2012 Ventana Research Leadership Awards Recognize Business and Technology Success

SAN RAMON, CA, October 24, 2012 (Press-News.org) Ventana Research has announced the results of the 7th annual 2012 Leadership Awards. The Leadership Awards recognize organizations and supporting technology vendors that have effectively achieved superior results through using people, processes, information and technology while applying best practices within specific business and technology categories.

The awards distinguish pioneers and leaders -- both organizations and individuals that exemplify clear visionary and transformative leadership. The award recipients have demonstrated an understanding that the successful management of their performance requires a heightened level of expertise, determination and a team effort.

The Leadership Awards have become an industry tradition, with leaders and innovators identified annually by the Ventana Research team. This year's Leadership Awards will present participants with a new exciting opportunity to receive their award at the Ventana Research Business Technology Innovation Summit (http://ww2.ventanaresearch.com/innovationssummit) on November 8th at The Tech Museum in San Jose, CA during the Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony. Members of the press are invited to come to the Summit and see more about the advancements of these organizations using technology.

"I am excited to be able to present the winners of the 2012 Leadership Awards, live this year from our Technology Innovation Summit where we celebrate 10 years of research and education. This is the largest industry technology awards to date with over 26 awards honoring individuals and organizations of all industries and sizes from across the world that have distinguished themselves in their approach to using software and technology," said Mark Smith, CEO and Chief Research Officer, Ventana Research. "I would also like to congratulate the organizations and individuals for their achievements and also to congratulate the technology vendors for their support in helping their customers find the most value from their investments."

The annual leadership awards are delivered by the Ventana Research team, which through its benchmark research, on-demand advisory and education continues to pioneer new methods for organizations to become efficient and effective in their business. As part of the scoring process and methodology, Ventana Research examined the submissions to evaluate the nominated organization's use of people, processes, information and technology, the best practices it developed, the degree of team involvement and the project's business impact and value.

In addition to the top awards for Overall Business, Operational and IT Leadership, the Leadership Awards are awarded in categories spanning from Business Analytics to Operational Intelligence. The winners and their associated technology vendor are:

Business Leadership Awards
- Overall Business Leadership: To be announced at the Ventana Research Business Technology Innovation Summit
- Chief Financial Officer: Scott Travasos, Blue Shield of California Foundation using FinancialForce.com
- Financial Performance Management: 3M using Longview Solutions
- Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC): United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA) using Teradata
- Human Capital Management: Under Armour using SuccessFactors a SAP Company
- Sustainability: Danone using SAP

Business Technology Awards
- Big Data: Moffitt Cancer Center using Oracle, Informatica and TransMed
- Business Analytics: MedeAnalytics using IBM
- Business Collaboration: The University of Central Florida College of Medicine using Adaptive Planning
- Cloud Computing: GlobalEnglish using Xactly Corporation
- Mobile Technology: Lanx using Roambi
- Social Media: BeachMint using Pentaho

Operational Leadership Awards
- Overall Operational Leader: To be announced at the Ventana Research Business Technology Innovation Summit
- Contact Center: Honda Canada Finance, Inc. using Verint
- Customer Excellence: RBC Royal Bank (Royal Bank of Canada) using Teradata, IBM and Oracle
- Marketing Excellence: Nationwide Insurance using Teradata
- Sales Excellence: Mcafee using Anaplan
- Service & Supply Chain Excellence: Cooper Lighting using Stibo Systems

CIO and IT Leadership Awards
- Overall IT Leader: To be announced at the Ventana Research Business Technology Innovation Summit
- Chief Information Officer: Schumacher Group using Host Analytics
- Analytics: HMS Holdings Corp.. using Teradata, MicroStrategy and Informatica
- Business Intelligence (BI): International Financial Data Services using Information Builders
- Information Applications: Piedmont Henry Hospital using Datawatch
- Information Management: Ochsner Health System using Informatica
- IT Performance Management: Brewster Dairy, Inc. using Infor
- Location Intelligence (LI): California Independent System Operator Corporation using Space-Time Insights
- Operational Intelligence (OI): Invacare Corporation using Noetix

About Ventana Research
Ventana Research is the most authoritative and respected benchmark business technology research and advisory services firm. We provide insight and expert guidance on mainstream and disruptive technologies through a unique set of research-based offerings including benchmark research and technology evaluation assessments, education workshops and our research and advisory services, Ventana On-Demand. Our unparalleled understanding of the role of technology in optimizing business processes and performance and our best practices guidance are rooted in our rigorous research-based benchmarking of people, processes, information and technology across business and IT functions in every industry. This benchmark research plus our market coverage and in-depth knowledge of hundreds of technology providers means we can deliver education and expertise to our clients to increase the value they derive from technology investments while reducing time, cost and risk.

Ventana Research provides the most comprehensive analyst and research coverage in the industry; business and IT professionals worldwide are members of our community and benefit from Ventana Research's insights, as do highly regarded media and association partners around the globe. Our views and analyses are distributed daily through blogs and social media channels including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+.

To learn how Ventana Research advances the maturity of organizations' use of information and technology through benchmark research, education and advisory services, visit www.ventanaresearch.com.