Microsoft recognizes outstanding contributions by suppliers

REDMOND, Wash., May 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday announced the recipients of the 2015 Microsoft Supplier Program (MSP) Excellence Awards. The MSP Excellence Awards recognize superior performance, exemplary service and innovation by suppliers that demonstrate what it means to be a preferred supplier at Microsoft. The purpose of the MSP is to build long-term relationships with a select group of strategic suppliers that create long-term value for Microsoft.

Winners of the 2015 MSP Excellence Awards were nominated by employees of Microsoft in various business units, MSP suppliers and Microsoft Procurement Professionals. An extensive panel of Microsoft employees and external judges selects all final awardees.

Award winners were based on excellence in a number of areas, including quality, value, service and innovation. Winners were announced during the 13th Annual MSP Summit on Microsoft's main corporate campus in Redmond, Wash.

"I am very pleased to recognize this year's Supplier Program Excellence Award winners for their outstanding performance," said Mike Simms, general manager and chief procurement officer at Microsoft. "Every year our suppliers continue to impress us with their commitment to excellence, innovation and collaboration. The award recipients delivered high-impact results and contributed to the success of Microsoft. On behalf of Microsoft, I want to thank the award winners for their significant contributions and partnership and also acknowledge all of the nominees."

Winners were announced in three categories: Supplier Diversity, Responsible Sourcing Leadership (Bridging the Opportunity Divide, Climate Performance and Impact Sourcing), and MSP Supplier of the Year.

MSP Supplier Advisory Board

Every year, Microsoft leverages the services of thousands of third-party suppliers. The MSP was created more than 13 years ago as a methodology focused on supplier management to foster a strong supplier community. It would be difficult to do that without input from the suppliers that make up that community. For the first time since its inception in 2012, Microsoft would like to acknowledge and thank the 24 companies that make up the MSP Supplier Advisory Board.

The MSP Supplier Advisory Board's charter is to serve as the informed voice of the supplier to Microsoft to enable long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships.

Without the dedication and time commitment from these companies, the Microsoft Supplier Program would not be what it is today. Microsoft would like to thank the following:

Zones Inc. — recipient of the 2015 Supplier Diversity Award

Zones manages hosted product catalogs in 32 company codes across Canada, Europe and India. Zones also manages strategic partners in the Latin America and Asia-Pacific regions in support of its global enterprise client base.

Zones is one of the fastest-growing IT solutions providers on the market today. It is highly focused on ensuring customers' successes as it works to tackle their most pressing IT challenges. Zones is a global organization with offices or strategic partnerships established in over 60 countries and growing.

Zones was integral to the launch of Microsoft Surface Pro 3 products for Microsoft's internal Cost per Head hardware procurement. On May 20, 2014, Microsoft announced the launch of the newest member of the Surface family of products, the Surface Pro 3.

Zones has been providing significant savings to Microsoft over the past five-plus years, supplying Third Party Peripherals, Consumer IT Hardware standards, and nonstandard hardware to Microsoft.

Zones captured cost savings of 25 percent of applicable spend in the U.S. for Microsoft's 2014 fiscal year. Over the first half of FY15, U.S. savings are tracking at 53 percent.

Sutherland Global Services — recipient of the 2015 Responsible Sourcing – Bridging the Opportunity Divide Leadership Award

Sutherland Global Services is a global provider of business process and technology management services. It employs more than 36,000 employees and has been in business since 1986. For more than a decade, Sutherland has been providing Microsoft with mission-critical customer management and back-office services under several longstanding, performance-driven engagements. With nearly 60 operational centers across the world, Sutherland continues to grow. In 2014, Sutherland formed the first foundation dedicated to the advancement of youth worldwide. The Sutherland Foundation for Education and Enrichment actively supports and respects the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights and the advancement of youth in technology. The Sutherland Foundation stands for the creation of sustainable workforces, the abolition of child labor and the elimination of discrimination, and it stands against corruption in any and all forms. Further, the Sutherland Foundation supports and undertakes initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility.

Sutherland was recognized by Microsoft at its 2015 annual Global Supplier Conference for achieving the milestone of training more than 30,000 disadvantaged learners through Microsoft YouthSpark Community Technology Centers. The judges for the award were "impressed with Sutherland's management commitment applied to a multigeographic program with very significant, measured impact that sets a high bar for other companies." 

