The 5th edition of the MCA’s eBusiness Awards were held last night at the InterContinenal Hotel in St. Julian’s. The MCA eBusiness Awards have become an important annual appointment in the calendar of ICT activities in Malta. They are an opportunity to showcase and encourage new ideas and best practices in the field of eBusiness. This year, 23 solutions, from eight different categories, made it to the final. Two new categories were added to this years’ edition - the best Tech Start-up and the best ERP system.
In his opening address, Dr Edward Woods, Chairman at the MCA emphasized the importance of eBusiness in today’s digitized global economic environment. Dr Woods further stated that whilst ensuring to remain within the limits of its remit the Authority is committed to continue rolling out initiatives that promote greater take-up of eBusiness as well as promoting higher levels of standards and professionalism across this sector.
On his part, the Hon. Dr Chris Cardona highlighted the significance of these awards and how they serve to contribute to encouraging the growth of eBusiness in Malta as one of the key drivers of the Maltese economy. ‘In order to continue growing, this industry rightfully deserves the full support of Government because it does not only represent a source of high quality employment opportunities, but it is also becoming a major contributor to the national income’.
The following is a highlight of the winners on the night.
The Best App category was won by Mapfre Middlesea with their Motormax App. Developed by Handson Systems, this app is an innovative usage-based car insurance product that monitors driving performance and rewards diligent drivers with attractive discounts on their insurance premiums.
Bit8 won the award for the best B2B application with their HBit 8 platform, which is designed for the eGaming global industry. This solution has already been adopted by a number of top international casinos across 50 countries.
Elmo Insurance Ltd snapped up the award for Best eCommerce site (B2C) with its insurance platform developed by Seasus Ltd.
The Best eGovernment initiative went to the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure for a platform developed by ICON. This solution caters for the management of the national network of the charging stations for electric vehicles.
Foster Clark Products Ltd clinched the award in one of the new categories for this edition – the Best ERP solution, with their Microsoft Dynamax AX developed by KMPG Crimsonwing.
The Best ICT Academic Project with an eBusiness Theme was won by Ms Kelly Steer, a young student from the faculty of ICT who wrote her dissertation on the use of Social Media as a basis for marketing initiatives.
Hotjar walked away with the award for yet another new category - that for Best Tech Start-up. This solution provides detailed web analytics to an impressive 100,000 users, and this only in its first 8 months of operation.
The eighth and final award was won by eCabs for their highly successful and engaging Social Media campaign, developed by M7Alpha Creative Studios, aimed at creating better visibility of the company.
As from this edition, the Malta Communications Authority will be holding the event in the first quarter of the year for the participants to have until nearly the end of the previous year to submit their nominations. The MCA congratulates all winners, finalists and participants and looks forward to more innovative eBusiness solutions being rolled out in the coming year.
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