The IT Event of the Year: The (Virtual) UK IT Industry Awards 2020

The Techbuyer team was delighted to be shortlisted for ‘Sustainable Organisation of the Year’ at the UK IT Industry Awards 2020. Labelled as ‘the largest and most well-known event in the technology industry calendar’, the ceremony celebrated a diverse range of businesses from deliveries, to medical organisations and universities who are making the world a better place with their innovative services and projects.

Although we didn’t take home first prize, we were honoured to take away ‘Highly Commended’ and thoroughly enjoyed tuning in on the night. The live event was presented by comedian Ed Byrne (Mock of the Week, Never Mind the Buzzcocks) who hosted the event on an impressive stage backdrop at the Battersea Events Arena. Along with delivering a comedy set and examining incoming Tweets, Ed kept the momentum and excitement going, proving that virtual events can be just as entertaining as a physical one.

(Photo credits: Stuart Sumner)

In the midst of a remarkable year for tech, IT teams up and down country still dressed to impress for the interactive event, with bowties and fascinators making appearances throughout the evening in a stream that was viewed by thousands. The ceremony’s integration with Twitter and hashtag, #UKITawards, meant attendees could interact in real time with the event. The stream of Tweets featuring live reactions from both individuals and businesses delivered a real sense of engagement and community, despite current pandemic restrictions preventing teams from celebrating in person.  

Of course, there was more to the event than just laughs and giggles. One winner that especially caught our eye was Made Tech in association with London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, who won ‘Healthcare Project of the Year’. In a year where immense additional strain has been put on the UK’s healthcare services, Made Tech launched a virtual visiting app within 48 hours, during the peak of the pandemic. The app meant that both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients could easily schedule video calls with their loved one, providing them with a level of emotional support they would not have received otherwise due to distancing rules.

Between the presentations, the awards charity The Connection was highlighted. This homelessness charity helps thousands of people each year, providing outreach support, emergency accommodation and practical services. A video showed how they had changed one man’s life completely, who said that without The Connection, he would still be on streets.

The Techbuyer marketing team made the main stage on more than one occasion. Ed shared our tweets, including our countdown to the event with ‘cocktails and paw-secco in hand’, in which Ed described Georgie, my colleague’s pet, as ‘sincerely cute’.

As a business that has an entirely circular business model, being shortlisted for ‘Sustainable Organisation of the Year’ was an achievement that we are especially proud of. We are passionate about extending the life cycle of IT hardware, which we achieve by refurbishing, repairing, upgrading and selling IT systems and parts. Our approach reduces e-waste and maximises IT budgets.

We are also contributing to the UN Global Goals with nine targets towards Good Health and Wellbeing, Quality Education, and Responsible Consumption and Production. If you are interested, have a look at the details below:

Thanks again to the UK IT Industry Awards for the great event. We look forward to next year’s ceremony!

Techbuyer is a leading provider of sustainable IT solutions. We buy, refurbish and sell servers, storage and networking equipment, laptops, desktops and PCs in order to maximise budgets and keep quality technology in use.

We are always thinking of new ways to help our clients. In 2020, we launched a new laptop service in order to help our clients keep existing devices in use. We also began renting IT equipment to eliminate upfront costs, and launched a tool which configures a HPE server in minutes.

If you’re looking to maximise your IT budget, speak to one of our friendly IT specialists today, or check out our website.