Credit: ARN / IDG
ARN has joined forces with the Enterprise media brands of IDG to enhance Innovation Awards value to emerging and established partners across Australia, providing heightened end-user exposure via market-leading CIO, CSO and Computerworld publications.
In a first-of-a-kind industry move, the alliance will centre on running targeted digital campaigns designed to showcase leading technology providers to potential customers nationwide, illustrating ecosystem excellence to more than 210,000 end-users in the process.
Specifically, the core stable of IDG media brands -- Channel (ARN) and Enterprise (CIO, CSO and Computerworld) -- will combine to raise brand awareness levels of transformative partners delivering innovative solutions and services, based on the finalist submissions for the upcoming Innovation Awards in September.
All shortlisted partners in 2021 will receive complimentary post-event media coverage and exposure via IDG’s prominent Enterprise publications - in addition to customary ARN publicity – to showcase specialised consultation, transformative projects and leading-edge implementation within the channel.
This will take shape in the form of strategic articles housed on each respective brand detailing all partner category finalists and winners, providing opportunity to position partner brands as standout outsourcing providers.
Connecting the customer dots
The decision to add an outside-of-the-box marketing element to the Innovation Awards was motivated by a desire to further accelerate connection levels between partners and customers in Australia.
As an ongoing champion of the channel, ARN is uniquely positioned to not only advise and amplify the value of the ecosystem -- via editorial content, executive conferences and awards programs -- but to also assume an active role in contributing to partner success and future growth.
This is achieved through the alignment of premium Channel and Enterprise brands to provide partners with the foundation required to outline key value propositions to an engaged end-user audience.
According to recent IDG Customer Engagement research, the majority of IT decision makers (90 per cent) are challenged in locating enough high-quality and trusted information in relation to technology products and services throughout the purchasing process.
End-users cite too much marketing hype / empty buzzwords as the key contributing factors, in addition to a distinct lack of truly independent and unbiased information. Hence this media partnership, to ensure high-value partner success stories are positioned within a credible and independent end-user editorial framework to help sharpen marketing efforts through increased brand awareness and strategic association.
Enhanced end-user exposure
The move is designed to expose partners to an audience consisting of more than 210,000 end-users across Australia, spanning multiple business sizes and industry sectors.
Breaking down the numbers, this spans 59,000 IT decision-makers via CIO, in addition to 37,000 and 118,000 users via CSO and Computerworld brands respectively. Job functions span CIO, Director and Vice President levels, alongside CISO and Head of Risk responsibilities, plus IT Manager and specific technology divisional leaders.
“Now is the time to take ARN Innovation Awards to the next level for partners in Australia,” said Cherry Yumul, vice president of Strategic Partnerships and Innovation at IDG. “The market demands differentiation and we’re proud to activate and engage the most influential technology buyers for our valued ecosystem of partners.”
CIO brand is the leading publication serving the evolving, challenging and demanding role of the CIO, supported by trusted and targeted editorial content to help IT decision-makers lead organisational transformation efforts.
Through local interviews, in-depth analysis and expert guidance, editorial addresses the top challenges impacting CIOs in Australia, counterbalanced with areas of market opportunity and examples of best practice.
Meanwhile, CSO brand is the standout information source for CISOs and senior cyber executives in Australia, allowing organisations to make mission-critical decisions in relation to effective cyber and risk practices. Security leaders trust CSO brand due to unique and informative content which addresses all solutions and services, serving an established and evolving network of security focused IT executives nationwide.
Rounding off the Enterprise brands, Computerworld specialises in helping IT managers from small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) organisations improve operations, manage complexity and reduce costs by highlighting best practice in Australia.
Readers are responsible for the selection, acquisition and implementation of technology solutions and services, aligned to the objective of enhancing revenue and invigorating customer and employee experience levels.
Celebrating an innovative ecosystem
The Innovation Awards – first launched by ARN in 2007 – plays host to the most innovative and influential partners in Australia, reflective of a diverse and expanding channel ecosystem.
As the world becomes more collaborative, so is the network of providers delivering transformational solutions to customers -- different technology buyers are requiring different technology partners, challenging the market status quo in the process.
Mirroring the market, Innovation Awards brings together emerging and established technology players, spanning bleeding edge start-ups and cloud specialists to independent software vendors and application developers. This is complemented with business consultants and boutique agencies, alongside solution providers and system integrators -- all collaborating, all contributing.
ARN is proud to support the ongoing development of the partner ecosystem in Australia and champion the leading technology providers spearheading innovation and transformation in equal measure.
Note this media initiative is open to partners only with more details on the nomination process for the upcoming Innovation Awards - set for Thursday 16 September - to follow shortly.
