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) June 5, 2009 -- Remember the following names well, for they are the winners of Computerworld Malaysia's third annual Customer Care Awards (CCA), which celebrate the best in pre-, during and post-implementation consulting, support and maintenance work as performed by this year's most valuable information and communication technology (ICT) providers in this country.
Cisco Systems, Dell Asia Pacific, Fortinet Malaysia, IBM Malaysia, Microsoft Malaysia, Oracle Corporation, Symantec Corporation, Telekom Malaysia and Trend Micro Malaysia.
Last night, top executives from these leading companies took a bow in front of their peers, competitors and customers, as they were handed their CCA 2009 trophies at the Telawi Street Bistro set in the beating heart of the Klang Valley's vibrant night life, Bangsar Baru.
They owe their place among the winners to the thousands of votes cast in their favour by readers of the nation's top ICT industry tabloid Computerworld Malaysia. Responses from more than 3,000 of Malaysia's most progressive information executives were solicited.
They were asked to rate (on a scale of 0 to 10) very specific aspects of the services rendered by their technology provider, taking them from the early consultation and planning stages of a given implementation project (the question: 'Was the implementation process well-designed and took into account the needs of your organisation?'), all the way through till after the deployed system has been running for a while ('Does your vendor still make you feel like a valuable customer after completion of the implementation process?')
According to Computerworld Malaysia deputy editor, AvantiKumar, holding a party to commemorate their win was "the least we could do." Considering how difficult the last 12 months have been for just about all enterprises round the world, winning this award for customer care delivery is an even more special achievement than the previous year's labours.
"We have seen the global marketplace almost stall. And we still see companies collapsing, economies shrinking, and people, by the tens of thousands, losing their jobs. Just about every business and sector has been hit by the global recession. That includes the ICT industry," said AvantiKumar. "So it is nothing short of spectacular that these companies you see today in the CCA 2009 winners circle--in the face of mass layoffs, increasingly more demanding customers, rising costs and thinning revenue streams everywhere--should muster up enough dedication, energy and courage to redouble their efforts, and produce results perhaps exceeding their own expectations, and certainly outstripping the market norm."
No less impressed was Andrew Smart, director of Fairfax Business Media Asia, the publisher of Computerworld Malaysia, who said that the local ICT industry needed more luminaries such as the CCA 2009 winners to light the economy's way out of the doldrums.
"At a time when the economic news every other day is invariably bad, and enterprises are either downsizing or going out of business, shedding staff and resources they really need but cannot afford, it is heartening to see that there are companies who don't just survive by the grit of their teeth, but thrive by their wits," Smart said. "For that alone, we salute this year's winning customer care champions, and thank them for the inspiration."
Smart also said that performance in the CCA has matured as a metric to judge ICT solution providers by, and pointed to another awards programme that the industry should turn to next to get a complete picture of 2009's top technology vendors: the annual Computerworld Malaysia Readers Choice Awards (RCA) for the best products and solution sets of the year, as voted on by their users.
**Winning Services**
Please see below the Customer Care Awards 2009 categories and their winners. For more details, make your way to the Computerworld Malaysia Customer Care Awards 2009 microsite (www.computerworld.com.my/cca2009).
-- Server Hardware: Dell Asia Pacific
-- Desktop & Notebook PCs: Dell Asia Pacific
-- Storage Hardware: Dell Asia Pacific
-- Desktop & Server Management Software: Symantec Corporation
-- Storage Management Software: IBM Malaysia
-- Enterprise Content Management Software: Oracle Corporation
-- Collaboration & Workflow Productivity Software: IBM Malaysia
-- Business Intelligence & Analytics Software: Microsoft Malaysia
-- Database Management Software: Microsoft Malaysia
-- Firewall/VPN Solutions: Cisco Systems
-- Anti-virus, Anti-spam: Trend Micro Malaysia
-- Intrusion Detection, Protection: Fortinet Malaysia
-- Telecommunication Services: Telekom Malaysia
-- IP Telephony Systems: Cisco Systems
**About Fairfax Business Media**
Fairfax Business Media (FBM), a Fairfax Media company, publishes market leading technology, business and finance titles. In Asia, these include Computerworld Malaysia, Computerworld Singapore, CIO Asia and MIS Asia. In Australia, FBM's stable of publications includes The Australian Financial Review, BRW, CFO, MIS and AFR Smart Investor.
For inquiries on the Computerworld Malaysia Customer Care Awards:
Contact: AvantiKumar, DID: +603 7804 3692; e-mail: akumar (at) fairfaxbm (dot) com
Malaysia Office:
Unit 612, Block A, Kelana Business Centre, 97 Jalan SS 7/2, Kelana Jaya
47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia