The czars of technology

Sushma Naik / Mumbai

Niru Mehta of Tata Telecom at the awards function

The Frost & Sullivan Technology Awards 2004 were given out to the best performers in categories and segments ranging from business intelligence solutions and e-commerce in the IT sector to IP telephony and broadband in the telecom sector at a function in Mumbai recently. Commenting on the changing business scenario in the technology landscape, Alok Shende, director, Technology Practice, Frost and Sullivan said that the usage of technology has enabled firms to reduce interaction costs and helped them expand beyond their traditional peripheries.

The winners stressed upon the importance of having customer centric strategies and team work as some of the key factors in their success. These awards are given to companies demonstrating best practices in a variety of regional and global markets in recognition of the planning and execution of product launches, strategic alliances, distribution strategies, technological innovations, customer service and mergers and acquisitions. Other marketing factors such as leadership, strategy, service, innovation, integration and development are also recognised.

Interviews were conducted with all participants in the market category. That combined with proprietary data was used by Frost & Sullivan analysts to track competitor revenue and market share within the industry. For technology awards, the technologies and research projects were compared using customer demand. In addition, factors such as feasibility of product launches, likelihood of customer acceptance and acceptance rates, and estimated time to market were taken into consideration.

Shailesh Dubey, head, Best Practices Group, Frost & Sullivan said, “As an organisation that keeps track of technology trends and has in-depth involvement with the industry, we feel that these awards reflect our efforts to recognise excellence.”