There are many facets to a firm’s cloud strategy and deployment. This award is for the organisations which aim to support their clients journey into the cloud, either from a strategic or direct implementation level. Entries should include customer case studies or references, together with an explanation of how the firm supports its clients, and what marks it out from the competition.

Who has excelled in pioneering or advocating cloud in your organisation? Who has driven cloud projects, transformation or simply the company’s direct journey into cloud storage or SaaS, with far-reaching effect? The judges are looking for the individual who has made visible and lasting changes to their business through the medium of cloud. Example by detailed case study is strongly encouraged.

This award will go to the cloud vendor which demonstrates something above and beyond what would normally be expected. It could be outstanding customer service, an innovative breakthrough in product development, or a major strategic shift which has produced genuine results. The winning entry will clearly explain why it separates itself from the pack, and how this difference benefits its customers.

Managed service providers take the stress out of IT, managing a customer's infrastructure and systems while enabling them to focus on their core competencies. Please provide evidence of work with customers, discussing how and why they chose you as their MSP and what the effect has been on their business.

Efficient use of cloud can slash greenhouse gas emissions. On top of that, cloud's processing potential enables new advancements in green efforts. With this award we are looking for representation of one or both of these factors, using cloud to cut your environmental impact either directly or indirectly.

You must include a case study, including the state of IT and emissions before and after the project.

We’re looking for the most effective cloud project within an end user organisation. How has this use of cloud technology positively affected – even transformed – your organisation? It doesn’t matter the size or scale of the project – the onus is on impressing the judges with how it’s given your company the edge. Please include evidence by case study.

Artificial intelligence is the next big game-changing technology, with thousands of potential use cases. Combining it with cloud computing gives AI systems access to vast troves of data to deliver more value at lower costs. This award is for AI projects and implementations that rely on the cloud; entries should describe exactly why the AI system was implemented, how it uses the cloud and what the results have been.

Making full use of data is a path to business success – but using it in new ways is how you get a leg up on the competition. We want to know how you utilise data in your organisation, what is different about it and how that innovation addresses and solves the challenges you face. Other points to consider are data security, reliability and the provable business benefits that your innovation has enabled.

Many cloud tools – whether in finance, HR, analytics or something else – are now being sold as ‘AI’. The solutions that are truly capable of such work can automate many tasks that humans do today, freeing them up for more high value work. What does your solution do that differentiates it from others? How does it use automation, machine learning or other AI practices to achieve its goals? How easy is the rollout? Customer case studies are critical.

Demand on financial solutions is growing, but the resources teams have to work with are not – or are even being cut. This has created a situation where staff need to do more with less, and sometimes even without access to all the data they need. The winning application must address these issues, with the ability to scale workloads, centralise data from multiple sources and establish an audit trail. Please provide examples of the quantifiable benefits of adoption through customer stories.

Countless training programmes exist to build cloud skills and solve the growing talent gap, but their effectiveness and results vary. Whether you are a dedicated training provider, a cloud vendor helping people to work on your platform, or an end-user firm training your own staff, we want to hear about how you up-skill your users. What makes your programme the best it can be?

The judges are especially looking for quantifiable results and metrics supporting your success.

There are many ways of using the cloud today: combinations of private and public, on-prem and off-, or bringing together several different cloud vendors in a multi-cloud setup. Each has its own advantages and drawbacks. This award is for the product that unlocks the greatest multi- and hybrid cloud efficiency; giving them speed and scale, while minimising complexity and cost.

This category is for software tools designed for managing and monitoring applications, data and services residing in the cloud. The award will be given to the solution which demonstrates the greatest ability to ensure that all of those elements are working optimally. Judges will take ease of use, functionality, innovation and customer references into account.

This award will go to the cloud product or service which best demonstrates something different and fresh. This could be new features, or a new way of providing an established service, or it could be that the product or service was developed in a genuinely new way. Details of exactly how the product or service demonstrates innovation will be essential, and customer references, where available, will be helpful.

With many organisations still unsure about storing valuable data in the cloud due to security concerns, products to help set minds at ease are more important than ever. The judges will take innovation, features and market share into account. The winning entry however is likely to be the one which most impresses the judges in terms of its ability to protect its customers data and applications.

Continuity and DR is essential to the modern business. This award will be given to the entry which demonstrates the most reliable service. Points will also be awarded for evidence of innovation, features and market share. Customer case studies will also be taken into account.

This category is based on the same category as above, but for organisations with fewer than 1,000 employees.

An IoT product in this case will be defined broadly, and could be any type of device or software tool which works with the Internet of Things. Entries should explain what the product does, and how it works with the IoT. Judges will score based on functionality, features and innovation. Customer references will also be taken into account.

Going cloud native is the best way to build scalable, flexible and resilient applications that specifically take advantage of cloud platforms’ architecture. Here we are seeking a cloud-native product that raises efficiency, increases security or enables new ways of working, perhaps while also lowering costs. It might be brand new, or replacing legacy services; either way, it should be a resilient tool demonstrating the best parts of cloud: flexibility, scalability and collaboration.

You must include a case study of the tool’s use in the UK to be considered.

This category is for software tools designed for managing and monitoring data in the cloud. The award will be given to the solution which demonstrates the greatest ability to ensure that all of those elements are working optimally. Judges will take ease of use, functionality, innovation and customer references into account.