Scottish Businesses Celebrate Digital Success in Style

Scotland’s digital industry was out in full force on Thursday 24^th October at this years Herald Scottish Digital Business Awards. Held in Glasgow’s rather luxurious Grand Central Hotel, the awards once again brought together Scottish businesses to celebrate their digital success in style.

Now in their sixth year, the awards recognise businesses of all sizes, and from all sectors, that have enhanced their business and client base through the use of digital technology and the internet. From almost 100 entries, winners were selected for each category based on their exceptional execution of projects across games, mobile technology, business software, public installations and social media campaigns. Event judge and Enigma People Solutions Director David Mains tells me that some of the categories were excruciatingly close with some taking hours to decide on a winner!

The high profile event consisted of up to 250 guests, all in their glad rags and sipping champagne, eagerly waiting for event host, BBC news reader Catriona Shearer, to announce the winners. The winners on the night were:

Business to Business Award:  Nucleus

Retail/E-Commerce Award: Dojo Design Limited

Public Sector Award include Charity/Not-for-Profit: Blue2

Best Mobile Application Award: 21 Awake

Consumer Engagement Award: Chunk Digital

Education &Training Award: Storm ID

Student Award: The Royal Albert Hall, Lockdown (Ryan Allan, Mark Phillips, Jordan Pollock

Best Use of Social Media Award: Nucleus

The 2014 awards also saw the introduction of the Digital Professional Award to honour the work of one outstanding individual in the industry. This prestigious award was presented to Scott Walker, Digital Design Director at Lewis, the Edinburgh based creative design and digital agency behind Hunter Boots and Scottish Power. He was awarded for his instrumental success in projects such as these and is described as the “best creative director of all time” by colleagues.

Enigma People Solutions was proud to sponsor the Digital Agency Award, the final award of the night. Judges were looking to reward an agency who they felt carried out the most advanced digital innovation in Scotland, using digital to excite, enthuse and inspire. This award was presented to Glasgow’s Screenmedia. They impressed judges with the overall excellence of their entry, detailing their market leading mobile apps, bespoke mobile web solutions and innovation for internet of things, amongst many other talents.

So there you have it folks!

We’d like to congratulate all the winners and finalists on their achievements! It is the work of these individuals and business which reaffirms our belief in the exceptional talent in Scotland’s digital sector. It makes us proud to be a part of, and help grow, a sector which is a such major contributor to Scotland’s economy. The Herald Scottish Digital Business Awards are a fantastic opportunity to showcase such talents and an event we very much enjoy being a part of. Given the successful growth of this exciting market and how this is reflected in the growth of the awards, I can only imagine how much bigger and better next years awards will be!

Full coverage is on heraldscotland.com – http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/company-news/screenmedia-wins-top-prize-at-herald-digital-business-awards.25679272

For the latest industry news and digital vacancies follow Enigma People Solutions on LinkedIn and Twitter @enigmapeople

The Enigma Weekly Roundup | 25th July 2014

We bring you the best technology, business and digital news from the past 7 days:

• International Monetary Fund Moves Britain into the ‘Fast Lane’ for Growth
• UK, Switzerland and Sweden Top Global Innovation Index 
• How Ford Plans to Win the Future Like a Software Company
• Broadcom Cuts 2,500 Jobs
• Quarter of SME’s Plan to Invest in HR/ People Management 
• UK Shoppers Paying More for Technology
• Sunlight-Activated Digital Coupon to Promote Sunscreen
• IT budgets Set to Rise, But Not For IT Recruitment
• Should Mobile Developers Spend Less Time on Development and More on Marketing?
• Day Rates for IT Contractors Enjoy Growth
• Why Amazon, Google and Apple Haven’t Been Able to Crack the Code of Digital Wallets
• A Champion Recruiters Commonwealth Perspective
• The Scottish Digital Business Awards Launched in Search of Top Digital Companies

For all the latest news, industry updates and technology vacancies follow Enigma People Solutions on LinkedIn and Twitter @enigmapeople

Champagne And Hat Tricks At The Herald Scottish Digital Business Awards 2012

The Herald Scottish Digital Business Awards are always marked with a gold star on the Enigma calendar. For one night the biggest digital names in Scotland gather in a lavish hotel, dine on exquisite food and drink and wait to hear if their year of success will be topped off with the cherry that is a Digital Business Award.

I don’t keep it a secret that I am relatively new to the business world, previously splitting my time between pressing shutter buttons and pouring the perfect pint of Guinness. So this event was particularly exciting for me, seeing how these businesses interact and becoming a part of something new. As somebody who had lived in 8 houses in four cities across two continents by the age of 17 I’ve become pretty adaptable to new environments, so I welcome the digital business community with open arms and hope they do the same in return!

Dinner was a fantastic opportunity to meet the interesting characters on our table and enjoy some fine food (the salmon in particular I was a very big fan of). Chatting about life, travels, work, sport, music… and knee surgeries, the conversation flowed with as much ease as the wine.

After a delightful speech from Catriona Shearer, host for the evening, the awards were underway!

Business to Business Award
Front Page Design – Cruising For Excellence
Consumer Engagement Award sponsored by s1
Screenmedia – Simple Audio
Retail/E-Commerce Award sponsored by Highlands & Islands Enterprise
Kotikan – Edinburgh Festival Fringe App
Financial Services Award
Line Digital – Scottish Friendly
Lifestyle/Leisure Award
Equator –Macdonald Hotels & Resorts
Public Sector Award (Inc. Charity/Not-for-Profit)
Blue Square Design – Dundee City Council Development Team for the Dundee Waterfront Project
Commendation – Blackwood Foundation – bespoken
Games Award
Chunk Games – The Bank Job
Best Mobile Application Award
FreeAgent – Earnest
Best Client Campaign
Front Page Design – Cruising For Excellence

We were proud to sponsor the Digital Supplier Award for the third year running, as it’s always an honour to be able to support innovative digital companies. Presenting the award was one of the judges for the evening – our very own director and digital recruiting extraordinaire, David Mains. Hoping to go home with the award this year were Alienation Digital, Dog Digital and, trying for a hat trick, Screenmedia.

And Screenmedia did what they thought was the impossible! For the third year in a row they walked away with the Digital Supplier Award. Congratulations!

After the dinner and ceremony came the part of the evening enjoyed by all, even those leaving without an award – the networking bar. An opportunity to meet those you haven’t seen in a year and those you weren’t familiar with until tonight, but are glad you are now! Conversation steered away from work and towards fake bands, real interesting bands and partying with Bob Dylan’s band. The dancefloor filled with the hyped up winners, one of whom managed to impress us all by dropping down into the splits – we’re more than just a bunch of pretty faces!

As all of the colours in the kilts began to blend into one the guests said their goodbyes, sunk into their carriages (the nearest taxi) and returned to their homes.

Thank you to The Herald Scotland, Herald Events and Enigma People Solutions for giving me the opportunity to experience this event – it was magnificent. All of us at Enigma hope we see everybody again sooner rather than later and look forward to coming back to the awards next year, and for many after!

L-R: David Mains, Christina Marie Riley, Ramassa Khan