Spoon, the beneficiary charity. Some tables are still available.
For more information on the forthcoming event, visit the Infoconomy Effective IT Awards web site at www.effectiveITawards.com.