The following were the Bridging the Opportunity Divide Leadership Award judges:

• Brian O'Kennedy, CEO of Clearstream Solutions and Steering Committee member at Verego
• Chris Worman, senior director of Global Media at TechSoup Global
• Jo Aggarwal, senior advisor at Silatech
• Jeffrey Avina, lead manager of Citizenship for Middle East and Africa at Microsoft
• Peter Shiras, executive vice president of Business Development at International Youth Foundation

Akamai Technologies — recipient of the 2015 Responsible Sourcing – Climate Performance Leadership award

Akamai is a cloud services provider dedicated to helping companies provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere. Akamai is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., has more than 5,100 employees worldwide and generated $1.96 billion in revenue in 2014. With more than 170,000 servers in 102 countries and over 1,300 networks, Akamai has deployed the most pervasive cloud-optimization platform. Akamai delivers between 15 and 30 percent of all Web traffic. It delivers daily Web traffic reaching more than 25 terabits per second (Tbps). Eighty-five percent of the world's Internet users are within a single "network hop" of an Akamai server. Akamai delivers more than 2 trillion daily Internet transactions. Akamai has a relationship with Microsoft dating back to 1999, and the partnership has grown to where Akamai now provides over 30 cloud-based services to more than 125 Microsoft groups.

In 2014 Akamai made significant strides with its climate change management strategy and mitigation, which directly translates into long-term reduced energy consumption and carbon footprints for Microsoft. The judges for the award were "impressed with Akamai's commitment to climate risk management and the progress it has made on its 30 percent year-on-year goal to reduce energy and greenhouse gas intensity relative to network traffic, which it has largely achieved with innovations it will publicly share in peer forums."

The following were Climate Performance Leadership Award judges:

• Betty Cremmins, senior manager of Supply Chain at CDP
• Timothy D. Juliani, director of Corporate Engagement at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions
• TJ DiCaprio, senior director of Environmental Sustainability at Microsoft
• Michael Mondshine, vice president of Sustainability and Energy at WSP
• Susan Wickwire, chief of the Energy Supply and Industry Branch at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Compass Group PLC — recipient of the 2015 Responsible Sourcing – Impact Sourcing Leadership Award

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Compass Group North America leads the industry in food service management and support services. Compass Group North America serves clients such as IBM, United Technologies Corp., SAP, Louisiana State University, Texas A&M University and District of Columbia Public Schools. Compass Group provides catering to special events such as the U.S. Open and the Academy Awards. Compass Group was the official catering services supplier for the 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Compass partnered with Microsoft's Real Estate & Facilities group, establishing a leadership position with respect to the recruitment, onboarding and continued placement of associates with disabilities. Compass was awarded Supplier of the Year and Technology Award for 2009. Compass has also won awards such as the William O. Ellison Award, the Governor's Employee Award, and the Community Employment Alliance's 2014 Community Innovation Award.

In 2014 Compass Group enabled 91 associates with disabilities, representing 8 percent of all associates at Microsoft, to experience a smooth and positive transition into Microsoft's campus services work environment. The judges for the award were "impressed with Compass Group's local stakeholder engagement coupled with a vision and model to scale that can be replicated by other companies."

The following are Impact Sourcing Leadership Award judges:

• Eric Simonson, managing partner for Research at Everest Group
• Gloria La Cava, coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Youth Program at The World Bank
• Craig Osborne, engineering manager of the Open Solutions Group at Microsoft
• Rene Yoakum, general manager of Global Consumer Support at Microsoft
• Jane Hwang, chief operating officer at Social Accountability International
• Mamadou Biteye, managing director, Africa at The Rockefeller Foundation

Wipro Ltd. — recipient of the 2015 Supplier of the Year Award

Wipro is a global leader in providing IT services, outsourced R&D, infrastructure services, business process services and business consulting. Across more than 16 geographies, Wipro specializes in IT consulting, product engineering services, business process outsourcing, cloud services and eco energy, to name a few. 

Wipro services clients from more than 72 centers, located in 59 countries, employing 99 nationalities. Wipro is headquartered in Bangalore, India, and around 60 percent of its people are located across its development centers in India, including Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kochi and Bhubaneswar.

Wipro is globally recognized for its innovative approach toward delivering business value and its commitment to sustainability. Wipro champions optimized utilization of natural resources, capital and talent. Today it is a trusted partner of choice for global businesses looking to differentiate at the front and standardize at the core through technology interventions.

Wipro demonstrated excellence at Microsoft across multiple disciplines including Process Transformation (reducing time for development, human interaction and optimizing costs by tearing down deployments that are no longer needed), Product Quality Improvement (significantly reduced cycle times, cost savings, quality assurance rates exceeding expectations and increasing test efficiency by 110 percent), and Cost Optimization Efficiency Improvement and Automation (eliminated post-release issues, improved real-time end-user coverage and elevated product quality assurance). Through Wipro's long history and broad engagement with Microsoft, it has repeatedly shown that it strives for excellence in everything it does for Microsoft. Microsoft would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge our Supplier of the Year award recipient Wipro Technologies.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services, solutions and devices that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

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SOURCE Microsoft Corp.