Customer Service, Product Executive, and Product Department Recognized by Seventh Annual Stevie® Awards
Herndon, VA – May 20, 2009 – Apptix (OSE: APP), the industry-leading provider of hosted Microsoft Exchange email, VoIP phone service, and SharePoint collaboration services for small and medium businesses (SMBs), was named a finalist today in the Product Development/Management Executive of the Year, Product Development/Management Department of the Year, and Customer Service Department of the Year categories in The 2009 American Business Awards (Stevie Awards).
The American Business Awards are the nation’s premier business awards program. All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit entries to the ABAs — public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. More than 2,600 entries from companies of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted for consideration in more than 40 categories.
Apptix’s product department and its vice president of product, Rick Rumbarger, were primarily recognized for the development and deployment of a new provisioning and management platform. This platform enabled Apptix to more rapidly bring products to market both directly and through resellers. As a result, Apptix launched an expanded suite of mission-critical products to meet and surpass the growing messaging, communications, and hosting needs of small and mid-size businesses.
Apptix was also recognized for dramatic, measureable improvements in its customer service and the actions taken to achieve these results. In 2008, Apptix consolidated multiple customer support centers at its Herndon, VA headquarters – creating a more focused environment – and invested heavily in monitoring tools that track and record call statistics. The company established significant customer service hiring standards, as well as a standardized internal training process. And, most importantly, Apptix’s management team instituted a company-wide commitment to customer service and operational excellence.
“We are thrilled that our company-wide improvement efforts in 2008 were recognized and rewarded with being named finalists for three American Business Awards,” said David Ehrhardt, CEO of Apptix. “I am proud of all our dedicated Apptix professionals who contributed towards making a strong impact on Apptix’s platform and product deployments, and customer satisfaction. Each and every employee has accepted our challenge of 2008, and is focused on and contributing to our ongoing product deployments and customer service.”
Stevie Award winners will be announced during the annual gala on Monday, June 22 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Six-hundred executives from across the U.S.A. are expected to attend. The ceremonies will be broadcast on radio nationwide by the Business TalkRadio Network and hosted by Cheryl Casone of Fox Business Network.
“Despite tough economic conditions, many organizations and individuals continue to exceed expectations,” said Michael Gallagher, founder and president of The Stevie Awards. “The results of the 2009 ABAs are a testament to the resilience, creativity, and hard work of American organizations, executives, and workers. We congratulate all of the finalists on their achievement and wish them well in the competition.”
Members of the Awards’ Board of Distinguished Judges & Advisors and their staffs will select Stevie Award winners from among Finalists in final judging that will continue through June 3. Finalists were chosen by business professionals nationwide during preliminary judging in April through early May.
Details about The American Business Awards and the list of finalists in all categories are available at www.stevieawards.com/aba.
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About The Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, The Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Honoring companies of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about The Stevie Awards at www.stevieawards.com.
Supporting sponsors of The 2009 American Business Awards include High Performance Technologies Inc., John Hancock, Lifelock, RCN Corporation, Softpro, and Ultimate Software. Media sponsor is the Business TalkRadio Network. Localization partner of the 2009 Stevie Awards is Lionbridge.
About Apptix
Apptix (OSE: APP) is the leading provider of hosted email, voice, and collaboration services for small and medium-sized businesses, serving over 20,000 companies worldwide. A pioneer in the hosted services space, directly and through its MailStreet subsidiary, Apptix offers a variety of hosted communications and IT services including Microsoft Exchange; VoIP; Microsoft SharePoint; Web Conferencing and Secure Instant Messaging (IM) via Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007; Online Backup by EMC’s Mozy; mobile messaging (including BlackBerry & iPhone); email compliance and archiving; and an Online Presence solution that includes domain registration, DNS hosting, Virtual Private Servers (VPS), and Website hosting. Apptix is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for Hosting and Application Services. Headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, Apptix is recognized as one of the CRN 2008 Fast Growth 100, Deloitte’s 2008 Virginia Technology Fast 50 and 2008 North American Technology Fast 500, Software Magazine’s 2008 Software500, and Washington Business Journal 2008 Fastest Growing Companies. For more information, visit www.apptix.com or www.twitter.com/apptix.