June 14, 2017 (TORONTO) Five organizations, including a national bank, an international mining firm, and the City of Toronto were lauded Wednesday for their commitment to using technology to dramatically change the way they do business.
CIBC, Humania Assurance, the Connected North program led by Taking IT Global, and the City of Toronto’s vehicle for hire licensing were singled out as winners at the inaugural Digital Transformation Awards held in Toronto and produced by ITWC, Canada’s largest content house serving the IT industry. Barrick Gold received an honourable mention.
“Canadian companies are often portrayed as laggards when it comes to embracing technology in an innovative way that transforms businesses,” said Fawn Annan, President of ITWC and the driving force behind the awards program. “Our winners, large and small, public and private, show there are bright lights willing to pioneer new ways of doing business with increasingly digitally-savvy customers.”
The national award program, which was launched in January, attracted 25 nominations from seven provinces. An independent panel selected the winners based on the measurable impact on the customer experience resulting from a technology initiative.
CIBC earned a nomination for pursuing a digitally-driven agenda, specifically for a 2016 launch of CIBC Live Labs, a digital innovation hub designed to operate like a tech startup. The Live Labs team has developed such projects as an Apple Watch banking app and a CIBC Hello Home mortgage app, the first product of its type to reach market.
Humania Assurance, which launched its digital strategy in 2013, has launched Hugo, an online insurance purchasing platform. Digital allows small companies like Humania to compete with large, deep-pocketed competitors on a virtual and global scale. Digital Transformation Awards judge Gary Davenport said: “Hugo is a very impressive application. As a David-versus-Goliath Canadian digital transformation success story, Humania is well deserving of this recognition.”
Connected North, which is managed by TakingITGlobal (TIG), was nominated for the progress it has made toward providing 21st century digital learning to 30 schools in underserved communities in Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, Saskatchewan, and northern Ontario.
City of Toronto was recognized for its vision to bringing private transportation companies like Uber under a legal framework. City staff implemented a new digital solution that would not only allow for the rapid issuance of licenses to drivers but also the generation of half a million dollars a month in new revenue.
The awards reception followed the day-long conference where panels discussed the disruptive power of digital transformation is cases where: medical bots were becoming more accurate than doctors in the treatment of some conditions; AI systems provide faster and more accurate information than stock brokers; and farmers measure the growth of tomatoes in real time to optimize cultivation conditions.
“In the past few years, digital transformation has been maligned as an all-encompassing buzzword for any kind of digitalization or disruption,” said ITWC CIO Jim Love. “I think by seeing examples like our winners, [perceptions are] changing, and organizations are beginning to see digital transformation as a powerful — and ultimately imperative — data process for reaching the customer, whoever or wherever they might be.”
Event sponsors included Informatica, CA Technologies, Dell EMC, Avaya Canada, and Cisco. Supporters included the CIO Association of Canada, IDC , ICTC, Municipal Information Systems Association of Canada (MISA-AISM), Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA), Digital Nova Scotia, DeGroote School of Business at McMaster, iCanada, Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS) Society of Information Management (SIM) – Toronto Chapter, Canadian Association of Management Consultants, Fin+Tech Growth Syndicate, Open North, and the Canadian Wireless Trade Show.
For more information, contact
Steve Proctor
Vice President ITWC
416 578- 5014
[email protected]
About ITWC
ITWC is Canada’s largest provider of content serving the IT industry. Independently owned, it operates websites, produces industry newsletters, hosts numerous webinars and events and provides marketing services.
